Beyond Control(48)

Resisting the urge to sigh, Dallas shifted position, sprawling out on his side of the booth. "I'll tell you straight up, boys. Some things about Three are going to change, and you can roll with me or get your asses rolled over. The way you treat the ladies better top that f*cking list, or the boys will bury you."

Cain eyed the knife. "Got it. He'll do better."

Might as well get the ugly stuff out of the way first. "Our women aren't the only ones used to a basic level of decency. Whoring's an honest job, and if the men in Three can't charm their way into sex, they're gonna start paying for it. Maybe it'll inspire people to work on those manners we value so much."

"Elvis might be crass, but he's stand-up when it comes to that shit," Cain shot back.

Dallas lifted an eyebrow and pinned the pretty boy with a look.

"What?" the man snarled, apparently bored of attempting charm. "Jesus Christ, if telling a woman she's got nice tits is a crime, I don't wanna live anymore. And you're awful high and mighty for a man whose club features naked girls f*cking each other for tips."

"Consent," Riff muttered. "He doesn't think we know what the word means."

"I think anyone who worked with Trent could use a refresher," Dallas agreed. "Or did you folks forget he threw Six at me like a secondhand couch? I've seen how stand-up his operation was when it comes to that shit."

Cain shook his head. "None of us were involved with that. The guys who were got pretty damn dead. Or did you forget that you killed them?"

"As long as we're all on the same page." Dallas poured another round of shots himself, using the time to scan the floor for Lex. He found her standing with Ace's friend Jared, the dangerously handsome man who was probably the richest free agent in Four.

Dallas had tried to convince Ace to recruit Jared into the fold more than once--mostly because the man earned his wealth screwing rich, lonely ladies behind their neglectful husbands' backs. He knew enough secrets to bring a quarter of the wealthiest families in Eden to their knees.

Dallas wanted those damn secrets.

Jared was laughing now, clearly amused by something Lex had said. She knew how badly Dallas wanted the man charmed. Driving him away would have been a suitable revenge, but petulance wasn't Lex's style. She wouldn't risk the gang and its interests. When the time came for her temper to slip free, Dallas would be the only target. And she'd make him pay.

It was probably sick to find the prospect a little arousing.

With the liquor served, he turned his attention back to the three men seated across from him. Time would tell if they could learn enough to be useful, but Cain had one point. The worst offenders under Trent's reign had been the men loyal to him, and those sorry bastards were really f*cking dead.

Sometimes you had to work with people you didn't like toward goals that were good for everyone. Lex would have to get used to it, if she wanted to be queen. You couldn't force men like these to respect women, and trying would only make you look weak. No, you had to step on them until they behaved, and let them see for themselves how much nicer life got when the ladies were on your side. That would change their minds.

The money and willing * wouldn't hurt.



She f*cking dared him to walk into her room uninvited tonight.

And yet, that's exactly what he did. The door swung open as she sat at her vanity, removing her jewelry, and Lex was so taken aback that she almost laughed. Almost.

The man really had no sense of self-preservation at all.

Dallas draped both arms across his chest and sighed as he watched her drop her rings into a bowl. "Well?"

"Well, what?" she asked.

"Are we gonna do this or not?"

Lex slid the clip from her hair and reached for her brush. "Do what? Should I whine and complain like the little bitch I am so you can pat me on the head and buy me something pretty to shut me up?"

He pulled her knife from his belt and flipped it over in his hand. "I sorta figured this was an invitation to fight. Don't back down now, honey. Tell me how you really feel."

She turned around and snatched the knife. "I'm not your little bitch. Don't treat me like one, especially in front of potentials. It sets a shitty example, O'Kane."

"I slapped them down good, Lex. Before you left and after. But I can't erase a lifetime of learning in one f*cking meeting."

A handy deflection--if it were true. "You're full of shit. You didn't slap them down."

He frowned. "Of course I did. They're untrained puppies, Lex. You rub their noses in it when they piss on the floor, and eventually they learn. I didn't drown them in the river over it, no."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Dallas was too smart to reply quickly. She could almost see him turning inward, struggling to replay the short conversation and figure out what he'd missed. "The guys made asses of themselves," he said finally, a diplomatic, evasive answer.

"Uh-huh. About...?"

Another pause. "Noelle?"

Lex swallowed past the lump in her throat. It was one thing for Dallas to take the path of least resistance when it suited him, even if it meant shoving her aside as useless and purely decorative, but to not understand what he'd done? That was different. Worse.

She turned back to the mirror and pulled the brush through her hair.

Dallas snarled and slapped a hand against the wall. "Not okay, Alexa. You can shout at me, you can throw things at me, you can do your f*cking best to slip that knife between my ribs, but you do not ignore me."

"Are you listening to yourself?" She dropped the brush and the knife to the vanity with a clatter and rose, facing him. "You don't like being dismissed, so what in hell makes you think it wouldn't piss me off just as much?"

"You wanted to stay?" he scoffed. "Shit, woman, Jas didn't want to stay."

"He isn't your partner." Lex lowered her voice. "He also could have hung around without making any of you blink. Not just those *s, but you, too."

That drew him up short. "Cain. It was Cain, wasn't it?"

To her horror, angry tears burned her eyes. "There's more to respecting the women around here than not groping them or saying disgusting shit they don't want to hear. Way more."

"Jesus, Lex. I know." He took a step forward, but didn't crowd her space. "But I can't reach into the man's head and make him realize you can think circles around him."

"No, I could have done that on my own." She met his gaze reproachfully. "If you'd had my back. But you didn't. You told me to run along like a good girl while the menfolk had their talk. And don't think that didn't tell them something about you, Dallas."

"You're blowing one little thing out of proportion. I didn't even kick you out. I gave you the choice, because listening to them was always gonna suck until we smacked some manners into them. I gave you an out, and you took it."

Sincerity laced the words. Whatever else, he believed them. "Those little things? They build up in the long run."

He shoved his fingers through his hair and exhaled sharply. "I don't want there to be a long run. If they can't come around all the way, things will change. But f*ck, Lex. I can't write off every bastard who isn't housetrained from minute one."

Her self-control snapped. "I'm not talking about them, Declan. You asked me to take your f*cking ink, and tonight you acted like I was some random girl you peeled off your dick after a cage fight." She stalked to the door and jerked it open. "I'm talking about you."

Dallas whirled on her. "What should I have done? If it's so obvious to you, tell me."

Her anger melted into something else, something determined and insistent. She could do this, make him hear her and understand. "For starters? You could have treated me like I needed to be at that meeting. Like I helped you build this place, because you know what? I damn well did."

At least he was listening. He took in her words, turned them over, and then nodded. "Yeah, but the shit tonight? That's not your thing. You don't sit in meetings with our guys, either. I get that it felt like a snub, but if you hadn't needed to prove a point, would you have really wanted to stay?"

As if that mattered. "It's part of my job now. Isn't that what you wanted?"

He tilted his head. "You wanna come to all the meetings?"

"Yes." She'd taken on a new role, one she couldn't fill without keeping up with everything that happened.

Dallas sighed and rubbed a hand over his arm. "It means change. It means putting a target on your back. I'm not saying no...but can we talk over the danger when we're not pissed and fighting?"

Plenty of things already made her a target--her association with him, her collar--and he wanted her to have ink. The biggest target of all if you wanted to bring down a ruthless man like Dallas O'Kane. "All I need is for you to understand. Don't try to protect me from things I need to do."