“Hound, fancy seeing you here,” Marcum says.

Until this moment, I haven’t been paying attention. I was too pissed that Marcum was wanting to stare at him and not talk. It has been a while, so I didn’t recognize the voice of the man that yelled at Marcum either. But I know the name and when he responds I definitely know that voice.

“There’s not a damn thing fancy about this place. Mind if Graves and I join you?”

“Would it matter if I did?” Marcum asks.

“Not a fucking bit,” Hound answers.

“I thought so.”

I know Marcum asked me not to look at Hound, but that order pissed me off. Honestly everything he’s done today has pissed me off. Marcum has a way of taking over my life and telling me how things are going to be. His testosterone levels have to be sky high, but I’m kind of sick of his caveman ways. Plus, I know Hound. He’s one of the few friends my father had I liked. Liked in a distant kind of way, because that look in his eyes was a little too intense and Hound is not my type, and he may not know it—but I’m definitely not his.

“Toi, baby girl, is that you?”

I feel Marcum go stiff beside me and I feel the air thicken. I clear my throat and look at Hound—which is a completely stupid name, but short for Hell Hound, which from everything I heard fits him. He’s sexy in a deadly kind of way. His head is shaved, but he has this beard that covers the lower part of his face. He has the deepest blue eyes that I’ve ever seen; and when he looks at me, he scares me at times. There’s this huge tattoo on his neck of a black skull. It’s surrounded by ornate black plumes that remind me of smoke, but it’s the eerie red-orange eyes, nose and mouth of the skull that make it look… kind of creepy.

I smile at him. As far as Hound knows, I can’t talk and for some reason I don’t want that impression to change.

He picks up my hand and pulls it toward his lips. Just like that Marcum’s hand snaps out and grabs mine. I let out a startled gasp of surprise, and look at him. His face is hard and he’s staring straight at Hound.

“If you want to stop breathing, keep trying to touch my woman,” he says quietly. He may be quiet, but his words sound like steel.

“Your woman?” Hound asks, surprised.

“You’ve got about two seconds to let go of her hand,” Marcum adds. His voice is that same quiet voice that sends chills down my spine—and definitely not the good kind.

Hound drops my hand, but now he’s looking at me. Graves is silent beside him, but his gaze is trained on me too and just as intense.

“Mind telling me what in the fuck brought this on?”

“I do. It’s not your fucking business,” Marcum says and he pulls my hand back to his lap, blatantly putting it near his cock. I might have pulled it away, but I’m thinking it’s best if Hound thinks I am agreeing with Marcum. Which, most days I am, but today… he’s being an asshole.

“Rachelle!” Hound calls out and within a moment the waitress comes back.

“What’s up?”

“Give me your pen and ordering pad,” Hound says and that easygoing personality he usually uses with women is gone. The waitress does as she was ordered and Hound pushes it toward me. “Are you okay with being claimed by Marcum, baby girl?” he asks me, his voice dropping down and almost tender—but then, Hound has always been that way with me. I know he feels sorry for me, but that’s not all of it and he treats me like a small, frightened child… or maybe a China doll he is afraid might crack.

“You doubting my fucking word?” Marcum growls and his voice might have been steel before, but right now he sounds like he could slice through steel… shit, maybe melt it down.

“Toi and I go way back. I want to know she’s happy. If she is, then you and I have no beef. If she’s not… then we have problems,” Hound says easily.

They stare at each other for a few minutes. Marcum surprises me first.

“Tell him, Dragonfly.”

I frown. There he goes issuing more orders, like I don’t have a mind of my own.

“Here’s your pen, baby girl,” Hound says, pushing the pen and pad again. I start to reach for it and Marcum shows he’s an ass again.

“Use your damn voice, Toi,” he sighs.

“You’re an ass,” I hiss at Marcum. My voice isn’t like it was the other night but it is a little louder than earlier—probably because I’ve been resting it.

“Fuck. You can talk?”

“Guess you don’t go back as far as you thought,” Marcum smirks.

“Guess not. I have to wonder what other secrets you kept from me, baby girl,” Hound says and I don’t think it’s a good thing that Hound has me on his mind about anything.

