Warnings and Wildfires

Focused on me.

The dark-haired one strides up to the counter and lays his hands on the glass. “New girl,” he says, staring down at me.

“Well, aren’t you observant?” I smile sweetly and grab a bottle of Windex, aiming the spray to the left of where his sweaty palms are marking up my glass.

Rude? Probably, but I have the feeling if I don’t assert myself with these two, they’ll steamroll right over me.

“Now I understand Jake’s rambling,” dark-hair says, sweeping his gaze over me.

His red-headed friend comes up next to him and slaps his shoulder. “Back off,” he says in a voice almost too low for me to make out the words.

Dark-hair flashes a grin that I’m sure drops lots of panties for him, but he reminds me too much of the jocks I went to high school with to be impressed. “Aubrey, right?”

He knows my name?

Should I be worried or flattered that Jake’s been talking about me to his friends?

“Jake’s not here, but I can go grab Sully for you,” I say, stepping out from behind the counter.

He stops me by throwing his hand out, grazing my arm. “No hurry, darlin’.” He flashes another grin. “We came to meet you.”

“Me? Why?”

“You’re Sully’s girl, right?”

I wish. “Hardly. I work for him.”

“Remy!” Sully calls out, striding over. “What do you need?”

Sully’s presence fills the space behind me and I almost jump out of my skin when he wraps an arm around my waist, settling his hand on my hip.

There’s no battle for dominance between the guys. Dark-hair smirks and raises his hands in surrender.

“Remy, Griff, what do you need?” Sully asks again.

“Sullivan,” Remy says in the same serious tone. “Looking for Jake.”

“He’ll be back later.”

“And I’m looking for a new ring girl,” Remy says, his gaze landing on me again.

Before I even have a chance to ask what the hell a ring girl is, Sully answers for me, “No.”

Remy shakes his head. “You’re not gonna let her answer for herself?”

“She’s busy,” Sully answers.

Done taunting Sully and flirting with me, Remy straightens up and lifts his chin at Sully. “Coming to the Castle with Jake tomorrow night?”

I’m close enough to feel the annoyance vibrate through Sully before he answers with a curt, “No.”

Griff lifts his chin at me and throws a card on the counter. “If your schedule opens up, let Jake know. The job pays $100. Four hours max.”

My jaw drops. “A hundred dollars? For what?”

“She’s not interested,” Sully growls. His grip on me tightens and I snap my mouth shut, dizzy from his hot hard body pressed against mine. Since he’s clearly marking his territory, it only seems fair that I rub myself all over him and bask in his crisp, clean male scent, right? That won’t be weird, will it?

The guys shrug and take off. Sully watches through the window until they drive away.

“Fucking Jake,” he grumbles, releasing me before I twine myself around him like a kitty-cat in heat.

I stumble away, reaching for the card on the counter and stuffing it into my pocket without looking at it. One hundred dollars for four hours. What did Sully turn down on my behalf?

“What was that all about, Sully?”

“Nothing you want to be involved in,” he says, walking past me.

I reach out and grab his arm to stop him. “I appreciate you giving me this job, but that doesn’t mean you own me or my off-hours.”

He stops and stares at me, his jaw working from side-to-side.

I don’t get the feeling a lot of people defy or question Sully’s decisions.

He runs his gaze over me and swipes his hand over his chin, studying me in a way I’ve only caught him doing when he thinks I’m not aware. “You want to spend the evening prancing around in little more than your underwear in front of a couple dozen juiced-up guys?”

What the hell?

“No.”

“Then drop it.”

“Sully—”

He leans in closer. “Not out here. If you really want to discuss it, come see me after Jake gets here and I finish kicking his ass.”

Other than finding out why it bothers Sully so much, I don’t care to learn more.

I will, however, take him up on the invitation into his office.

Aubrey’s completely clueless. Not that Remy and Griff are one-hundred percent bad guys. They’re just trying to hustle and make money like everyone else. But—and it’s a big ‘but’ to someone like me trying to operate a legitimate business—they run an underground fighting ring. Something my brother participates in from time-to-time and something I’ve asked him to keep far the hell away from Strike Back.

Remy scoping Aubrey out like she was his next meal was an entirely different matter. As if he might want her for more than just a night of strutting around the fighting ring, flashing some numbers.

Not that I blame him. I’ve been fighting off my attraction to her since we met. Pressing her little body against me and clutching her hip didn’t improve my state of mind. I don’t do the territorial, jealous-guy thing. Never have. But for Aubrey, I came damn close.

“Send Jake to see me as soon as he gets here,” I order in the gruffest way possible.

She seems hurt, or still pissed with me, but maybe that’s better.

I shut the door to my office and pace for a few minutes to calm down. I’m not completely out of the red zone when Jake walks in without knocking.

“Aubrey said to come see you?”

“Shut the door.”

He drops his smirk and places his hands on his hips. “What crawled up your ass?”

“You tell Griff and Remy, Aubrey would make a good ring girl?”

He runs his hand over his chin and pulls that “duh” look that’s made me want to punch him since we were kids. “I might have mentioned we had a new girl working for us.”

“What’s the matter with you? You think she’s the kind of girl who needs to be mixed up in that shit?”

“I think she’s the kind of girl who works two jobs and goes to school, so she could probably use the extra cash. And,” he adds with a slight smirk. “I’m tired of looking at skinny, stacked, Barbie doll types on fight night.”

“God, you’re an asshole.” I really hate my brother thinking of Aubrey as nothing more than something pretty for him to admire when he’s in the cage.

“True.”

“Since when are you taking fights at the Castle?”

“Still like to keep my skills sharp.”

“They ever get busted by the cops, you’re gonna regret it.”

“Nah, cops come place their own bets. Fuck, Remy’s got one in the line-up this week.”

I snort, not at all surprised. Empire has no shortage of crooked cops and politicians.

“Not everyone keeps their nose as clean as you and Liam.”

There’s no mature response to that comment, so I ignore it.

He finally drops his attitude. “You know I’ll stay clear when Maddy visits.”

My lips curl into a smile. “You better.”

He tilts his head toward the gym. “What’s the deal with Aubrey? You like her or not?”

“Yeah, I like her. But she works for me now and you know I have my mind on other things.”

“Bro, you’re not like me. You need someone.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Are you handing out advice on my love life now?” I can’t think of anything worse or more ridiculous than my little brother offering me relationship pointers.

“Absolutely not.”

“Get out of here.” I wave my hand in his face, but there’s no bite behind my words. As much as he loves pissing me off, I can’t stay mad at my brother for long.

A few seconds later, someone taps their knuckles against my door.

“Com

e on in.”

“Can we still talk?” Aubrey asks. Timid this time. Not the fired-up girl who challenged me earlier. It reaffirms that I’m right about keeping her away from Griff and Remy’s operation. She’d never survive a night at the Castle.

She hesitates in the open doorway, so I invite her in. “Sure.”

Without asking, she closes the door behind her. I should tell her to leave it open, but the words never make it out of my mouth.

“Are you still mad at me?” she asks.