“Trade?” he chuckles, nodding toward the brunette. There’s no holding me back with that blatant disrespect, and the second I lunge across the table to wrap my hand around his neck, the brunette is off his lap. I slam Dagger’s head into the picnic table.
“You won’t fucking look at Mia.” I grip his neck and press his head into the table harder. “If you do, I’ll fucking cut your puny dick off and feed it to you.”
“I’m…just kidding, Foxx. Christ!” Dagger fights to get the words out. “All this over a piece of ass?”
My knife is unsheathed and at his throat before he can take his next breath as I ready to slice him from ear to fucking ear.
“Stand fucking down!” Grant’s beefy arms, then Archer’s, pull me back, but I don’t take my eyes off Dagger as Stone aims his gun at him, prepared for retaliation.
Dagger throws his hands up, and Archer grips onto me tighter.
“Not here, Brenin,” Grant begs in a low voice. I know it’s forbidden to fight on Grant’s land, but my blood boils. Everything in me tells me to kill this piece of shit, but Grant’s pleading expression makes me relent.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Grant orders Dagger, as I slowly replace my knife at my hip.
“Fuck you both!” Dagger says, gripping the shoulder of his brunette. “You’ve lost yer sense of humor, Foxx.”
I make a move to go after him, but Grant grips my arm tight and shakes his head. “Not fucking worth it.”
I face Grant and push my hair off my face in frustration. I know he’s right, but fuck am I ever on edge already. I’ve never had a woman under my protection at one of these things before.
“Wrong place and time to settle this,” Grant stresses.
“What happened?” Libby saunters over to us with Trina. “Dagger piss someone off?”
“Me,” I grunt out.
Grant squeezes my shoulder, settling me. “Real fucking touchy about this sweetheart, aren’t ya, kid?” he notes, dropping his hand.
I take a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. “I can fucking assure you she’s anything but a sweetheart…”
Grant shrugs. “Ahhh…that makes a little more sense why you picked her then.”
I turn my attention back to Mia, still dancing even though the song has changed and the girls are no longer with her. Her blue eyes are soft, and she’s smiling. She didn’t see any of that.
“I didn’t pickher, brother,” I grunt out.
“Well, Romeo, get some drink and food into ya so you can get through the business talk, andthengo do the things running through yer head.” He chuckles.
“Fuck off, old man,” I snap.
He decides to change the subject. “Are you meeting with Sam?” he asks, mentioning his chapter’s president.
“In a bit, yeah.” I lean in to hug him. “Sorry, brother,” I offer out of respect.
“Hey, no worries. Just glad I didn’t have to burn a body tonight. Mi casa es tu casa.” He laughs and walks away.
Now I have only one focus. I head out to the dance floor, where Mia continues to move with sultry precision, her body strong and beautiful. The other women who rode in with us are nowhere to be found, and Mia is lost in her own little world. I approach, and her eyes flutter open; she senses I’m close. She smiles, free as a drunken little bird, and reaches up to wrap her arms around my neck, inhibitions be damned.
“You better only ever smile like that at me, goddess,” I say as her hot body presses against mine.
“I could smell you, Aiden. You smellsogood,” she retorts.
“Is that so?” I ask, and she starts kissing my neck, inhaling deep drags of my skin while I lose my hands in her silky hair.
“Mmm…makes me so wet,” she breathes out, tipsy and free, and I chuckle darkly against her neck. It’s funny to me, seeing her this way. People show their true selves when they’ve been drinking, and it’s apparent Mia is showing hers. No truth serum needed.
She takes another deep inhale. “Though, you’re not as smoky,” she observes.
