Concern filled Noelle's eyes as she settled cross-legged on the end of the bed. "I don't like it, either. Jasper said everything's breaking down over there now that there isn't a sector leader."
"Not you, too." She nudged Noelle with her foot. "I was in and out before the lights went off. No big thing."
Noelle returned the nudge. "I'm a worrier. I know you need to do it, but promise you'll be careful, okay? I'm not ready to see you hurt again."
Hurt. Shot. Bleeding out from a sniper's bullet. Lex didn't like to think about it, and luckily she didn't really have to. All she remembered was a fleeting moment of pain followed by darkness, and then waking up to solicitous concern from damn near everybody.
Noelle and Dallas had both had a hard time dealing with it. Noelle had grown clingy in her worry, something Lex only managed to indulge out of affection--and with Jasper's help in distracting his lover from the worst of her fretting.
And Dallas... Lex brushed aside the memories of him holding her, stroking her hair, breaking the silence only to assure her that she'd be all right.
Noelle nudged her again. "Lex? Did you guys have another fight? Is he being awful?"
Lex shook herself and laughed wryly. "He's being Dallas. He's being..." She let the words trail off. He thought she didn't know what he was doing. That he'd been spending time and resources looking for a way to get to Gareth Woods, the councilman who'd sent a sniper into their sector.
Part of her wanted to encourage the hunt--the man had, after all, hurt Noelle--but she knew Dallas too well. He didn't want to stop Woods because the man had proven himself a danger to the gang.
He just wanted the fucker dead.
Lex rubbed at the goose bumps that rose on her arms. "Are you ready for tomorrow night? Ace is going to cry if you and Jasper don't get it on and let him watch."
Noelle still blushed as pink as any innocent city girl, but the low laugh belonged to the woman Lex had watched bloom in the freedom of the sectors. "Ace doesn't want to watch, he wants to help. That's where he likes to be, isn't it? Right in the middle."
"Mmm, he's very jealous of me and my standing invitation into Jas's bed."
"Only because he loves having Jas boss him around."
Lex would be willing to bet Ace found corrupting Noelle an equal or greater thrill. "You like him?"
"Sure." Noelle shrugged and toyed with the hem of her jeans, folding and unfolding the denim. "I like Ace. I like messing around with him. I like that it can be about joy and pleasure." Noelle smiled self-consciously. "But he's not Jasper."
Not just someone special--the one. Lex funneled her tiny spark of jealousy into a groan. "It's a good thing you went and got marked, baby girl, because you're hopeless."
"Uh-huh." Noelle traced one of the small rosebuds on Lex's hipbone. "Talk to me after you've rubbed Dallas's nose in this." Her smile widened. "At least that'll put his face right where you want it."
"Dirty, but effective. He likes eating pussy almost as much as you do."
Oddly, the tease sobered Noelle. She caught Lex's hand, her blue eyes deadly serious. "No, I like you. You know that, right? I don't care if Dallas is the boss or the king or a god. You always have a place with me and Jas, and Dallas can go--" Her lips pressed together and her brow furrowed, as if the effort to find words to encompass her anger actually hurt.
Lex had to swallow around the tight lump in her throat. "Oh, honey, I know. And you and Jas are great--I love you both--but you have your thing. I'm glad you let me in for a little while now and then, but you're not less when I'm not there. And that's okay. It's good."
"All right." Noelle released her and flopped back on the bed. "You need to teach me some new words. Not dirty ones--angry ones. I could use a few for my shifts at the Broken Circle."
Lex curled up beside her. "Believe it or not, foul language that's not about sex? Not my best area."
"So who can teach us? Amira? Nessa?" Noelle laughed. "I bet Rachel knows how to outswear all the men. Just like she can outdrink them."
"She's kind of busy these days. That new guy--Bren's friend from the city."