neck. All the good Lex had done with her clever fingers was long gone. "What a fucking mess."
"Uh-huh." Jasper stretched his neck to one side until it cracked. "First Trent in Three, and now Sector Five. Starts to look like a flanking maneuver. Like Woods wants to choke you out, nice and slow."
"I should have seen this coming." Woods had tried to assassinate Noelle--and had shot Lex instead. From that moment, he'd been marked for death, and Dallas was pretty fucking sure he knew it, judging by how paranoid he'd gotten about his security. "He probably thinks Noelle's darling daddy and I are plotting against him. If he wasn't in bed with a sector leader before this, I should have figured he'd find one."
Jasper grunted. "He's blown the biggest advantage he had--we can see him coming."
"They always do underestimate us." He nodded to the broken streets spread out beneath them. "Which could very well make this a distraction, if Cerys is in on it."
"Eh, they handed you Three because they have nothing to lose. You take all the risks, do all the work, and they sit back and collect. It's a no-brainer."
"There's your problem, Jas. You're talking lots of sense and only a little bit of greed." Movement below caught his eyes, and he watched a group make its way through the shadows. "Do you know what it takes to run a sector?"
He answered with a low laugh. "If I did, you'd have to watch your back."
"Damn right." Excitement was building in Dallas's gut now, anticipation of the thrill that came with matching wits against an enemy. The men from Three would be here soon, and he'd get to play his favorite game. "We're all fucking insane, and damn near suicidally obsessed with more. Nothing's ever enough for us."
Jasper leaned against the wall of a small hut that had been built on the rooftop. "So I'm learning."
More than a little chiding in his tone, or maybe Dallas only imagined it. He bared his teeth in a grin. "Is this where I tell you I can quit any time I want?"
"Come on, man. You know it's a lie. You love this too much."
It was true, but that wasn't the whole reason. "And I can't stomach the idea of taking orders from anyone dumb enough to want my job."
Jasper grinned. "We all like you well enough, raging insanity and all."
"Gee, thanks. I love you, too."
He raised both eyebrows and pulled his cigarette case out of his vest pocket. "Don't let Lex hear that. She'll get jealous."
Somehow, Dallas doubted it. "Man, she'd sell tickets. And since she's probably going down on your woman right now, I think you and I are fucking well stuck with each other."
"So that's that. You and Lex." Jasper struck his lighter and touched the flame to the end of his cigarette. "You gonna go ahead and mark her? Enough with this collar bullshit?"
"When she's ready." Which wasn't the same thing as willing. Sometimes he thought he might be able to talk her into wearing ink now, but one thing held him back.
Do you trust me?
As much as I trust anyone.
He'd get a yes out of her. And then he'd claim her.
"She'll get there." Jasper offered the lit cigarette to Dallas and pulled another from the case. "Even when she's not with you, she's thinking about you."
Words to make any man smug. "She damn well better be."
Jas blew out a sharp breath that almost sounded like a laugh. "Asshole."
Grinning, Dallas slapped his second on the shoulder. "Whatever. Tell me you wouldn't say the same thing."
"I'd only say that about a chick if I couldn't get her the hell out of my head, either."
Lex had been carving out a permanent place in his subconscious since the day he'd caught her trying to steal from him. So fucking young, so unrepentantly brazen. He'd told her she'd be the death of him, and she'd blithely agreed.
They'd both meant it. He hadn't changed his mind.
And he still wanted to be back in that bathtub with her, danger be damned. "She's not just in my head. She's in my blood."
Both of Jasper's eyebrows shot up at that. "Christ, you're serious, aren't you?"
Ignoring the wide-eyed incredulity, Dallas took a long drag from his cigarette and blew smoke up toward the night sky. "I was talking marks. Damn right I'm serious. You of all people should know."
"Guess I never thought I'd see it." Jasper rubbed his chest through his shirt, right over the spot where Noelle's