“Not that I’m not grateful, but what are you doing here? I told you I was staying at Brysen’s after work tonight.”

“I have to run to Spanky’s and I figured I would let you know where I was going and what I was up to.”

A chill ran along my skin when he told me he was going back to the strip club.

“Why are you going there?” If he told me it was to talk to Honor again, I might hit him. I knew he wasn’t a stranger to the District or the girls there, but I didn’t have to like it. In fact, I was pretty sure in that very moment, I hated it.

“There’s a card game tonight and I want to see if a familiar face is there. I might have a line on the rich guy Race was asking about.”

There was more to it, I could tell.

“Can I go with you?” I fully expected for him to tell me no, to tell me I would just be in the way, but he cocked his head to the side and considered me silently for a long minute before answering.

“You gonna go home with me after?”

I shivered and ran my hands over my arms. “Yes.”

“How much longer until you get off? I think I might want to have a drink at the bar and chat with the dick who was just going to let that drunk idiot hit you in the face.”

“I’m almost done. I just have to finish a few more tables. Leave Ramon alone. I like this job. Normally it’s easy and I make good money. Ramon’s job is to look pretty, not play bouncer.”

He gave me a flat look and I rolled my eyes. Even though it was rewarding behavior that I didn’t really approve of, I used his arm as leverage to reach his mouth and planted a big ol’ sloppy kiss on his mouth. He tasted like cigarette smoke and the worst kind of enticement.

“Thank you.” It came out as a husky whisper.

“Life knocks you around enough as it is, Copper-Top. Dickheads like that don’t get to add to it. At least not while you’re on my radar.”

He followed me back into the restaurant and I looked at him over my shoulder.

“How long do you think that’s going to be?”

He cocked a dark eyebrow at me and the star next to his eye fluttered as his jaw clenched. “What?”

“Me on your radar? How long do you think that might last?”

We shared a long look that was only interrupted by Brysen telling me she had cashed out my last table for me, so all I had to do was clean the section and do my side work. I looked back at Bax and he was watching me in that way he had that made me feel like he was seeing right down into the very heart of what made me, me.

“So far you’ve been on there longer than any other chick I’ve ever met. Hurry up, I don’t want to miss who I’m after.”

I blinked at him like an owl. “You gonna tell me who you’re hunting?”

“No.” With that, he turned on his heel, his face a mask of displeasure as he walked up to the bar. He was probably going to scare Ramon into next week, but I couldn’t say a small part of me didn’t appreciate that he was doing his intimidation and threatening thing on my behalf.

Man, I wished having a crush on him was easier than it was proving to be. His dual personalities were hard to keep up with, and the more time I spent with him, the more reasons I found to appreciate all the badass, criminal tendencies that made up Bax as I did the softer, more tragic parts of him that made up Shane. The last thing I needed or wanted was to fall under the spell of both of them.

I blazed through the rest of the stuff I had to do, fueled partially by the desire to find out what Bax had up his sleeve, but mostly out of fear that he would pull Ramon across the bar and I would end up having to find another job. Brysen kept giving me these knowing looks that made me blush. There was no arguing he was hot, but having a guy go all gladiator for you was something else. I wasn’t used to being protected, even with Race I was still used to taking care of myself. Having Bax act like a buffer between me and all the bad things in the world was a potent aphrodisiac and zero help in making me keep my head on the level where he was concerned.

I pulled my hair out of the tie that held it and shook out the curls. I took off the baggy shirt I wore for my shift so I was left in one of the fitted T-shirts Bax had bought for me. I didn’t have any desire to walk back into Spanky’s looking like someone’s frumpy, put-upon girlfriend. They were simple fixes, but they must have been effective because when those devil eyes rolled over me from head to toe, there was no missing the spark of heat that flared to life in their coal-colored depths.

Ramon came around the end of the bar and stopped right in front of me. He put both of his hands on my shoulders and rattled off a flood of rapid Spanish I didn’t understand. He kissed each of my cheeks and apologized so profusely that Bax had to come free me from his overenthusiastic embrace.

“It’s fine, Ramon, seriously.”

“I should have paid better attention.”

“Things happen.”

“Never again.”

Bax put his hand on the back of my neck and guided me toward the front door.

“You better hope not.” His voice didn’t have any warning, just a tone of finality that implied it better never happen again or no one would ever find Ramon’s body.

We didn’t talk much as he drove to the District. He never really said too much, but when he did, I was learning it was important to listen. There was no missing the fact he was a man of action, but when he decided to say something, it was like the two halves of him merged into a whole.

“Why don’t you want me to know who you’re going to the club looking for tonight?”

His eyes darted to me and his hands tightened fractionally on the steering wheel as he maneuvered the powerful car through the busy street.

“Because if I’m wrong or he’s not there, I don’t want to upset you or get you all worked up for no reason.”

