Page 103 of Live for Me

“Is that how this works now?” Jersey asked. “She says jump and you ask how high?”

“No,” Utah snapped. “She says fuck meand I ask how hard.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually been this happy,” Indy said while our two resident titans tried to stare one another to death. “Should we just measure dicks and get it over with? I know I’m already half-hard. What about you guys? We can use my hand for scale.”

“Come on, Jersey Boy,” I said and walked toward the door in a desperate attempt to break the tension. “We should talk.”

“Persephone is still up and running,” Kyle said once Jersey was following me. “Ready to go anytime.”

Jersey crowded me the rest of the way out the door when I stopped to look back at Utah.

“He’ll still be here when you get back, Memphis,” Indy called after us while Jersey scoffed and guided me toward the garage.

“I really don’t have any interest in learning to drive right now, Jersey.”

“I haven’t touched her in months,” he said and picked up the pace to get to his car. “I’mdriving.”

The exhale that came out of him as soon as he had the overhead door open was enough to make me laugh out loud.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be alone for…whatever this is?” I asked.

“Fucking perfect,” he said. To the car. Like he was alone anyway. “Get in, Memphis.”

I had to wait there quietly and uncomfortably while the lunatic touched every inch of that dashboard and then the steering wheel. Then I had to cover my mouth to try not to laugh when he fucking groaned as he started the engine.

“Seriously, Jersey, do you want me to just go back inside?”

He laughed.

A very real laugh that wasn’t forced or unpleasant or done out of pure rage.

“Nah. I missed you. And I imagine you’ve got a nearly endless list of chores for me. Catch me up, buttercup.”

“Did you come back here with a refreshed list of names?” I asked and rolled my eyes. “Because, still and forever more, no.”

He smiled while he pulled the car onto the road. I didn’t bother to ask where we were going. My assumption was that there was no destination. He was just driving to drive.

“I really don’t expect you to go back to work, Jersey,” I said quietly. “Utah just called because—” I stopped when I wasn’t really sure how much I even wanted to share with him. “Because things are weird around here right now.”

“Utah, huh?”

“I really don’t expector wantyou to talk about him either,” I laughed.

“I’m here now either way. You might as well put me to use. There’s not much else to do around here, anyway.”

I started scraping the nail polish off my thumb with my index finger. “The President’s organization has a human trafficking side to it.”

“That’s —. How in —? What?”

“Right. I still think I’m in a weird state of shock over it.”

“I wasn’t even allowed to kill people and there’s a whole set of them that has no issue with sellinghumans?”

“I want to end it, Jersey,” I said quietly. “Ineedto.”

I disliked everything about the look in his eyes when they landed on me after that.

“But I don’t want you back in this if you’re finally in a better place,” I added quickly. “That’s why I didn’t call you myself. You look good, Jersey Boy. Better than I think I’ve ever seen you. I don’t want to undo that. Not even for this.”

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