Milo pats my leg. “Jalen and I go way back. Practically best friends.”
Jalen’s sudden scowl doesn’t quite line that up with the best friends comment, but whatever. “Milo treating you okay, man?” He turns his attention back to Milo. “Remember our agreement.”
“How could I forget?” Milo threads his fingers through mine and holds up our joined hands. “Don’t stress, J-dude. Rowan and I are getting along like a match and gasoline.”
“Funny how that doesn’t exactly fill me with warm and fuzzy feelings.” He pinches Milo’s cheek between his thumb and forefinger. “Remember I know you,bestie. If you break our deal, I’ll be forced to see exactly how well you get along with fire when I douse you in gasoline.”
Milo pretends to clutch his pearls. “I’m honestly wounded.”
“Funny how I don’t care. Come on, guys, the place is already unlocked for you.” Then Jalen turns and leads the way into the house.
I scramble out and wrestle with Iggy’s tank, which Milo comes over to help me with.
The tank isn’t crazy heavy, but with Iggy’s rocks and plants and the tank itself being sort of unwieldy, it’s not super easy. Not as if Milo gave me much advance warning when I packed my stuff.
When Jalen turns back, a look of horror takes over his face. “What the fuck is that thing?”
“Rowan here apparently collects dinosaurs.”
“Shut up,” I snap. Damn, I’m too exhausted for any of this. “Iggy’s a bearded dragon,” I explain to Jalen. “And he’s perfectly tame. I’ve had him for years. He was a gift from my ex.”
Considering the inferiority complex, the fear of rejection, and the estrangement from my family, Iggy’s the only good thing I ever got from Tucker.
Milo narrows his eyes. “You didn’t tell me that part.”
“Didn’t exactly seem relevant seeing as how, again, we’ve only known each other for, like, an hour.”
“It’s been at least a few hours at this point.”
“I don’t see how that makes a difference.”
“How about the fact that I rocked your world better than that client of yours would have?”
My face goes up in flames. I want to shoot back about how making me feel better than that psychopath wasn’t a high bar, except Milo really did turn my knees to Jell-O.
Jalen gives me a curious look. “Didn’t this guy shoot a man in front of you? An hour’s practically a decade in murder years.”
“That’s what I said!” Milo’s exclamation startles Iggy enough that he blinks open his eyes, looks irritated, and then closes them again. “Sorry, little guy,” he adds.
Is this what a fever dream feels like? Clearly, I’m losing it. I can’t allow that warm feeling to spread through me just because this guy was a little nice to my pet.
Right now I need to stay focused on what’s important. Someone or someones is (are?Focus, Rowan) trying to kill me. I’m standing on the porch of what looks like a murder cabin in the middle of the night with my bearded dragon and the hookup who came to off me and—
“Oh my God.” Something suddenly hits me. A look to my right confirms my fears. A boat dock stretches from the grass to the water, looking rotted and unstable like something straight out of a horror movie in the pale moonlight. “We’re right on the fucking water. Water that’s chock-full of alligators. You brought me here to kill me, didn’t you?”
I turn to Jalen, suddenly lightheaded and frantic. “Will you please take Iggy for me if I die? One of Brennan’s former escorts does stuff with animals, right? Will you make sure he finds a good home?” Wait. Jalen’s wearing holsters. With guns. Plural. “Oh, shit, are you in on it?”
Jalen makes an exaggerated show of taking a slow, deep breath, and then another. Strangely, I do the same thing. Okay, I feel better. A little. Sort of dizzy.
“Good. Now that you seem to have calmed down, no. I’m here to protect Brennan’s interests. Meaning you. Milo has promised to take good care of you, but if you need anything, you can call me or Brennan. Okay?”
“What’s the catch?” These guys seem nice enough, but according to the other escorts, Brennan has beenthecrime boss of Belle Argo for over a decade. I feel like he doesn’t help for free.
Dean said something about having to suck Brennan off once. Or jerk him off, maybe?
Oh shit, am I going to have to jerk off my pimp? Am I going to have to jerk off Jalen?
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” Milo growls in my ear. “You’re not jerking off anybody but me.”