An apprehensive shiver danced over my skin. “Why would I get worked up? What does it have to do with me?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

I tried to wriggle more information out of him, but he just answered my questions with grunts and dark looks. By the time we pulled up in front of the club, I was a ball of nervous energy and frustration. Plus, I was less than thrilled to have another run-in with the girl who had slept with not only my brother but also my . . . whatever Bax was. I knew intellectually I had no claims, no rights about whom either of them slept with before I was in the picture, but that didn’t mean it didn’t make my head hurt and my eye twitch involuntarily.

The imposing, mahogany-skinned bouncer was standing sentinel when we walked in the door. He flashed a gold-enhanced grin at Bax and they exchanged some kind of complicated guy handshake. His eyes drifted over to me and his grin got bigger.

“Damn, girl. You don’t need lipstick to make a fella happy. You just need clothes your size.”

Bax grunted at him and put a proprietary hand on my lower back. “I told her those suckers were dangerous.”

Chuck laughed and I had to fight the urge to cover my arms over my chest.

“Ernie isn’t going to be happy you’re here. In fact, he told me your open invitation has been revoked per Novak.”

“He here tonight?”

“No. No one has seen much of him, but Benny’s been around way more than usual. They want her brother something fierce. Better keep her close, Bax. They figure out she can be used to draw Race out, they’ll take her.”

I shivered and leaned closer to Bax’s side. I didn’t like that Chuck was talking about me like I wasn’t there, but I liked what he was saying even less. I didn’t want to be a pawn in some criminals’ chess game.

Bax tucked me into the curve of his body and tilted his chin up.

“I think that’s why Race waited until I was out to go ghost. I think he knew they would have to get through me to take her, and that buys him time to play whatever hand he’s holding. Benny can f**k off and I welcome Novak trying to come anywhere near her. I would love to have one more reason to break his neck.”

He was always so violent. It should disgust me, make me want to run the other way. It didn’t. It made me feel like Benny and even the mysterious Novak would leave me alone because it wasn’t worth the trouble of tangling with him. Bax was a shield against the reality of living the kind of life I had no choice but to live.

Bax seemed more keyed up than normal. He didn’t have the hood of his sweatshirt up around his face and his eyes kept bouncing around the room and then back to me. The place didn’t look so much like a trashy strip club tonight as it did a trashy casino. There were tables and dealers, and the girls who typically danced on the stage were walking around in itty-bitty outfits, handing out drinks and sitting on the laps of old men while the scent of dirty money and choking smoke from cigars filled my lungs. I felt Bax tense from where I was plastered against his side and he bent down so that his lips were practically touching my ear.

“Okay, see the guy in the gray polo shirt?”

I scanned the crowd. They all looked like bankers and golfers, guys who were out cheating on their wives. I pinpointed the guy Bax was asking about and gave my head a little nod.

“Do you recognize him?”

Why he thought I would recognize the guy confused me, so I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on when the older man suddenly lifted his head like he could feel me staring at him. I felt like the very ground under my feet slipped away. I had never seen him before, didn’t know him from Adam, but I saw those eyes in the mirror every morning when I got up. He looked a lot like Race and clearly he was where my dark green eyes came from. But he was a stranger.

“Lord Hartman.”

It wasn’t a question and I saw a grim line flatten the older man’s mouth when he caught sight of who I was with. I stiffened up and went to pull away from Bax, but his hand tightened on my spine and his dark eyes pinned me in place.

“Don’t.”

“What do you want with him? Why did you want him to see us together?”

I was mad. I didn’t want him to use me. I wanted whatever was going on between us to be more than that. I was fooling myself. Now I understood why he had been so willing to let me come with him on this excursion tonight.

“Stop. He’s the one Race was asking about. Somehow he’s tied into Race’s disappearance and my trip to the joint. I wanted him to see that even with Race gone, someone has your back.”

“Why?”

“Because that rich ass**le wanted you gone.”

I jerked away from him and moved so we were face-to-face. I felt all the blood bleed out of my face and I started to get dizzy. Yeah, I knew Lord Hartman had no use for me, didn’t particularly want to acknowledge that I was a living, breathing human being, but wanting me off the face of the earth seemed a little extreme. What bothered me most was the matter-of-fact, chilling way Bax gave me the information. Talking about a threat on my life should bother him, crack that icy exterior he always had, but there was nothing. His eyes were as black and as infinite as always.

“Great, so my brother is missing and the guy responsible for my birth wants me dead. This was a fun date, Bax. Can we go now?”

“No. I need to talk to him. I need to find some of the missing pieces, and he’s bound to have them.”

“I’m not going over there.” I hated that my voice squeaked in alarm.

He leveled me a hard look.

“I need to talk to him. Either you come with me or you fend for yourself until I’m done. Benny’s bound to show once someone lets him know I crashed the party, so you need to keep your eyes peeled.”

If only he knew how many times I had heard that very warning where he was concerned lately. I backed away from him like I couldn’t get away fast enough. I purposely avoided looking at the man who had already paid one person to get rid of me before I even took my first breath, and now it sounded like he was trying to finish the job. I made my way up to the bar and found an empty seat. The bartender gave me a look and I rolled my eyes. I looked younger than my twenty years but I needed something to calm my nerves, so I hooked a thumb over my shoulder in the general direction of where Bax was winding his way through the crowd.