Riley stopped straining, but Jacob didn’t call off his brothers. Abel and Oliver held Riley down, straining to keep the strong man seated. Jacob didn’t want to cause a fuss in front of Lou.
“It’s the truth, and your sister belongs to me.”
Several seconds passed, and confusion crossed Riley’s face before he finally relaxed. “Belongs to you?”
“Up until three days ago I had to say I didn’t believe the rumors about the family men of our line. Seeing Louisa, I knew she was meant for me.”
“You want to date my sister?” Riley asked.
“I want to date her. I want her to get used to me being around, and then I’m going to marry her.”
Riley shook his head. “I can’t help you with that shit. Is that why you came to see me? Why I made it to being your partner?”
“No. You earned being my partner all on your own. My father was already going to give you that shot. Tonight, I wanted to get a chance to find out more about your sister. Now, why is she working at a strip club?”
“I told you. She’s trying to piss our mother off. Lou isn’t like other women in this world, and she intends to stand on her own two feet. She’s not going to be pushed around, or ordered.”
“I have no intention of ordering her around.” Apart from in the bedroom, but he doubted Riley wanted to know about that.
“Mom tried to marry her off to some Italian guy who comes to the gym. He’s rich and gets his kicks out of betting on the underground fights. That’s why Lou changed jobs. Before this she was some receptionist at a law firm.” Riley stared at him, assessing. “If you hurt her, I’ll break your fucking neck.”
Jacob leaned in close. “From what I’ve been told, if I hurt her, I’ll be hurting myself.”
“You Dentons are creepy as fuck! Anyone ever told you that?”
“Probably,” he said, laughing. “You’re not the first one to think it.”
“And you’re not the first one to assume it either,” Abel said.
They all calmed down, and took a seat.
Riley glanced over to Lou, who was watching them.
“She’s a good woman,” Frank said. “I like her. I was going to try her out myself, but I think I’ll bow out of that one, and leave it to you.”
Jacob turned his attention back to Frank. “What the fuck?”
Frank held his hands up. “I’m a guy, and I love to fuck. She’s a pretty little thing, and she doesn’t even have a clue how damn beautiful she is. It makes a guy want to show her how special she is.”
“You keep her safe, but you keep your hands to yourself, do you hear me?”
“I won’t be poaching on your territory.” Frank held his hands up again. “Does she know what you’ve got planned for her?”
“Hey, guys,” Lou said, interrupting them. She held a tray of drinks, and there were too many there. “I’m really sorry, but can you guys grab what you need to? There’s a lot here.” Her body was tense as she held all the drinks, and he gritted his teeth looking over at the bar. Ben was too busy chatting up a blonde to even care. Jacob was going to have to have a word about that. He didn’t want his woman hurting. “Do I need to stick around to drive you home?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m good. I’m staying here and party.”
Lou looked a little disgusted. “I heard about the last party you had. If I’m still working with you take that, you know, to one of the rooms? The last thing I want to see is my brother in that kind of—yeah, I’m not even going to go there.”
She didn’t look embarrassed, and Riley laughed. “You’re still scared from the time I took Becky to my room, and you walked in.”
“You didn’t even put a sock or a condom on the door handle. That kind of stuff is not acceptable.”
“It was my bedroom.”
“I don’t care. It was my eyes that nearly went blind from seeing your naked ass and balls.” Lou shuddered. “I’ll leave you gentlemen to your drinks.”
“Speaking of our last party, where are the women?” Gideon asked.