Page 74 of Down & Dirty: Rage

Of course, thosethingshad to do with why Lyric was at his apartment early this morning.

Crow stopped on the other side of the bar and stared at Rage’s hair.

“Problem?” Rage frowned as he continued to pretend he had no idea why his club brother was standing in front of him.

The older biker shook his head. “Lyric said you asked for help with your hair.”

Rage ran his hand over the once again tight, neat braids. “Yeah. They were a clusterfuck. She was a lifesaver.”

Crow’s gaze sliced over to Shimmer who was now tryingto convince a customer to go in the back for a private lap dance. “Thought Shimmer was one you let work on your hair.”

Was that a “gotcha” question? Had to be since Crow already knew the answer. “Yeah.”

Crow locked eyes with him when he asked very calmly, “Then why did Lyric have to come toyour apartmentat the crack of fuckin’ dawn to fix your hair? ‘Specially when this club don’t open ’til eleven.”

Shit.What reason did Lyric tell him? He wished they’d had more time to get their stories straight. “Also needed to reschedule the ink I’m gettin’ in honor of my father.” He pointed to the side of his shaved head. “Gettin’ a hawk right there.”

“Sure Hawk’s gonna ‘preciate that gesture. But could’ve been rescheduled with a call or text.”

Even though the man before him was one of the oldest living DAMC members, he was still sharp as fuck. “Killed two birds with one stone.”

Rage knew he was fighting a losing battle. Crow was a hell of a lot smarter than him.

“Know my baby girl and you are close?—”

“She ain’t a girl.” Or a baby. Her father treating her like one pissed Rage the fuck off.

What he saw naked in his bed this morning was far, far,farfrom a girl.

“Don’t need you takin’ advantage of that closeness.”

That accusation was a kick in the fucking nuts.

Rage narrowed his eyes on the man across the bar, trying to beat back the red haze creeping into his vision. “Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Know, despite her age, she ain’t got a lotta experience.”

“How would you know that? Know for a fuckin’ fact theclub sisters hide their datin’ life from their fathers. For this very fuckin’ reason.” He jerked his chin at Crow. “She’s an adult. Don’t gotta be her guard dog.”

Crow leaned in, lowered his voice, and said slowly, “Gonna protect my baby girl to the day I’m fuckin’ dead and buried.”

Rage straightened his spine, pulled his shoulders back, and tried like fuck not to take what Crow said personally. But since the OG said it to Rage’s face, it was difficult not to. “Like you said, Lyric and I have always been close. Why the fuck would I wanna hurt her?”

“Too much like your uncle. She don’t need that bull in a china shop shit in her life. Want her to have a life fulla love and happiness, not one where she’s gotta worry about you goin’ on a damn rampage, then goin’ to prison ‘cause you take matters into your own fuckin’ hands like you tend to do when no one else knows.”

Did the OG somehow know that he took out those Twisted Souls motherfuckers? No fucking way he could. But the rest of what he said…

They had sex once. It wasn’t like he was about to claim Lyric at the table. He had no plans for her to wear his cut or be his ol’ lady.

It wasn’t because of Lyric, but because of him.

“No shit,” Rage responded in a carefully controlled tone. “Want the same for her as you.”

“Yeah? Then why’d she hafta lie about Shimmer?”

Holy fuck.“What ‘bout Shimmer?”

“Guess you two didn’t have time to get your fuckin’ stories straight. She said none of the dancers who do your hair were workin’ today. Show up here and there’s Shimmer.”