Page 26 of Playing With Love

I was still filling my lungs with the oxygen I needed to tell Frank exactly what I thought of him calling Nick Clark an asshole when Tucker’s door swung open. The look on his face didn’t bode good tidings.

“What’d she say?” I asked.

“Rumors are flying around the compound.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“That Beatrice fell in with the wrong crowd and Mackenzie did everything she could to pull her out. I asked Jessica if Allyson was up for a visit. She said Allyson’s holed up in her room, but she thinks we need to get over there quick. She’s afraid Allyson’s going to go back to Tennessee.”

Frank scoffed. “Is she dumb? Her friend’s dead and she wants to rush to the scene of the crime. How brainwashed is she?”

That was it.

I’d had enough.

I whirled on my partner. Normally my height didn’t bother me. I was not one of those women who wished for a supermodel’s length. Though right then having to look up at Frank—which meant he was staring down his nose at me—only served to annoy me more.

“So many times,” I fumed. “Like, a hundred times a day I wonder what I did to get stuck with you. At least fifty of those times, I call you an asshole in my mind. The last time that thought popped into my head was less than two minutes ago when you were going on about Nick Clark. Here’s the thing, Frank, the man with the biggest… you know what in the room doesn’t need to swing it around. He knows his dick is big. He’s secure in the knowledge he has it going on. He doesn’t need to make himself feel important by injecting stupidly into a conversation. You’d know this if you weren’t a self-absorbed, lazy prick, with the worst case of tiny dick I’ve ever had the displeasure of dealing with.”

“Fuck—”

“Careful, Delco,” Tucker rumbled.

Frank’s gaze snapped to Tucker along with his mouth snapping closed.

Maybe he wasn’t so stupid after all. Or he instinctively knew Tucker was the man with the bigger dick in this scenario and he’d wipe the floor with Frank’s lifeless body if he mouthed off.

“It shocks me I have to explain to you why Allyson would want to go back to Tennessee. Not only is it her home but her friends are there. Friends who are mourning the loss of one of their own. It has nothing to do with brainwashing, it’s about loyalty and adoration. Neither of those emotions you seem to possess, so really I shouldn’t be all that shocked you don’t get it.”

“You don’t know me⁠—”

“I know just yesterday, you went to get coffee instead of taking my back.”

“Why the fuck would I take your back and get buried under shit right alongside you?”

“Lizzy,” Tucker called. When I glanced at him he shook his head.

I stepped back and blew out a breath.

As per usual, Frank wrongly read the situation.

“I see the stories about you are bullshit,” Frank sneered.

I didn’t know what stories he was talking about and I didn’t care.

“No, pal,” Tucker huffed. “You’re blind as fuck. You think Liza pulled back because I called her off. Which brings us back to her original assertation—though in this case the alpha doesn’t have a dick, she doesn’t need to assert her dominance. She’s simply more intelligent than you are. Me reminding her that’s the case was a time-saving measure. As fun as it would be to watch her talk you into a deeper hole, we have work to do.”

Frank’s dirty look aimed Tucker’s way missed its mark. And when Tucker smirked, causing Frank’s face to flame a brighter red, I was worried he would have blood vessel damage if this didn’t end.

“We need to⁠—”

“Fuck you, Liza. I’m calling Shannon on my way to the airport.”

With that threat, he turned on his loafers and stomped down the hall.

I wasn’t sure which was more amusing, him threatening to tattletale or him stomping like a five-year-old having a temper tantrum.

“What the fuck was that?” Tucker asked.