Page 42 of Mile High Heist

But this?

Heat rushed to my face. I cleared my throat. That made Jax frown suspiciously, like I was up to something. His distrust bruised me all over again.

“Why are you making that face?” Jax demanded.

“What face?”

“Your turned-on face.” He answered his own question, his brows shooting up incredulously. Then a smile threatened to unveil itself. I wanted to die from embarrassment. “You like this, princess?”

“Absolutely not.”

The smile widened into a terrifying grin. Jax pressed forward, driving me back into Madoc.

Suddenly, Madoc wasn’t the only problem. Jax had his own.

“Is that it?” Jax asked, his voice dangerous. “You have a type? You bend over for every outlaw you come across?”

He was still interrogating me. Even now, with him and Madoc using me like some kind of pincushion between them. My face was burning, my throat dry as bone.

I couldn’t let him distract me. I couldn’t let him muddle my thoughts. I couldn’t play his game. I couldn’t tell him—

Suddenly, cold fingers dug into my sides, causing me to yelp and launch forward into Jax.

“Ticklish?” Madoc taunted.

Every nerve in my body was singing. “Screw you, psycho.” I righted myself, grateful that I was no longer pressed against him. Jax was more than I could handle. The two of them together were lethal.

I suspected they knew that.

Jax’s hands dropped and settled on my hips, holding me in place. He looked down at me with a dark expression. “What happened in the bathroom with the mark?”

I shuddered. “I didn’t kill him.”

“I know that.”

My eyes bounced up to his face hopefully.

He looked grim. “The Vipers killed him. They took the prototype. That part was planned.”

Fabric shifted behind me. I shot a glance over my shoulder just in time to watch Madoc lower himself onto the closed lid of the toilet, legs spread wide like an invitation. My face burned again. I quickly looked away.

Jax wasn’t quick enough. He stared at Madoc for a beat, something complicated crossing his face.

I wondered if the two of them had finally manned up and admitted they wanted each other. Knowing Jax, and his chronic aversion to feelings, I highly doubted it. Plus, Madoc was toxic levels of ambiguous.

“Answer my question,” Jax grumbled, redirecting us to safer territory. “Why in the fuck did you put yourself in that position?”

“I needed to make sure the watch was the key.”

“He could’ve killed you.”

“Yeah, well, he nearly raped me instead, so I had time.” My voice was bitter.

Jax went completely still.

Even his heart stopped for a moment, like I’d shocked it. When I peeked up at him, his face was darker than I’d ever seen it. I shuddered again, fear and heat curling inside me.

It wasn’t fair that I liked his anger. It wasn’t fair that I did, in fact, have a type. The violent, unhinged, walking red flag that he was.