“Keep calling her baby girl and I’m going to enjoying cutting out your tongue and serving it to my men for dinner,” Marcum tells him.

Hound almost smiles.

“You claiming this ass… Toi?”

“Most days,” I sigh.

“I didn’t know you wanted to be an old lady. Graves and I would have stepped up long ago.”

“It’s good you didn’t because I would have gutted you to get to her,” Marcum says and I get the distinct feeling he’s not joking.

“I’m not your kind of girl,” I tell them, elbowing, Marcum.

“All girls are our kind of girls. Some just take a little more work. You would have been work we enjoyed.”

“Would you like to tell me why you’re here, Hound, before my patience snaps and I kill you? Because I got to tell you, I’m not liking the way you’re talking or looking at my woman and the longer I sit here, the more I want to end you.”

“We saw your bike outside. Thought we’d pay a friendly visit,” Hound shrugs.

“I’m sure,” Marcum says. His fingers move back and forth on my arm, the rough callused pads of his fingers teasing my skin. I’m annoyed with him, but I can’t deny that I love his touch.

“Aren’t you a little old for Toi?”

Marcum growls, his body tensing up again. I close my eyes, because I’m probably the single most confused woman on the planet. Then, I take my hand away from his lap and link my fingers into his hair.

It startles Marcum, I know it does, because he turns to look at me.

“Apparently I like old cavemen who constantly order me around.”

“Like, Dragonfly?” he smirks.

“Most days,” I whisper, and then to prove I’m stupid as well as confused, I kiss him lightly on his lips.

I don’t know what I expected. Maybe I thought he would kiss me back, or demand a deeper kiss. Instead, he turns away from me and focuses on the men again. In fact, I get the distinct impression he’s blocking me out. The reality of that kind of hurts.

“Let’s get on with this. I need to take Toi back home and fuck her. Why in the hell are you here taking up my air?”

“And there’s the asshole again,” I mutter, mostly to myself, but Graves laughs. Hound just looks at me and there’s something different in his look this time.

“I misjudged you, little one. You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for. It’s good you found a man who recognizes this.”

I don’t know how to answer that, so I don’t say anything.

“Cut the shit, Hound. What the fuck do you want?”

“I don’t think I can answer that. Or we will be fighting and I don’t think Toi would appreciate me killing you.”

“You could try.” Marcum shrugs.

“Word on the street is you’ve attracted the attention of the Garcia bastards, Marcum. That’s dangerous eyes to attract—even for you.”

“Ask me if I give a fuck,” Marcum responds with a shrug. On the surface he looks very relaxed, but my hand is back on his leg and I can feel the tension he’s hiding. I press my hand in tighter. I don’t know why, really. I just want to remind him I’m here.

“Still. You have something valuable now. I’ll admit I didn’t know how valuable until today, but you should watch out.”

“I didn’t get where I am by being stupid. I don’t need you to warn me, Hound. You know who I am. Anyone wants to fuck with me, you tell them to bring it on. I’ll dance on their fucking bones. Let’s go, Dragonfly,” he growls, standing up.

“Dangerous words for a man who holds gold in his hands,” Hound says. Marcum’s body goes still.

“Gold?”

“Five million.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I do now. You get word back. Spread it wide. Anyone fucks with what’s mine and they won’t need to worry about money. They won’t need it where I’ll send them.”

“I’ll spread it,” Hound says, and I’m confused as to what they’re talking about, but I know it’s not good.

“Good, and tell them where I send them, they’ll go in fucking pieces,” Marcum growls.

“It will be done,” Hound agrees.

Marcum wraps his arms around me and pulls me deep into his side—so deep I almost can’t walk. Rachelle the waitress is still there and Marcum looks at her. “They’re paying for our damn bill.” Then he almost pulls me toward the door.

“If you need backup, my crew and I are available.”

“Why? We have no alliance,” Marcum says.

“No. Bu, Toi deserves happiness.” Hound shrugs.

“I’ll be the motherfucker to make sure she gets it. You and your crew can stay out of it,” Marcum answers and with that, we’re gone.

I have no idea what just happened, but I’m not stupid. There’s big shit going down and I got a bad feeling I’m smack dab in the middle of it.