if you wanted to. With a thousand collars. Not even with ink."
That was the truth, and it pinched. "Then I guess it's a good thing I don't mind your ugly face."
"Would you rather have a woman who didn't give a shit about anyone?"
He'd had plenty of those. Cold women, hard women, even broken ones. At times, Lex could seem to be all three, but she wasn't really, and he was glad. He'd never want to strip away that caring core.
Not even if he couldn't own all of it.
Straightening, Dallas snuffed out his cigarette. "Since we're stuck together for the time being, I'll make an effort to play nice with your kitten. Unless you like getting scratched up when I piss her off."
Something clouded Jasper's eyes, but he blinked it away. "I'd threaten to kick your ass if you upset her, but I don't think it'd do any good. You always do whatever the hell you want anyway."
"That's pretty much how this works." But it wouldn't hurt to ask Lex to talk Noelle down. The girl would have to learn sooner or later that courtship in the sectors sometimes came with bumps and bruises. For now, the best thing Dallas could do was change the subject. "Go stick your head out--"
A knock interrupted his words, and Mad slipped through the door. Bren followed, rubbing his hands together. "All the deliveries and collection runs are set up. Should flow smoothly in our absence."
"Good." He waited for them to drag up chairs before looking to Mad. "Have you talked to your cousin yet?"
"I sent a message," he answered, dropping into the chair. "Gideon will probably reply by carrier pigeon or some bullshit. Depends on how much he's buying into the grandson-of-the-Prophet mystique this month."
Mad's grandfather had been the first leader of Sector One, a spiritual man elevated to legend by followers who wanted a religion to replace the stifling edicts of Eden. "Either way, you'll see him tomorrow. You'll be Lex's bodyguard while we're in Two. I don't want you leaving her side unless I'm stuck to it."
"Got it," was all Mad said, though the man was smart enough to know Lex wouldn't appreciate having no say in the matter. Too fucking bad for both of them. Lex wouldn't be allowed to participate in the daily negotiations, and Dallas wouldn't be able to concentrate on them with her flitting around her old sector unprotected.
Jasper grinned at Bren. "Bring Dallas back in one piece, huh? I'm not ready to be king."
Bren rescued the cigarette languishing in Jasper's hand and finished it off in one long draw. "He's too stubborn to die."
It was Dallas's place to grin, to give them their cocky leader, even if he wasn't feeling it. "Yeah, I am. So get comfortable in my chair, Jas, but not too comfortable."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
The fact that he really wouldn't made Jasper the rarest of things--a truly trustworthy second. "Things should be quiet. Cruz seems to be settling in okay."
Bren tipped his head. "He is. Getting some shit in the cage, but that's to be expected. As far as most people are concerned, he's still got to make his bones."
Cruz hadn't taken ink yet, but he'd lost his place in Eden while bringing Dallas the man who'd pulled the trigger on Lex. For that, and with Bren's word, Dallas would have given him cuffs on the spot, tradition be damned.
But it was smart of the man to wait. Normal recruits had plenty of time to find their place in the pecking order and earn respect by tolerating a little friendly hazing, and most of them hadn't started out as elite members of Eden's military police.
Speaking of which... "That was quite a show he put on in the cage the other night. He makes you look clumsy, Bren."
The man's brows slashed down in a frown. "The fuck he does."
Jasper chuckled. "Now don't get your little feelings hurt--"
Bren punched him on the shoulder. "Cruz is good, and maybe he is smoother in a fight. A clean fight. He's gonna have to learn how to fight dirty."
"He's gonna have to learn a lot more than that," Mad said, shaking his head. "He's wound tighter than Bren was. It doesn't matter how many fights he wins, no one will accept him if he can't drink a few shots and relax."
"Or a few beers," Jasper muttered.
That momentarily distracted Dallas from his mental checklist. The O'Kanes didn't make beer, and they didn't drink alcohol produced by anyone else--with one exception.