Page 16 of Arm Candy Warrior

The strip club security surrounds us in thirty seconds. Magnum stands, too, now that he’s not being manhandled. The strip club security all recognize him, so they stop their aggressive approach.

Johnny angles his way through the crowd. “What’s going on?” He takes in the overturned table, the spilled drinks, and the very scared looking waitress.

Magnum keeps his mouth shut. Even when Dunnegan also emerges from the ring of security around us, he still stares impassively at the situation.

It seems as if I’m going to have to speak up myself. “Your girl here wouldn’t take no for an answer,” I say, gesturing toward Magnum. “He’s working. He’s not a customer.”

“I guess you’ll have to add this one to your list, too,” Johnny sneers. He comes over and puts an arm around my shoulders, giving Magnum a chance to duck away.

“Of course,” Dunnegan says. He gestures for the waitress to follow him and then discreetly tells another waitress to fix our table so we can continue to enjoy the show.

Overall, it’s handled very well. The customers who were eyeing us now return to watching the stage where everyone’s focus should be. I don’t know why I notice this. I shouldn’t care how the strip club is run.

“You okay?” Johnny asks.

I nod, replaying the events in my head, and wondering why the hell I got all territorial over Magnum.

I dismiss it, telling myself it was because he told her no and she wouldn’t listen.

Yep. That’s all it was. Completely. Totally. Not because of anything else. Never.

7

Astrong grip around my middle wakes me. I’m hauled backward against a chiseled chest and abs. Not a terrible way to wake up. In fact, I’d put it down as my favorite place to wake up. “Hey, babe.”

I groan, still half-asleep and not wanting to wake up to reality.

A soft chuckle makes its way through my haze of sleep. “If you want to go to school, you better get up.”

My eyes dart open. I turn my head. “School?”

Johnny’s lying next to me, his head propped up in the palm of his hand. “Yeah. I made arrangements for you to go back since that’s what you wanted.”

I turn to face him and stuff the pillow under my head to raise me up. Johnny confuses me most of all. Listen, I’m not the type to forgive and forget. I understand he’s not all good, but I’m also beginning to think that he’s not all bad either. This sweetness that comes out of him from time to time keeps drawing me back.

“I know you’re getting bored here. Trust me, I get it. I should’ve realized you’d be going out of your mind waiting for me to get done at the end of the day.” He runs his fingers through my hair. “This doesn’t mean you can have free rein though.”

My gaze narrows.

He smiles. I’m pretty sure he loves ruffling my feathers, by the way. He’s always anxious for me to let my inner bitch out, like the night of the shootout when he told me to keep slapping him. “For your safety,” he tells me. “That’s all. But I do want you to have more freedom.” He threads his fingers through mine, glancing down to watch as he rubs his thumb over my skin. “Oscar’s going to watch you. If he slacks off, let me know.”

I hide a grin. Oh, I’m sure Oscar is all about watching me.

“I’d rather have Magnum,” Johnny grumbles. “But he’s a little old to be going to school.”

“How old is Magnum, anyway?”

Johnny chuckles. “You think I keep tabs on how old my dad’s people are?”

Yeah, I guess he would think that was dumb. Magnum’s definitely older than me though. Older than Johnny, too. He’s got to be pushing mid-twenties at least, I would guess. He can certainly fill out facial hair, anyway. I shrug, acting casual, even though ever since Magnum told me he’d help me leave, I’ve been curious about him. “Just wondering.”

He reaches around and pats my butt. “For someone who wanted to go to school so bad yesterday, you seem to be stalling.”

I lean forward to kiss him on the cheek and then scramble out of the bed to get in the shower. The weird thing is, I don’t even like school all that much. Especially school at Rawley Heights, which is just a joke of epic proportions. That alone should be evidence of how freaking bored I am in Johnny’s apartment all day. At least I’ll have something to do there, even if it is complaining about how terrible the education system is in the Heights.

I find the second least revealing outfit Glo gave me and pull it on before running my hands through my wet hair. Johnny’s in the kitchen when I walk out, sans shirt again. He throws a frozen waffle into the toaster and then spins to face me with his back against the cupboards. “If the police show up, you don’t have to talk to them. Get Oscar. If anyone gives you shit, you let me know. I don’t know how it was before, but Oscar will be attending every single one of your classes with you. He’s not to let you out of his sight. Understand?”

Not that Oscar doesn’t want to see me, but I can imagine all these rules make him want to roll his eyes. He’s not the babysitting type.

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