Page 19 of Her Crew

“I like when you dance, pup,” I growl.

She smiles down at me and wiggles some more, rubbing come all over my boxers. This is gross. This is also hot as fuck.

And this is wrong.

I’m supposed to take care of her. I shouldn’t want her.

But I want nothing more.

I feel the heat of Delia’s glare, and when I look up, she’s burning a hole through Tegan. That look unnerves me. It tells me she’s merely sharpening her claws and biding her time. I’ll have to keep an eye on her. I don’t think she’d do anything to hurt Tegan, but where Delia’s concerned, I won’t let my guard down.

Tegan is mine to protect, and I’ll be damned if she gets hurt on my watch.

“Everybody grab your shit and get ready to unload!” Stacks shouts toward the back of the van.

We all sit up a little straighter and look out the windows as we enter yet another town. Now I have to figure out how I’ll keep an eye on Tegan without upsetting the natural order of things . . .

Chapter 12

Tegan

We check into a motel tucked behind some bushes on the side of the road. My gaze drifts up the single-story building. Gutters overflow with debris, and trash skips across the parking lot with every puff of breeze. This place doesn’t look to be in much better shape than my mom’s trailer, to be frank.

Ace pulls me into his chest. “Some motels are better than others, pup,” he whispers.

“Is this worse or better?” I ask, afraid to know the answer. I haven’t stayed in very many motels, but this one is the worst I’ve seen so far.

He just smirks at me, the rise in his lips lifting that anti-eyebrow piercing on his cheek. I notice the subtle motion of that bar and the two silver balls. It’s hypnotizing.

“I gotta go clean up,” Ace says as he releases me.

“Clean up from . . . ?”

And with that, he disappears.

He leaves me with a few members of the crew. Delia, of course. A guy Ace calls Rolo stands nearby, and a guy I haven’t had the chance to talk to kicks a rock near his shoe. I catch his gaze every so often, but he’s pretty unreadable. I can’t tell whether he likes me.

“Hey,” I say to him.

He looks up with a soft small. His dirty-blond hair catches a glint from a streetlight, and his blue eyes sparkle just a little. “Tegan, right?”

“Yes, and you are?”

“Tye. I’m Ace’s friend.”

“Have you guys worked together for a while?” I ask, trying to make idle conversation with yet another man who is way too good-looking to talk to me. Not in the same rugged way as Ace, but Tye is still handsome.

He laughs. “Me and Ace joined at the same time. Probably almost ten years ago now. But we’ve always known each other. We grew up in the same trailer park.”

Ace has been through a lot, so I imagine Tye has too. Maybe we all have. Maybe that’s how we all wound up in this fucked-up little profession together.

Tye brushes his hand through his messy hair before putting an arm around me. “Welcome to the crew, T,” he says with the most reassuring smile I’ve ever seen. For the first time, someone aside from Ace makes me feel welcomed.

And that feels nice.

Stacks exits the motel lobby and approaches us with some room keys. Actual keys, too, not the key cards most places use nowadays. He also informs us that we have to share rooms, and as luck would have it, I get to bunk with Delia.

Joy.