Page 23 of Crush's Fall

Crush was a bit struck by the amount of money Axle had squirreled away, but then again, she didn’t have much less than that, so she wasn’t sure why it shocked her so much.

“The man you shoved out of here has a plan for that,” Pinky said and shrugged. “Might as well hear him out.”

At Crush and Axle’s nods, Skull walked over and opened the door. An irritated Xander walked back into the room.

“Pinky said you have a plan,” Axle said.

Xander crossed his arms over his chest and gave a nod. “Yeah. I do. But it means you all will have to start talking to me and stop shutting me out of rooms.”

“Pinks, get control of your man before he pisses off the wrong wolf,” Crush commented, noticing Axle wasn’t too fond of the stunt bastard’s attitude.

“Let it go, Xander.” Pinky gave the man’s forearm a squeeze with her hand. “I told you it was going to be like this. Just tell Axle what you offered.”

Xander huffed out a sigh. Then, he lost the attitude and explained, “I could buy the property and put my LLC on the deed. As for use of the place, I would give you guys unlimited access to it year-round. That way, there’s no one directly from the Howlers or the Claws on the deed, and there’s no lease agreement with any of your names on it, either. I plan to be around. My sister and future brother-in-law are your family. And my mate is your family. I’m not going anywhere. Let me help. I have the funds, I have the ability, and I want to.”

“How does this benefit you if you’re paying for it?”

The man’s newly trimmed blond hair stuck out a bit when Xander ran his hand through it, obviously irritated with the question. Then, his sea-green eyes locked on Axle’s and were determined when he said, “It benefits me every single day that I know my sister is not in harm’s way, that I know my brother-in-law isn’t in danger, that I know my mate has a safe place to go to after she’s done kicking ass. It benefits me greatly.”

Crush had to admit that she liked the man’s answer. Just like Georgia and Emerson, Xander was part of the family. She hoped Pinky didn’t chew him up and spit him out. That would make holiday dinners uncomfortable.

“Fine. Crush, I think we should send Pinky and Skull to take a look with a couple of other members, maybe Ginger and Top. If the place looks solid enough, we’ll have our new friend here put in an offer. Everyone good with that?”

Crush nodded. It sounded good to her. “I agree. Mind taking Lucy with ya?”

Skull snorted. “But how would you survive without your mate?”

“Sorry, Boss Lady,” Pinky began, “there’s no chance in hell you’re pawning him off on us just because you get off on finding new ways to torture him.”

Crush heard Axle chuckled as she glared at her second in command. “You’re a bitch. You know that?”

“Nah. I’m a pussy,” Pinky, a tiger shifter, replied with a grin.

Pinky

It ended up just being four of them going to look at the property. Trying to ignore the tension in the car between Crush and Lucifer, Pinky focused on the map and gave directions to Xander.

The two in the backseat were being ridiculous. In the beginning, when they first brought Lucifer back to the compound, Pinky understood why Crush was standoffish with Lucifer, but it had beenmonths,and the man had done nothing but try to earn their trust and Crush’s attention. Pinky wouldn’t say Lucifer was doing it in the most romantic way, but he was set on a relationship with Crush. Most of the time, she treated him like scum, on the rare occasion she acknowledged his presence at all.

“Crush,” Lucifer began in the backseat, “you gonna look at me?”

“I’d like to keep my breakfast in my stomach. So, no, probably not,” Crush replied, sounding bored.

Pinky rolled her eyes. As Crush’s best friend, she knew that was a bunch of bullshit. Crush wanted to climb the man like a tree and camp out on his face. Lucifer’s cocky attitude and often biting words only fed Crush’s desires, just as Crush’s ambivalence and sometimes disdain only encouraged Lucifer’s affection toward her.

If you had to define toxic relationships, they would be the perfect example, but it worked for them, and it wasn’t up to anyone else to tell them how to manage their relationship. Crush would deny there was a relationship, but she was lying. Lucifer was her mate. They all knew it. She just had yet to act on it.

That was the part that boggled Pinky’s mind. How could Crush see Lucifer every day andnotclaim him? It was difficult for Pinky to be in the same car with Xander and not give in to the annoying constant itch to bite him and mate him. There was no way she would be able to spend every day around Xander for that many months and not act on it.

“If that happens, I’ll give you something else to eat,” Lucifer offered.

Xander snorted a laugh and shook his head. “Sorry,” he choked out.

Pinky stared at her yet-to-be-claimed mate and warned, “If you ever talk to me like that—”

Xander shot her a wide-eyed glance. “No need to warn me. I wouldn’t.”

Pinky smiled at him. “Watch the road. Take a left in a mile.”

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