Page 69 of No Saint
“Sure.” She grabbed a glass from the cabinet. “If therearerats…”
“I just said—oh, fuck!” Rogue jumped onto the counter when a black and white—very non-wild-looking—rat darted out from behind the fridge. Dog was already screaming and scrambling after it, his feet wheel-spinning on the linoleum like some kind of cartoon sketch. “Get it!” Rogue shouted. “Get the rat!”
Dog’s screams reached a fever-pitch.
“I told you idiots there were rats!” The smug look on his face fell, his confused gaze pinging between us. “Why aren’t you two freaking out?”
“You haven’t been sampling your own product, have you?” Jade glanced from him to me, the look of confusion on her face pretty damn convincing. “You know it can cause hallucinations.”
I bit back a laugh. I should have helped him out, but it was his fault the girls were here in the first place. He deserved to think he was insane for a day or two.
“What do you mean, therearen’tany rats?” He pointed toward the dining room. “You saw that thing! Why else is Dog losing his shit?”
He did have a point there, but watchinghimlose his shit was too good.
Jade’s gaze met mine, a silent agreement to screw with that asshole passing between us.
“Because you said ‘getthe rats.’ You know he loses it anytime we say ‘get’ anything. Watch.” I snapped my fingers at Dog, who was currently crouched down, ass in the air, and nose wedged beneath a cabinet. “Get the Bent Neck Lady. Get it!” I pointed toward the living room, and Dog took off. “See?”
Rogue threw his hands in the air. “I know what I fucking saw!” Then he left the kitchen in a huff.
As soon as his footfalls hit the steps, Jade laughed. “God, I struggled not to jump when it ran toward me.”
“Hate to hand it to Rogue, but they are gross. Their tails?—”
“Right.” The smile on Jade’s face fell. “Lot of that going around…”
I had called her gross, hadn’t I? Not that I’d meant it. It just came out. Now I felt like a dick. The last thing I’d wanted to do was hurt her feelings, but jealousy was a bitch. I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “I’m sorry I called you gross. It’s just, you know, not safe and shit.”
Her attention dropped to the floor. “You’re sorry, and you’re going to try to justify it, but you still think I’m gross.” God, she could sound pitiful when she wanted to.
“I do not. I was…” Jealous. Possessive. “Look, I get it. You need money.”
“Yeah, and I hate doing it, right along with stealing. I feel like I’m betraying my dad every day. I’m pretty sure he’d rather lose his house than see me get arrested, so call it the lesser of two evils.”
Pretty sure he’d rather see her get arrested than find out she was on Lonely Fans, but like hell I was saying that. “You aren’t getting arrested.”
“That’s not my point. I just mean…there are people who earn a lot on Lonely Fans. Legally.” She frowned. “Granted, they’re probably doing morestuff.”
The last thing I wanted to think about was Jade doing morestuff.One way I could prevent that, make sure she was making more than enough money to help her parents so she didn’t go down that road. Jade would sacrifice damn near anything for her mom and dad.
“I told you I would help you. Then you don’t have to worry about what otherstuffpeople are doing.” The need to fix the whole situation ate away at me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, thinking about it, so I fished my keys from my pocket and turned for the back door. “Come on, we can go scout out some things.”
“Now? It’s almost curfew.”
I turned to look at her. “You’re with me.”
“So, there’s no curfew if I’m with my jailer?”
“Do you want help or not? Or would you rather do otherstuff?”
She stood beside the counter for a second longer before finally following me through the doorway. “Fine.”
We rounded the side of the house to my truck. I cranked the engine just as she slid into the passenger seat.
Streetlights flickered over her face as I drove. She didn’t look happy.
“Other than me being an ass, are you okay?”
