Page 29 of Worshiping Faith

He means it. He’ll drag Jinx somewhere else and break him to pieces if I ask him to.

But I shake my head. “Can I try first?”

Even at the end of the world, I’m still an inmate advocate.

I see the second Dax gives in.

He closes his eyes briefly, breathes out slow. “I need to know where he got it from,” he says. “If there’s a stash, someone holding onto shit they shouldn’t have, it’s not just about drugs. It’s weapons. Or worse.”

He’s right.

And if he beats Jinx into mush, we may never know just how deep this problem goes.

“Right,” I say. “And if you beat the ever-loving shit out of Jinx, you might never find out.”

Dax doesn’t argue, but his body is tense under my hand.

“He’s a junkie, not an asshole,” I say.

“He’s an asshole too.”

I barely have time to laugh before he dips down, pressing a kiss to my nose. His mouth lingers there for half a second, just breathing me in.

My heart clenches.

“You see things in us that aren’t there,” he murmurs.

I lift my chin, brushing my lips along his jaw, feeling the heat of his skin against mine. “You’re all men.”

His breath catches. But only for a second.

“Let me try?” I whisper.

A beat.

Then, without a word, Dax turns toward Jinx.

His steps are slow, deliberate, like a predator deciding whether to bite or wait. “Here’s the deal, Jinx.”

Jinx flinches, eyes darting between us, his hands still twitching at his sides.

“Faith is gonna ask you some questions, real sweet-like,” Dax continues, voice smooth as sin. “And you’re gonna answer her.” His head tilts slightly, just enough to let the weight of his next words sink in. “Because nothing pisses me off more than some tweaker lying to my woman.”

Jinx freezes mid-twitch.

“You won’t walk out of here if you disrespect her. Clear?”

Silence.

Jinx swallows hard.

And I see it.

The exact second he realizes his life is on the line.

I step past Dax, keeping my movements slow and deliberate, and motion toward a chair by the guard desk.

“You can sit down,” I say, keeping my voice calm, steady.

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