Rebel (Renegades #2)(29)
Author: Skye Jordan

“I know, right?” Wes grinned up at her. “The only solution is to never leave me alone.”

The thought that he might not have gotten into a brawl if she’d met him at Lure instead of taking space made Rubi’s stomach bunch. “Please tell me Bolton didn’t do that to you.”

His laugh was heavy with yeah-right attitude. “If he had, he’d have gone to the ICU instead of jail.”

That dark streak he flashed every now and then never failed to shoot hot lightning through her body. Yet, in the next second he was cooing to Rodie like he had a heart as soft as a cloud.

“Jail?” she said. “Why didn’t you use your bribing magic to keep him out?”

“Because security called the cops, and the cops found a bag of coke on him. No bribing him out of that. As soon as I saw uniforms, I stepped back and washed my hands of the f**ker. I might be slow, but I’m not stupid.”

“What’s going to happen to filming?” Rubi asked, immediately calculating the hit Renegades would take with a stall like this.

“Jax is working on it,” he said while patiently letting Rodie smell him. “That’s it. I probably look kinda scary right now, don’t I? Are you keeping your mama safe? What a good boy.”

His voice was smooth and light and calm. Within two minutes, Rodie’s tail went from still as stone to a slight wag. Then his tongue lapped out against Wes’s hand in a taste test. Rubi was about ready to do the same.

“What do you think?” Wes asked, his grin growing. “Your mama seems to like the taste of me.”

Want fisted in her belly. Rubi clenched her teeth against the quickly climbing lust.

When Rodie licked Wes again, his laughter, light and joy filled, tightened her chest. Rodie’s tail was now wagging ferociously, his tongue attacking Wes’s face. “Hold on there, boy, my face isn’t in any shape for that kind of attention.”

While Rubi had been certain Rodie wouldn’t bite Wes, she hadn’t expected him to like the man. Rodie liked very few people other than Rubi. He was a rescue. A dog with a neglected puppyhood that made him protective and defensive, just like her. And, just like her, she realized with frustrated wonder, Rodie seemed immediately magnetized to Wes.

“Man, you’re cute.” Wes scratched Rodie’s neck. “You’re all bark, aren’t you?” His gaze darted to Rubi again with that sexy, lopsided smile. “Lot like your mama, I think.”

His gaze moved down her body, making her aware—and embarrassed—of her too-big, ugly T-shirt hanging to her midthighs and the crazy mess she’d made of her hair when she’d thrown it into a ponytail.

“If Bolton didn’t give you that eye, what happened?”

“He’s an angry drunk and started another damn brawl. Some other angry drunk got in a lucky shot while I was trying to stop the ass**le—Bolton in this case—from yelling obscenities and making it worse.” He pressed his thumb against his temple with a look of pain flashing over his face. “I’m sure as hell glad you didn’t come over like I asked. I might have become homicidal if I was worried about you.”

After a lifetime of fending for herself, it felt good to have someone care about her safety and well-being.

“Come in, let me look at your face.”

“I’m okay. Lexi patched me up last night,” he said without moving from his spot behind the railing, “but I’d still like to come in, maybe get some Tylenol to layer on my Advil. This sonofabitch hurts more than it did last night.” He hesitated. “If…I mean…I’ve given you enough space.”

Too much damn space. “Come in.”

He glanced down, then back to her face, unsure, and lifted the rig he’d built for his brother from where he’d been holding it down by his side. “Can we…maybe…talk about this?”

The tilt of his head, his open and hopeful expression, was the most adorable thing she’d seen since Rodie was a pup. And all this desire welling inside her was probably really, really dangerous.

“I knew I wouldn’t sleep until this stopped throbbing”—he gestured to his face—“so I thought I’d take the chance you were awake. I wasn’t sure if this was your house or not. They all look so different from the beach. But when Rodie started barking, I was sure I had it wrong. I was afraid I might be spending the night in jail.”

“Come on.” When she stepped aside to let him in, she saw shells strewn over the deck at her feet. “You threw shells at my window to get my attention? What are you, twelve? You didn’t think to call first?”

“Sorry.” He released Rodie and made his way to the bottom of the steps. His movements were slow and stiff. When he came around the banister, she saw he was barefoot, his pants rolled halfway up his shins and wet along the bottom. “I didn’t think I’d scare you. I’m blaming it on the fight and a few rattled brains.”

He paused, holding both sides of the railing as if giving her the chance to change her mind. But the sight of his swollen eye, the cut across his nose, that bruise along his ribs, turned her stomach inside out.

“Oh, Wes.” She wanted to undress him, lay him on her featherbed, and kiss away every ache and pain. “Did you go to the ER? You could have some breaks—”

“No, I’m okay. Really. In the scheme of things, this is minor. If anything’s broken, it’s not something they could fix or cast. I’ve broken enough bones to know. But if my injuries make you go all soft, I’ll take any pampering you want to give.” He climbed the steps slowly, and Rodie went to meet him, tail wagging. “Tell me about this monster pup of yours.” He reached down and scratched Rodie’s head, the dog’s lopsided ears waggling with the movement. “Those ears kill me.”

“I know. Every time I look at him, I smile. I can’t help myself. He’s so damned adorable I can’t imagine someone just locking him in a yard and leaving him.”

Wes’s gaze fastened on her. “What do you mean?”

“The guy who owned him as a puppy before he was taken away. More of a f**king animal than Rodie ever was. He put Rodie in a cement yard surrounded by chain link and just left him. Threw him food and water once a day and that was it. Rodie was out there alone twenty-four hours a day for the first six months of his life. Just a baby. Every time I think about it, I want to hunt that man down and chain him to the train tracks. Don’t I, buddy?”