Page 17 of Wild Card (Foster Bro Code #2)

Dalton

“Shouldn’t you be gone by now?” Chloe asked, stopping by my desk to peek over my shoulder.

“Yep.” I typed out the next line of my report, cursing paperwork. “Caught an accident right before the end of shift.”

I was going to be late to meet Axel if I didn’t haul ass. I was still shocked that he’d texted me earlier this week to meet up to talk about funding for the shelter. It was so proactive and aboveboard that I was impressed.

As sexy as Axel was when he made trouble, seeing him try to do the right thing was even sexier.

Chloe read over my shoulder. “Ouch. A hit-and-run. Everyone okay?”

“The other driver went to the hospital to get checked out, so we’ll see. Her Mazda3 is the real victim,” I said. “That poor car will never be the same.”

I typed in the last couple of details I had, then hit Submit on the report. This wasn’t just any hit-and-run. The car that fled the scene was a cherry-red Dodge Viper, the same make and model that the sheriff’s son, Dallas Hale, drove.

It could be a coincidence, but I didn’t think it was. Dallas was growing more reckless since his dad found out he’d been sexually harassing Emory Gold. There was no denying or pretending he wasn’t gay now.

The sheriff and I had never discussed my sexuality. It wasn’t a secret, but I didn’t date, so it was easy to ignore. Dallas wasn’t making it easy for anyone to ignore him. Which was probably the point.

But if he continued this way, someone really would get hurt.

Unfortunately, I had no evidence to tie him to the scene. Not yet. If I told the sheriff what I suspected, he’d get Dallas’s car repaired on the sly, so I was keeping my mouth shut for now. But I was done letting this department turn a blind eye to Dallas’s crimes. I didn’t care who his dad was.

“I gotta run.” I pushed my chair back so fast I nearly rolled over Chloe’s foot.

She hopped out of the way. “Late for a hot date?”

“What? No.” I took off for the changing room, unbuttoning my uniform shirt as I walked. “I don’t date.”

“Not ever?” Chloe pressed, dogging my heels.

I pushed through the changing room door, went to my locker, and shrugged off my shirt. “Nope.”

A V-neck T-shirt I’d brought with me this morning hung inside. I tugged it over my head. It was skintight and clung to my muscles in a way that had never failed to get me a second look from a guy.

Not that I was trying to get anyone to look twice. Because this wasn’t a date.

Chloe snorted, muffling a laugh with her hand.

I glanced her way. “What’s so funny?”

She waved at my chest. “My mistake. You’re late for a hot hookup, huh? That T-shirt screams sex.”

I glanced down. “No…”

“Every other day, you walk out of here in a loose gray tee. Half the time, it’s stained or has a hole. Not tonight, though. Maybe it’s not a date, but you’ve got plans. ”

Busted. Damn it.

As much as I kept telling myself this thing with Axel couldn’t go anywhere, my willpower failed me. I wanted to look good tonight.

“Glad I amuse you,” I muttered. “I’m going to be late, so can you just…” I waved her toward the door.

She smirked. “What? Don’t want me to see the tight jeans you’re about to put on?”

“Fuck off, Deputy.”

She laughed. “Yes, sir. Don’t get up to too much trouble tonight. I’d hate to have to arrest my favorite coworker.”

I rolled my eyes, but she had no idea how likely that might be if I was spending the evening with Axel.

Once she was gone, I changed into my tight jeans—fuck it, but she’d been right about that too—and headed outside to hop into my private vehicle and drive over to Axel’s place.

He’d been vague about tonight’s plans, but I knew Allison Prince would be there as a buffer. Nothing too inappropriate could happen when we were talking about grant applications, right?

I pulled up outside Axel’s gate, and he came out, long hair blowing around in the wind. Fuck, but I loved that hair. I could run my fingers through it all?—

Stop it.

I killed the engine and opened my door. “Hey, sorry I’m late. Got busy toward the end of shift.”

“Yeah, shit happens. It’s fine. We should go, though.”

“Where are we going? Over to the house?”

“Uh, no. We’re meeting up for drinks.” He opened the passenger door. “You can be my designated driver.”

I slipped back into the driver’s seat. “Drinks, huh? You didn’t lie to me about Allison Prince, did you?”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“I don’t know. To trick me into going out with you?”

Axel’s dark laugh raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “You really think I want your dick that bad? I don’t lie to get men into my bed, Dalton.”

My ears burned with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean…” I sucked in a breath, though it didn’t seem I was getting any oxygen. “I wasn’t. That’s not?—”

“Jesus, don’t have a coronary,” Axel said. “Just drive, okay? We really are meeting Allison.”

I started the car and drove because I couldn’t trust my mouth not to make a fool of me. Axel directed to me to turn right onto the highway. I assumed we’d be meeting up at Ball Breakers, the pool hall Axel and his brothers frequented, but he told me to keep going when I slowed to make the turn.

“Where are we headed?” I asked.

“It’s over by the college.”

“What is?”

He pointed toward the next intersection. “Just take a right here, then a left on Vernon Drive.”

“We’re going to Glitter Balls ?”

Glitter Balls was a well-known gay club where they regularly performed drag shows. There weren’t any other bars over this way, so it was the only logical conclusion.

