Page 50 of Junkyard Dog

She jumped as Alex’s voice murmured in her ear from behind, swinging around to see him standing there, a carbon copy of the man across the table. She looked back for a moment. “Wow. That’s actually kind of creepy.”

An odd look flashed across his face. “Why don’t we go grab a drink? Maybe delay the inevitable introduction to my asshole of a brother?”

She laughed in relief, taking his arm and resting her forehead on his biceps, inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne. “He can’t be that bad.”

He gave her a tight smile as they squeezed through group after group of partiers. “Bo’s a lot to take if you aren’t prepared,” he said slowly, waving the bartender over and ordering two beers. “So just be ready for anything and don’t let anything he says or does get to you, okay?” He waved off the change when the bartender returned and handed over her drink, putting his arm around her waist and taking a breath. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Eighteen

Charlotte’s eyes widenedas Bo began to expand on his suggestion. “Excuse me?”

“Ignore him,” Alex snarled, pulling his chair tighter to her and staring his brother down, the tendons in his neck straining.

Bo leaned back and downed the last of his whiskey. “All I’m saying is Alex and I have had a lot of practice and we have a pretty tight system. I think you might get a kick out of it.” He met Alex’s glare, rolled his eyes, and stood. “Or not.”

She watched Bo weave toward the bar, stopping intermittently to flirt with the women who approached him every few steps, and looked at Alex. “What’s tag-tea—”

“Nothing,” he growled, tracking his brother. “This was a mistake.”

She put her hand on his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, pulling her phone out of her purse. “It’s fine,” she countered. “He’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Yeah, well, he’s still mildly sober,” he muttered, absently spinning the base of his beer on the table. “This is Bo on his best behavior.”

She finished reading the definition oftag-teamingon her phone and sat up, slipping her cell back into her purse.

Whoa.

Alex ran his hand through his hair, plastering a fake smile on his face when Max approached them. “How’s the hunt tonight?”

“Two shutdowns and a find-me-later,” Max reported. “I’m stealing your chick for a few dances.”

She pursed her lips.

“She’s going to kill you one of these nights.” Alex laughed, shifting his legs so she could stand up. “I’ll get Bo to back off a bit and I’ll be in a better mood when you return, okay?”

Biting back a comment about her newly acquired tag-team knowledge, she joined Max and the others on the dance floor, refusing to allow her imagination to ruin her night out.

*

Alex stood besideBo, his gaze drifting to Charlotte while she danced with Max and the rest of her coworkers.

So damn gorgeous.

“Some chick you’re just hooking up with?” Bo sneered, yanking Alex’s attention back to his increasingly drunk brother. “That,” he slurred, pointing his shot of tequila at the dance floor, “isn’t one of your hookups.”

“Friends with benefits,” he murmured, tearing his eyes off Charlotte. “She’s a nice girl. Anyone else in here is fair game.” He scanned the bar. “Just ease off her, okay? She isn’t like us.”

Bo eyed him with suspicion. “This isn’t the piece of ass you were asking me about a few weeks ago, right?”

“The hell? No,” he scoffed, passing the bartender a twenty and handing Bo another beer to chase the shot in his other hand. “Charlotte’s just a regular at the lounge with the rest of the rangers.”

“Good,” Bo replied, slamming back the tequila and sliding the glass across the counter. “Because Ryan thinks you’re holding out down here, and he thinks that’s the reason why.” He cocked his head toward the dance floor, his normally gravelly voice growing hoarser the more he drank. “Your friend-with-benefits has no ass but great tits.”

Alex took a long swig of his beer.

He should have ended it weeks ago. Before there was any chance Charlotte would find her way into Bo’s sights, and before he could become irreparably tarnished in her eyes.

Before you slept with her, you bastard.

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