Betrayed By Beauty - Ashley Lane Page 0,38

removes the towel and pushes my hand under the stream of water. Her small, delicate hands close around my larger one, and with one finger she feels around the wound.

Not a word is spoken between us as I relish in the sensation of touch. Not just hers, but gentle, human touch. I never realized how much I craved touch until Jax left. I took it for granted, thinking he’d always be there for me. That his hands would find me when I needed a safe place to land. He was always there. The problem was that I wasn’t.

“You should have waited and let me grab the broom and dustpan, you could’ve seriously hurt yourself.” Oakley says. There’s a bite to her words that’s more forward than I’ve heard from her before. She’s usually quiet and rarely comments on anything unless a question is directed at her. Her focus is on my hand but mine is on her. The way her eyes are creased in worry as her fingers play along my tender flesh. It’s then I realize the bite I heard before was a cover for her true feelings.

“Think it goes against at least twenty-seven rules in the Alpha Male handbook for me to use a broom and dustpan to clean up glass.” I give her a cheeky grin that’s returned with a small, but genuine smile.

“The Alpha Male handbook?” she teases with a raised brow.

I nod, a serious expression on my face. “That’s the one.”

Oakley hums under her breath. “And what does it say about first aid? Because this is borderline in need of stitches.”

I glance at my palm again to make sure. There’s no need for stitches, but if she wants to play nurse and fret over my boo-boo, I’m all for it.

“Rule six hundred and ninety-three states we can only get stitches when it’s a life or death situation,” I inform her.

She laughs, but her cheeks heat and she averts her gaze as though she doesn’t want to bring attention to herself. I’ve seen her with the girls, especially Shelly and Tasha, and she’s so carefree with them. Hopefully with time she’ll continue to emerge until she leaves her shell behind for good.

Oakley cuts off the water and wipes her hands on her jeans, my gaze follows to the tight dark-wash denim that’s molded to her legs like a second skin.

“Stay right here,” she orders. “I’m gonna grab the first aid kit.” When she turns, my gaze that was on her thighs, slowly moves up to appreciate her perfectly round ass. Well, fuck.

If there really was an Alpha Male handbook, I’m pretty positive I would break no less than sixty nine rules if I didn’t check out her ass. Every dude whose dick gets hard for a chick knows if a woman’s body is a 6 or higher on the bangable meter, you must watch her ass as she walks away. Yeah, guys are fuckin’ dogs, ladies.

And yeah—almost 100% of the women who work at Corrupt are considered a 6 or higher… fuck, they’re really considered an 8 or higher. So if that’s the case, why haven’t I ever watched their asses? What the fuck is going on? I scrub my uninjured hand over my face.

My thoughts are cut short when Oakley returns with the first aid kit. She wastes no time opening it up and sorting out the supplies she needs. Her fingers work quickly but delicately as she dabs the wound with an antiseptic cream.

I watch, mesmerized by the way her fingers work deftly to clean, dress, and cover the slice on my hand. When she looks up at me, our eyes meet and the air surrounding us seems to come alive. It’s almost as though a spark of electricity connects us in one fleeting moment. For several moments we’re suspended in time. As her eyes bore into my own, I can’t help but feel as if I’m flayed open before her and she’s drinking in the darkest of my secrets.

Down the street, a car horn blares, its shriek sound cutting through the silence of the night and we pull away the moment, broken. What the fuck is going on? You’re just missing, Jax. That’s all this is, Madd. I repeat the words to myself, hoping to find a semblance of truth somewhere within. But a gnawing inside my chest is telling me this is more.

After packing away the first aid kit, Oakley hovers by the bar, looking around nervously. Finally, she opens her mouth.

“Well