“Maybe?”

I shot him an incredulous look as I took the next turn. “And we’re going to talk to Allison Prince about funding at a drag club? Seriously?”

He grinned. “Not boring enough for you? Sorry to disappoint.”

“Axel…”

“What? It wasn’t my idea. Emory suggested we tag along when they hung out, and this is where they want to hang out. Pull the nightstick out of your ass already.”

My jaw clenched, and I focused on turning into the parking lot of the nightclub and finding an open space toward the back of the lot.

I cut the engine and turned to him. “Why are you being such an asshole?”

“Because you’re acting like uptight Deputy Harvey again,” he growled.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I parroted his words back at him, “but that’s who I am .”

“Really?” He released his seat belt and leaned in close, lowering his voice. “Because you’re dressed like you want to stick your dick down my throat again.”

I inhaled sharply as his eyes met mine, burning with the same lust rising inside me.

“Fuck it.” I lunged forward, grabbing a handful of all that golden hair.

Axel surged into the kiss like a heat-seeking missile ready to detonate. The thought flickered that he’d antagonized me on purpose. But then his tongue was curling around mine, his hand was sliding up my thigh, and my blood rushed south so fast I had no room for any thought at all.

The last time Axel and I had done this, he’d been restrained by handcuffs. He’d been almost docile, despite pushing my buttons. Tonight, I suddenly had an armful of wild, aggressive, sexual energy.

He crushed me against the driver’s-side window, hand cupping me through my jeans. I groaned, hips pushing forward into his grip.

“I ought to fuck you right here in the parking lot,” he growled against my mouth as I panted raggedly. “Would you let me, Deputy Harvey? I’d take your ass so hard you’d cry for me to never stop.”

“Fuck,” I rasped, my cock thumping with desire even as my hole clenched with anticipation. “We can’t. Not in public.”

“Not in public, huh?” He drew back an inch, sinful lips curving up. “So you’d let me fuck you in private? Maybe even beg for it?”

I licked my lips, chasing the taste of him. I wanted more. I needed more.

“Please, Ax…”

“Please what?” His blue eyes drilled into me. “Say it, Dalton. Say, Please, Axel, fuck my ass in private. Please make me come on your cock and beg for more . Say it, and I just might give it to you.”

The words were climbing my throat. They were ready to spill out. I wasn’t the type to beg, but fuck if Axel’s aggression didn’t do it for me.

My pulse rushed in my ears.

“My dick piercing makes it hurt a little,” he went on. “But when you climax, it’s even more intense. You’ll scream for me. I promise you that.”

“Fuck, Axel,” I gasped.

“ Say it .”

“Please fuck me,” I babbled. “Please make me take it, make me beg, make me cry with how good it feels. I want you. I shouldn’t, but I do, okay? I can’t pretend anymore. I’m so tired of pretending?—”

Axel’s lips silenced my words. They were strangely gentle on my lips now that I’d confessed what I kept trying to bury. I wanted Axel too much to resist him. I wanted him, even though he was too often on the wrong side of the law.

I wanted him, when it would undoubtedly lead to disaster.

He kissed away my desperate words, then moved his lips to my ear. “I’ll fuck you after we get done here.”

I blinked, coming back to myself as if waking from a dream. “What?”

“Allison’s waiting, remember?” He pulled away, leaving me hard and aching. A cruel smirk curved his lips. “You’ve made me wait long enough. Now, it’s your turn.”

Motherfucker.

Axel opened his car door and slipped out, and I straightened in my seat, running a hand over my face. My body was taking a minute to get the memo that sexy time was over.

It never should have started, but then I’d always known it would. Or at least hoped it would. Otherwise, why had I dressed like I was going to a hookup instead of a business meeting?

Axel had my number. And he’d played me like a fucking fiddle. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or pissed off. But I didn’t have time to debate it, because judging by the voices outside the car, we were no longer alone.

I smoothed my hair, took a deep breath as my cock finally deflated, and got out of the car. The cold nip of the late October breeze took care of cooling the last of my ardor.

“…already inside,” Gray was saying. “It’s rude to keep them waiting.”

“It’s my fault,” I said as I closed my door. “I was late getting off work.”

Gray’s eyes shot to me over the roof of my car. “Fair enough. Let’s get inside, huh? You guys can steam up the car windows later.”

I glanced down, but the windows were clear as day.

Axel laughed. “Damn, you don’t have brothers, do you, Dalton?”

“Just a sister. Why?”

He shook his head as he slugged Gray in the arm, making him wince. “Because you took his bait. Fucker didn’t know anything.”

Gray smirked. “But it looks like I guessed right, doesn’t it? You’re out here fooling around when you should be talking to Allison before the drag show starts.”

Fooling around seemed like such an inadequate term for what we’d been doing in that car. Axel had found just the right thread to pull, and me? I’d come fucking unraveled in a heartbeat.

He’d barely had to touch me to make me tremble and beg for him.

I was used to being the aggressor in sex. I liked calling the shots. Or at least, I thought I did.

The second Axel flipped the script, I’d melted like an ice cream cone on hot asphalt.

Being with him was all kinds of wrong, but in that moment, letting go had felt so damn right.