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“That’s a disgusting habit,” I snapped, looking for any way to distract myself from my own thoughts.

He raised his shoulder yet again, causing me to grit my teeth. “So is murdering people, yet you’ve offed two people so far.”

I widened my eyes, a scoff of disbelief leaving my throat. “Wow. That escalated quickly. Do you want to be the third?”

“Depends,” he smirked. “Are you going to take that towel off and be naked whilst you do it?”

“This towel?” I said, grabbing the bottom and twirling it slightly. “It’s possible. It would make a great noose, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s hard to say. Take it off and see. You never know until you try.”

“Nice try,” I grinned. “But we have plans for today.”

“I know,” he frowned at me. “And I’m trying to get those plans kick-started, but you’re playing hard to get for some bizarre reason.”

“You realise you’re injured, right?”

“You realise they’re not your injuries, right?” He mimicked.

“Unflattering impression, but I’ll be the bigger person and choose to ignore it.”

“Makes a change.”

“You remember said injuries opened up after our last roll in the hay. I’d rather not risk it again, thanks.”

“And I rather would. I decide what I’m allowed to do with injuries. So, drop the towel and get over here.”

“I’m allowed to say no to your advances, Dante.”

“Sure, you are. And I’m allowed to call your bluff and say you’re absolutely full of shit. You’re gagging for it, and I guarantee if I pulled that towel off myself and slipped my hand between your legs, you’d be as wet as ever.”

“Irrelevant,” I said, brushing him off with a wave of my hand and ignoring the way my thighs had clenched at his words. “If you could get your brain out of your dick for a second, we have plans.”

“Again, I know. We’re going around in circles here, Rachel. Towel,” he said, pointing at the cloth, and then at the floor.

“No. Not your type of plans. My plans.”

“And what are your plans?” He said, his eyes never leaving me as I began to walk around the room and gather what I needed.

“We’re going to surprise Bee with a day out. Just like you talked about last night.”

“We are?” He said, still following me. “Could you stay still for a second? You do remember I was hit around the head yesterday? You’re making me dizzy.”

“Oh, so now your injuries are important, are they?” I grinned at him.

“Just stay still.”

“No. Because if I stop, I’ll never get going again. And to answer your earlier question, yes, we are going out with Bee today. Because I know what will happen if we don’t. We’ll say we’re going to do it, then something will come up. Macbeth will come back, or you’ll get called to church, or there will be some other club business that takes priority. We’re going to do it now. We can take my mother home on the way.”

He groaned. “For fuck’s sake. I got up early for this.”

“You have a problem with my mother?”

He rubbed a tired hand over his face. “I burnt her fucking home to the ground, Rachel. She has a problem with me, and she doesn’t mind fucking voicing it, either.”

“You brought her back into our lives,” I replied in a sing-song voice.

“Yeah, because I stupidly wanted to make you happy. Fuck knows why.”

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