Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(30)

I heard a shuffle of a boot and looked over Dax’s shoulder to see Theo standing up from his seat on the steps.

I squeezed Dax’s hand, then slid down to the ground from his truck seat.

The movement put me incredibly close to Dax’s body. Dax who hadn’t stepped back when I’d come down.

We stayed there like that for about five breaths, both of us frozen. Him not moving back, and me not stepping around him.

I looked up into his eyes and saw something there. A spark. A look of need.

Then it was all gone because Theo spoke.

“Rowen, can we talk for a second?” Theo asked.

Dax’s eyes closed for a few heartbeats as if he was having to tell himself to regain control.

I placed my hand on Dax’s arm, and he opened his eyes and stepped back, dislodging my touch.

I tried to tell myself I wasn’t upset by his obvious discomfort.

Then turned to Theo.

“What’s up?” I asked, not stepping away from Dax.

He didn’t step away from me, either.

Instead stayed exactly where he was as he waited for Theo to say what he had to say, making it more than obvious he wasn’t willing to leave.

Was it because he was my friend? Or because he was feeling something more like I was toward him?

Because Jesus, I hadn’t thought of Theo in days. Dax had been the star of my thoughts. My dreams. My fantasies.

“Alone?” Theo pushed.

I was already shaking my head.

“To be honest, Theo…” I scrubbed my hands over my eyes. “I’ve had a long ass day. I’ve just had to deal with your new girlfriend, and I’m not really willing to play this game. Either say what you have to say or don’t. I don’t care. Dax and I have somewhere to be in about fifteen minutes, and I was only stopping by here to grab my boxes of stuff and pee. I’m done here in this town. So get on with it.”

Theo frowned as if he was surprised that I’d said what I did.

Dax, on the other hand, had a grin on the corner of his mouth as if he was proud of me.

When Theo still didn’t say anything, I’d decided that enough was enough.

Scooting passed Theo, I headed up the stairs to my apartment.

Dax followed, and a third set of steps did, too.

I rolled my eyes as I opened the door to my place with confident hands.

Much more confident than I would’ve been had Dax not been there.

Tossing my keys onto the nearest flat surface, I headed to my bathroom and ignored the two men and the tension that I’d left behind me.

When I got done and washed my hands, I made my way back into the living room to find the two men in a stare-off.

“You ready, Dax?” I asked, hoping to break whatever fucked up man thing they had going on.

Honestly, I was quite pissed at Theo for acting like this.

He had no right.

“I’m ready,” he confirmed, still not looking away.

“Theo, time to go,” I ordered. “I need to talk to Dax before we go.”

Theo whipped his head around and stared.

“I really need to talk to you,” he repeated.

I rolled my eyes and dislodged the hat that Dax had teasingly put on my head when we’d gotten in the truck earlier. It pushed upward enough that Theo could see my hair, and he sucked in a breath.

“You cut your hair.” He blinked.

That was my breaking point.

“Actually,” I said. “I didn’t cut my hair. Your girlfriend thought it’d be humorous to put Nair, a hair removal cream, into my conditioner bottle when we were out to dinner the last time we saw each other. When I woke up the next morning after using it, my entire ponytail was in a clump on my bed.”

Theo looked as if he didn’t believe me.

I narrowed my eyes, then walked away from him, going to my bedroom to grab the mass of my hair that was still exactly where I’d left it after my freak out.

Snatching it up, and making a pit stop for the bottle of conditioner, I walked back into the living room.

“Dax, can I borrow your arm? I want to prove a point,” I snapped.

Dax immediately offered up an arm, holding it out.

I squirted some of the conditioner on his arm, then spread it in with my finger to encompass one of the only spots that wasn’t covered by a tattoo.

Then I let it sit as I turned and waved my clump of hair at Theo.

He looked at it as if it was something he couldn’t quite believe.

I threw it on the ground by his feet, then started speaking.

“I don’t know what I ever did to Shondra,” I admitted. “But I’ll have to thank her. I’ve moved back home, found a duplex. I already have a great job that pays me more than I ever could’ve expected. And…” I hesitated, looking over at Dax for a split second. “I’m happy. So you can thank your girlfriend.”

Theo looked as if he wanted to throw up.

“I came to apologize for her behavior and springing our relationship on you,” he admitted. “I can see that you’re upset but…”

I shook my head. “Upset? You think that I’m only ‘upset’ about what she did to me?”

Theo didn’t say anything.

“If I knew I could prove it, I would fucking ruin her,” I told him. “Upset doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel when it comes to her. And after the bullshit she’d tried to pull today after I collected my stuff from my office? Yeah, let’s just say that I’m going to enjoy living somewhere where she’s not around. Because if she was, I would fuck her up.”