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“No,” she snapped.
A knock came at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” Livy stiffly stood, her gaze hard on Deke once more. “But this conversation is not over.”
Watching her all but stomp out of the room, Deke sank back into his chair with a rough sigh. The woman might be submissive, but she mentally backed down for no one. When she got an idea in her head, there was no getting it out. Unfortunately for her, she’d passed her tenacity onto him, so she rarely succeeded in changing his mind on anything.
“You’re not really thinking of packing your stuff and jetting off to Australia, are you?” asked Cash.
“Nah,” replied Deke. “Just wanted to see her face turn purple.”
“Bailey, hi!”
Deke’s gut clenched at his mother’s booming welcome.
“Hi, Mrs. D,” said Bailey, her voice making his cat go completely rigid. “I wanted to bring your plate—”
“It’s just wonderful to see you,” Livy practically sang. “Come on in.”
Bailey cleared her throat. “Well, actually, I was gonna—”
There was the sound of the front door shutting, and then two sets of footfalls.
Deke felt his muscles tighten. He did not need to be around Bailey right now. His body was already a hot fucking mess. Her close proximity would only make it worse. And yet, his pulse did a pleased little jump of anticipation.
His mother all but shoved her into the dining room, beaming like a loon. “Look who’s here, everyone.”
Clarence and Cash called out their hellos, flashing her warm smiles. Deke merely grunted.
Bailey lifted her hand in greeting. “Yo.”
Curling her arm around the mamba’s shoulders, Livy asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
Bailey nodded. “Yup, I’m good.”
“What about dessert?”
“Uh …”
“You’ll have some with us,” Livy declared, herding her toward the table. “Here, you can sit with Cash.”
Deke felt his upper lip try to quiver. He’d expected his mother to direct Bailey to the empty seat beside him. Which, yeah, would have annoyed him. But it annoyed him more to see Bailey sitting beside his brother, who instantly gave her his full attention—something Livy obviously hoped would spark some jealousy in Deke. Yeah, he knew what she was doing.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t working.
In fact, it was working a little too well—a darkly primitive jealousy began to slink through his system, heating his blood and twisting his stomach, as she and Cash nattered away to each other like old friends.
His cat’s fur puffed up. The feline might not particularly want her attention, but nor did he want her so focused on another male. And he wasn’t pleased that she clearly hadn’t learned her lesson that Deke wasn’t a person she should dismiss. That was exactly what she was presently doing: Acting as if he wasn’t there.
He drew in a calming breath. It was a mistake. Because he got a lungful of her scent, and it made his body tighten. Harden. Burn.
Meanwhile, his mother collected all the plates with a smile, looking rather pleased with herself and shooting Deke the occasional smug smirk. He ignored that, fixing a glare on the main source of his frust—
He bit back a hiss as electrically charged arousal fired through him. He held his body still, subtly breathing through the hot, crackly wave as he waited for it to subside. His skin suddenly felt too tight, as if being stretched from the inside out.
Hearing his cell chime, Deke forced his muscles to unlock as he fished it out of his pocket. It was a message from Tate: Keep a lookout for jackals. Bailey told Havana that two of the Westwood Pack earlier approached her in the parking lot outside your complex to question her.
Deke went motionless, anger bubbling in his gut. His cat rose to his feet in a slow, menacing move.
Another message came through: They didn’t threaten or attempt to hurt her, but they made it clear they’d be back.
Then the assholes didn’t have a lick of sense, because if she didn’t chase them off herself, the pride would do it for her. Descriptions?
Dark hair. Tall. Trim. No facial hair. Black suits.
I’ll keep an eye out for them.
Also, remember Ginny from the rec center? The one who wants Bailey fired?
Yes. Deke had spotted the woman a time or two when he’d gone to the rec center to either keep watch over Havana or escort her home. She slept with the guy Bailey was dating, the one who recently got jumped, right?
Yeah, her. She blames Bailey for the attack. She turned up at the center today with his two brothers, who seem as suspicious of Bailey as Ginny.
Deke ground his teeth, and his cat spat a hiss. They might not have warm, fuzzy feelings for the mamba, but they didn’t like that anyone would think to come at her that way. I’ll keep a lookout for them as well.
A bowl of warm apple pie was placed in front of him by his still smirking mother.
