Page 47 of Devil's Queen
“It’s done.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“The guy who roughed you up. He’s been taken care of. Personally,” he answers confidently. Yet, there’s an edge to his voice. One that makes me worry he’s not telling me the whole story.
“Is he alive?”
“Unfortunately,” he mutters as he steps forward and plops into the leather chair in front of my desk. “He nor the club will be a problem for you anymore. He paid the price for that deal.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Rex smirks. “You know I can’t give you the details, Rem, but what I can say is his club position is going to be a lot less business and more of the business end of a soap bucket and sponge.”
“You didn’t.” I laugh. Is what he’s suggesting even possible? I’d only heard of officers being demoted but not losing their patches and becoming prospects again. “Can you do that?”
“It happened if that answers your question.”
“I’ll give you points for creativity.”
Rex leans back in his chair, a satisfied grin on his face. “Yeah, well, that’s just the beginning. We’re going to make this guy’s life a living hell. It’s not the outcome I wanted for him laying a fucking hand on you and your business, but it is what it is.”
“You don’t have to do that. You don’t have to hurt someone who touches me. I’m a big girl, Rex. I take care of my own problems.”
“I know you do, Rem,” Rex says, his expression serious now. “But I promised you that I’d protect you and take care of this, and I did. But this is about how I feel about you and our relationship. These guys have been running unchecked for too long. Taking and touching things they have no business trying to claim.”
“Relationship? Rex, we aren’t in a relationship. We may have slept together, but that was a one-time occurrence.”
Rex rises from his chair and stalks around the table. His large arm leans forward, his lips so close to mine that I can smell his toothpaste's mint aroma. “When are you going to see that what we have is inevitable, Rem? It’s been eight fucking years, and I still feel the same way about you that I did back then.”
“In eight years, Rex,” I say, my voice steady and unyielding. “I’ve grown and changed just like you have as has the world around us. We can’t live in the past.”
Rex’s eyes flash with anger, and he takes a step back, his body language telling me he’s about to argue. But something stops him. Maybe it’s the coldness in my eyes or the steeliness of my resolve, but he takes a deep breath and lowers his chin away from mine. His gaze shifts back up, two pools of the deepest blue staring back at me.
“I’ve waited this long, Rem. Time doesn’t mean shit if it means I get you in the end.”
Before I can protest, his lips are on mine. I want to tell him no, that I can’t do this, but instead, I find myself kissing him back. I want to push him away because deep down, I know I can’t trust him. Yet, my mind and body aren’t on the same page.
Rex’s hands cup my face, deepening the kiss. He pulls away briefly, both of our chests heaving.
“We’re inevitable, baby. Stop trying to rationalize this and just fucking let me in.”
“I can’t,” I mutter back. No matter how much I want to give in, I can’t.
“Yes, you can,” he answers before a noise from the shop below draws our attention. The sound of footsteps coming up the steps leading to the second-floor offices grows louder with each step.
“You expecting someone?”
“No,” I answer, my hand going to the handgun at my hip. Rex moves around my desk, moving toward the door when I see my mama’s head poking up from the stairs.
“Shit, it’s Mama,” I mutter under my breath. This is the last thing I need right now. She can’t know he’s here. “Hide,” I hiss at him before I push out of my chair and try to shove him behind the open door to my office.
“I’m getting a little déjà vu.” He laughs, Rex’s hot breath at my ear. “Except the last time you were trying to hide me, it was from your dad and, if I recall, you were wearing much less clothing.”
I smack him and hush him at the same time. “Stay quiet.”
“Why are you so on edge? We’re adults, Rem. It’s not like your mom is walking in on us desecrating your desk again.”
“I said shut up,” I order him again.