Beyond Control (31 page)

The man was tall, dark, with a look of deceptively relaxed concentration on his smooth brown face. It reminded her of Bren, the way he watched the world, registering everything and filing it away for later.

"The other two are Riff and Elvis." Dallas's lips twitched. "One of them's a musician. And it ain't Elvis."

Lex had seen enough musicians in her time to spot Riff, with his long black hair and scowl. Which left Elvis as the pretty boy, the one licking his lips and eyeballing the women like he was making a fucking grocery list for later. "He thinks highly of himself, doesn't he?"

"Presumably. He wants to run things, and that takes a certain amount of arrogance."

Lex leaned her head back against his arm. "You would know, honey."

"Damn straight."

Elvis turned toward their corner, and Dallas tensed as the man's gaze slid over Lex and Noelle in turn. He mostly kept the expectant lust from his face as he approached, but Lex could see it in his eyes. Hear it in his voice. "Dallas. Jasper. Quite a party."

Dallas settled a hand on Lex's shoulder as he nodded to the chairs on the opposite side of the table. "Oh, we're just getting started. Take a seat."

He did, sprawling out to take up as much space as possible. Cain was the last to sit, choosing the chair that would leave him with his back against the wall.

Lex liked him already.

She offered him a smile as she slid a whiskey shot closer to him. "Cain, right?"

He nodded and accepted the tiny glass, but didn't drink. His gaze flicked briefly to her collar--and no lower. "And you'd be Lex?"

"I would." She glanced at the other two men. "Noelle and I were sorry to miss the trip into your sector. Introduce us to your friends?"

Cain opened his mouth only to close it as Elvis leaned forward and swiped the shot of whiskey. He knocked it back without fuss and grinned. "This is Riff, and I'm Elvis. I guess that kind of makes me a king."

Riff's derisive snort was the only sound he made. Lex longed to echo it as she placed a drink in front of him before sliding another shot to rest near Cain's hand.

Since he hadn't gotten whatever he was clearly after, Elvis tried again. "I've always wanted to meet the infamous Lex Parrino. I caught your show once. Never forgot it, either."

He said it with a leer that left everyone at the table uncomfortably sure he'd spent more than a few nights jerking off to the memory of her dancing. Dallas tensed to the point of anger beside her. Before he could explode, Cain stepped into the awkward pause. "That would make you Miss Cunningham," he told Noelle, managing not to stare at her tits, either.

"Noelle," she corrected with a smile sweet enough to ruin the effect of the wardrobe. "Just Noelle. I'm an O'Kane."

His gaze flickered to Jasper. "Right. I met your man the other night."

"Jas is my right hand," Dallas said in his best lazy voice, relaxed and easy despite the strain Lex could feel in every muscle of his body. "Bren's my left. You'll meet him later."

Riff stirred but said nothing. Elvis transferred his leer to Noelle. "I'm more interested in this little lady here. Not every sector has their own Eden royalty. I heard Jas plucked her out of her daddy's house in the middle of the night and taught her to be bad."

Jasper drew on his cigarette and blew smoke in the man's face. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it."

Coughing, Elvis waved his hand in front of his face. "Just curious, man. No judgment. If she's any indication of what they're hiding behind those walls, sign me up for salvation."

Noelle's expression had frozen into that sweet, smiling mask, but her words were edged in frost. "You never know. Eden might welcome a man of your character."

Elvis's eyes narrowed, and Cain slapped him across the arm. "Shut up. We're here to talk business." He arched a brow. "Aren't we?"

Jasper crushed out his cigarette, slid out of the end of the booth, and held out his hand to Noelle. "Let's dance, sweetheart."

Under the table, Noelle wrapped her fingers around Lex's in a brief, encouraging squeeze. She murmured a polite farewell to Cain and smiled at Riff before slipping her hand into Jasper's and abandoning the table without so much as a glance at Elvis.

That only seemed to encourage him. He twisted in his chair, watched Jas and Noelle disappear into the crowd, and whistled. "Tits or not, that is one frigid sister. But I bet it's fun, sticking it to Eden every night."

"That's an O'Kane," Dallas replied mildly as he stroked his fingers over Lex's hair. "And all O'Kane ladies have one thing in common,
brother
. They don't let you stick much of anything in them if you can't be assed to learn some manners."

"Might even stick something in you." Through the velvet of her skirt, Lex traced the knife strapped to the thigh. "If you know what I mean."

Riff's lips twitched, disrupting his scowl. "If he doesn't figure it out, he deserves it."

Silence fell around the table. Cain stared at Lex, not out of particular interest or even disdain, but almost as if waiting for her to do something.

She refused to fidget, lifting her drink instead. "Yes?"

He cleared his throat and prompted, "Business?"

And that's when Lex realized he expected her to leave.

She froze with her glass to her lips, goose bumps rising on her arms. The reasonable one--the
smart
one--and he still figured she shouldn't hang around while the big boys talked. "Excuse me?"

The men looked at Dallas. Elvis even went so far as to smile snidely. "Where're
your
manners, O'Kane? The shit we have to discuss isn't any sort of talk for pretty ladies."

One heartbeat. Two. That was all the time it took for Dallas O'Kane to dismiss her like she was nothing.

He lifted his arm from around her shoulders. "You really don't want to listen to any of this, love."

Maybe he really was trying to spare her, but it cut deep. When faced with ugly words, he'd responded quickly enough, but now, confronted with actual disrespect, he caved. Easier not to argue and risk driving away potential recruits.

So much for being the queen.

Whatever, O'Kane.
She slipped her hand under her skirt and drew the knife. She slammed it down on the table as she rose, embedding the tip half an inch into the already scarred wood. "I'll see you boys around."

Without waiting for a response from Dallas--she knew better--Lex stalked off into the throng of bodies, righteous anger driving every quick step. She wanted to get drunk, get stupid, but she had a crowd to manage and work to do.

And goddamn it, she was going to do it.

The knife quivered in the table.

Elvis quivered in his chair.

Okay, maybe that was taking things a bit far, but it figured that
now
the bastard had decided to shut his fucking mouth. Maybe that was a good sign, after all, one that showed he could learn. He wouldn't be the first O'Kane to learn manners from Lex at knife-point.

Dallas would be lucky if she didn't cut him tonight.

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 fucking 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 fucking 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 fucking 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 pussy wouldn't hurt.

She fucking
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 fucking 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...?"