Vicious Cycle (Vicious Cycle #1)(29)

I shook my head slowly from side to side. Was my little brother actually growing a conscience? “Is this Rev’s influence?”

Bishop rolled his eyes. “Can’t I have a thought of my own without being influenced by my good or bad brother?”

“Yeah, you can. It’s just … I guess I’m speechless.”

“That’s a f*cking first,” Bishop grumbled.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I eyed Bishop. “Look, man, I don’t mean to rack your balls about this. What you’re doing is a good thing for you. I could never fault you for doing that.”

“You’re serious?” he questioned, his blond brows rising in surprise.

“’Course I am.”

A grin stretched across Bishop’s face. “Thanks, bro. I’m glad to hear that.”

I glanced from him to Alex. “My, my, you certainly are devoted to my family. First my daughter and now my brother. Who will you educate next?”

“Whom,” she replied.

“Huh?”

The corners of her lips teased as if she was holding back a smile. “You mean whom will I educate next.”

As Bishop chuckled, I replied, “Guess I’m the lucky one.”

“Maybe you can repay the favor for all the education by granting me a favor?”

I eyed her warily. “What do you want?”

“There really isn’t a proper place here for Willow’s ballet lessons.” She paused, nibbling on her bottom lip. I’d noticed she tended to do that when she was nervous. Usually she did it around me when she wasn’t giving me lip. “I was just wondering with you owning the gym—”

“The club owns the gym,” I corrected.

Her cheeks tinged a little. “Well, with your ties to the club, would it be okay if I gave Willow her lessons there? There would be sufficient mirrors, and you really can’t teach proper form without mirrors.”

“If she’s needing mirrors, maybe you could let her borrow your bedroom,” Bishop suggested with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“Fuck off,” I snarled, as Alex’s cheeks reddened again.

Bishop only snickered as he flipped open his workbook again while Alex drew in a breath. “It wouldn’t be every day. Most students only attend dance once or twice a week. If there was just a corner of the gym we could have, that would be plenty. I could even have Willow wear headphones to take care of doing the poses to the music.”

Scratching my chin, I thought about it. I knew I would have to run it by Case, and he probably wasn’t going to like the idea of Alexandra being around the gym. Of course, most of the questionable activity took place only on Friday or Saturday nights. “I suppose it would be all right. Let me talk to the guys about it, but maybe we can give it a trial run tomorrow.”

Alex’s face lit up. “That would be wonderful. I could just meet you guys down there at three. The lesson could run until three thirty, and hopefully, we wouldn’t have to even adjust the schoolwork for dinnertime.”

“I don’t think Mama Beth would mind adjusting the time.”

After giving me a genuine smile, Alex said, “Thank you, Deacon.”

“You’re welcome.”

When we remained standing there, staring at each other, Bishop cleared his throat. “You mind leaving us so we can get some more work done?”

“As long as you keep those hands on your workbook and not her,” I countered.

Bishop rolled his eyes. “I heard you loud and clear before, brother. Give me some f*cking credit.”

“Better yet, give me some f*cking credit,” Alex said.

Sweeping a hand to his chest, Bishop said, “Ouch. That hurt.”

Alexandra only giggled. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

As I watched them, I slowly began to realize that neither one of them looked at the other like they wanted to rip the other person’s clothes off. While Bishop might’ve been jacking off to her earlier, I doubt he was anymore … unless he had a teacher fantasy from years back. I knew then that although he was a horndog, I could trust him around Alex. She was probably the first woman besides our mother that he actually respected, which was saying a hell of a lot.

Holding my hands up in defeat, I started backing up toward the door. “All right. I’ll go and let you two work.”

Alex nodded. “So I’ll see you at three tomorrow at the gym?”

“Yeah, sure.”

After giving me a wave, she turned her attention back to Bishop. Instead of giving me a shit-eating grin that he had her attention and her fine ass sitting beside him, he ducked his head and looked at the workbook.

With a shake of my head, I went in search of Case to explain how my daughter’s leash around my finger now included his gym and ballet lessons.

“What time is it?” Willow asked for the twentieth f*cking time in the last five minutes.

Gripping the ropes of the boxing ring, I growled, “Kid, you’re getting on my last nerve.”

“Please, Deacon,” she said. When I turned away from Bishop’s practice session, she gave me her best sad-faced pout. The kind that would make a regular father melt. But I wasn’t a regular father.

“She’ll get here when she gets here,” I finally replied.