themselves," he said finally, a diplomatic, evasive answer.
"Uh-huh. About...?"
Another pause. "Noelle?"
Lex swallowed past the lump in her throat. It was one thing for Dallas to take the path of least resistance when it suited him, even if it meant shoving her aside as useless and purely decorative, but to not understand what he'd done? That was different. Worse.
She turned back to the mirror and pulled the brush through her hair.
Dallas snarled and slapped a hand against the wall. "Not okay, Alexa. You can shout at me, you can throw things at me, you can do your fucking best to slip that knife between my ribs, but you do not ignore me."
"Are you listening to yourself?" She dropped the brush and the knife to the vanity with a clatter and rose, facing him. "You don't like being dismissed, so what in hell makes you think it wouldn't piss me off just as much?"
"You wanted to stay?" he scoffed. "Shit, woman, Jas didn't want to stay."
"He isn't your partner." Lex lowered her voice. "He also could have hung around without making any of you blink. Not just those assholes, but you, too."
That drew him up short. "Cain. It was Cain, wasn't it?"
To her horror, angry tears burned her eyes. "There's more to respecting the women around here than not groping them or saying disgusting shit they don't want to hear. Way more."
"Jesus, Lex. I know." He took a step forward, but didn't crowd her space. "But I can't reach into the man's head and make him realize you can think circles around him."
"No, I could have done that on my own." She met his gaze reproachfully. "If you'd had my back. But you didn't. You told me to run along like a good girl while the menfolk had their talk. And don't think that didn't tell them something about you, Dallas."
"You're blowing one little thing out of proportion. I didn't even kick you out. I gave you the choice, because listening to them was always gonna suck until we smacked some manners into them. I gave you an out, and you took it."
Sincerity laced the words. Whatever else, he believed them. "Those little things? They build up in the long run."
He shoved his fingers through his hair and exhaled sharply. "I don't want there to be a long run. If they can't come around all the way, things will change. But fuck, Lex. I can't write off every bastard who isn't housetrained from minute one."
Her self-control snapped. "I'm not talking about them, Declan. You asked me to take your fucking ink, and tonight you acted like I was some random girl you peeled off your dick after a cage fight." She stalked to the door and jerked it open. "I'm talking about you."
Dallas whirled on her. "What should I have done? If it's so obvious to you, tell me."
Her anger melted into something else, something determined and insistent. She could do this, make him hear her and understand. "For starters? You could have treated me like I needed to be at that meeting. Like I helped you build this place, because you know what? I damn well did."
At least he was listening. He took in her words, turned them over, and then nodded. "Yeah, but the shit tonight? That's not your thing. You don't sit in meetings with our guys, either. I get that it felt like a snub, but if you hadn't needed to prove a point, would you have really wanted to stay?"
As if that mattered. "It's part of my job now. Isn't that what you wanted?"
He tilted his head. "You wanna come to all the meetings?"
"Yes." She'd taken on a new role, one she couldn't fill without keeping up with everything that happened.
Dallas sighed and rubbed a hand over his arm. "It means change. It means putting a target on your back. I'm not saying no...but can we talk over the danger when we're not pissed and fighting?"
Plenty of things already made her a target--her association with him, her collar--and he wanted her to have ink. The biggest target of all if you wanted to bring down a ruthless man like Dallas O'Kane. "All I need is for you to understand. Don't try to protect me from things I need to do."
"And I need you to give me the benefit of the doubt." He caught her wrist and ran a thumb over the O'Kane ink wrapped around it. "This right here? This is proof I'll listen."