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I barked out, “You better watch your fucking mouth, Lawson.”
“Woah,” his tone teasing. When I didn’t say anything and the silence stretched between us, he sighed. “I’m not trying to bring you down man, but let’s face it—you’re 38 and she’s 26. That’s a pretty big gap and I don’t want you to get hurt because she’s not ready for everything you are.”
I was seething. Mostly because he had acted like he was totally supportive of us to Willow’s face. I’d never known the man to be a two-faced asshole, but I couldn’t deny it was exactly what he was showing himself to be.
“How dare you, Lawson.” I growled, “I get it, you could never understand, but I saw her, and I knew she was mine. She. Is. Mine.”
He sighed. I tried to not lose my shit, but he had some exposure to this kind of thing before. He had heard a lot of the same stories I had. Hell, he was the entire reason I knew about the job at Aces in the first place. Through his job with J&J Construction, he got hooked-up into an unconventional family made up of the tattoo artists at Banks Ink., the rock band Suburban Outcasts and the Higgins Security guys. He’d heard the stories, same as I did after I met Axel, Maddox and Steve at Aces.
It might not happen often, but whenever any of the family comes in, they greet me like I’m part of their family. Amelia, the unspoken matriarch, always gives me a hug. The first time I wasn’t sure if her husband, Beckett Banks, was going to try and punch me, but he just smirked and shrugged a shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal.
Only when the hug lasted a little long did he warn her with a growl, “Amelia.”
She looked up at me and winked before giving me one more squeeze. When she was pulled out of my arms, I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve seen the women of the family in action enough to know they like to deny loving the cavemen ways of their men, but they really love it.
Lawson works with someone who was set-up by the photographer of the family, Ellie Banks, during a stranger photoshoot. If anyone should have understood the love between Willow and I being real, it was Lawson. To find out he questioned it, questioned me, questioned us, was like a slap to the face.
His voice was small and hesitant as if it was finally sinking in how serious I was, “Are you sure?”
I hung up on him. He called me back ten minutes later and told me he was sorry and only wanted to make sure. I could almost see him puffing up his chest on the other side of the phone. “It’s my job as your big brother to protect you, Linc.”
I groaned, “Three minutes, Law. Three fucking minutes.”
He snarked, “Still counts.”
We’ve been cool since then and I never told Willow about the conversation. She doesn’t need to know. She was so excited about Lawson liking her. I don’t doubt that he did and does like her, but I’d hate for her to doubt herself or us even a little bit.
Right now, my woman is killing me. Fucking killing me. She’s on the dance floor at Aces with her girls. My women aren’t the only ones here either. It’s a full-on girl’s night out at Aces tonight. My woman, Coral and Paisley became fast friends with the rest the family’s women tonight when I introduced them.
It was the only time I was allowed to be around them. Willow kissed my cheek and shooed me away, “Now, go work, Big Daddy.”
She knows it always makes my cock hard as fucking granite when she calls me that. It’s probably why she did, my naughty fucking Little Bit. The way she’s out on the dance floor moving her hips must be designed to drive me up the wall as well.
There’s no other explanation for it.
There’s no way she thinks I went back to the front door. She’s gotta know I’m watching her every single move. Aces is safe now, thanks to an undercover operation spearheaded by Higgins Security, but I’m still not going to let my woman out of my sight.
She’s the sexiest woman in the club and there are way too many men here. They could touch her. They sure as fuck are drooling as they look at her. It has me about two seconds from ripping the arms off someone.
I’m sure that would be violating some sort of policy. Considering how much I love my job, I can’t risk it. They better not touch her though because then all bets are off. The moment my woman and her friends walked through the door to the main floor, Tex was in my earpiece asking me if he was needed at the front.
I growled out, “Yes. I need to keep an eye on my girl.”
I heard chuckles from Tex, Dane and Gage in my ear, but I don’t give a fuck what they think. They’re all single guys so of course they don’t know what the fuck is going on or how hard it is to let your woman set foot out into the world. It can be evil and dirty as fuck out in the world and all I want to do is wrap my woman up in bubble wrap and lock her away.
I think she’d almost let me do it. Almost, but not quite.
So, I’m watching her from the shadows as she dances with her friends.
A man wearing a cheap knockoff of an expensive suit starts circling the girls. His shirt is unbuttoned way too fucking far and it makes him look like a sleazy piece of shit. I don’t know if he’s watching my girl or not at first, since he can’t seem to make up his mind between the three dancing women. I don’t like it.
I start to make my way around the edge of the club, keeping myself to the shadows, but needing to be closer just in case. She knows not to accept a drink from anyone, even though we’ve gotten rid of the trash, so I’m not worried about him drugging her. He could still touch her though.
Just as I suspected he winds his way around the fringes of the group and stops right behind Willow. I know exactly what he’s seeing right now. Her ass if juicy and fucking glorious. It’s hard not to see it and not take a bite out of it.
When he presses his front to Willow’s back, I see red. My feet are taking me over to this asshole who doesn’t understand fucking boundaries before I even realize what I’m doing. I see Willow struggle a little, trying to get out of his grasp as his arm flexes to keep her against him. Hell fucking no.
She pushes back against him, her wide eyes look around, clashing with mine before she starts to panic. I can see the relief there, but she doesn’t relax her body against this stranger. Good fucking girl.
