Jason
RING RING. RING RING RING. RING RING.
I stare bleary-eyed at the ceiling trying to figure out what’s going on. I keep hearing a noise but my brain can’t figure out quite what it is yet. A few more blinks and the realization hits me: my phone. I fumble around my bed and finally wrap my fingers around it, promptly drop it, and manage to pick it up.
“Hello..?” I say groggily.
“Jason, were you sleeping?”
“Alex?”
“Yes, Alex. This is the third time I’ve called, was about to send a search squad to check if you were still alive. Look, Wade and I are conducting some business, can’t talk long. Tammi texted me saying someone is making Zeva uncomfortable. Can you get up to Honey and take care of it? Bouncers can’t do anything since it’s nothing officially against policy yet, but I want you to keep it from getting to that point. Thanks.”
He hangs up before I even say anything. I shrug to myself and pull my pants on. He knows when it comes to Zeva all three of us will drop anything unimportant to take care of her. Even if it’s a good nap. But if the two of them are on Order business it’s gotta be some serious dollars on the line. They know I’m up to taking care of it, or Wade would send Alex and take care of things himself, whether or not that might get him killed in the process.
I get to Honeypot within a few minutes of the phone call and make my way inside. As I walk in Stone nods to the guy in question sitting in the seat nearest the dressing room. I walk up to him as he’s sipping a beer. I knock it out of his hand, spilling the entire contents over his lap. He yells and stands up to take a swing at me, but before he even pulls his hands back I have the barrel of my gun in his mouth.
His eyes grow wide and he throws his hands up. He makes eye contact and immediately realizes I mean business.
“I don’t have any questions for you and you don’t have any business here. I see your face here again and I’ll be digging a hole out back for you.”
He tries to say something muffled into the barrel of my gun, but I don’t like his tone. I click the hammer back to let him know I’m serious. I glance down and notice a wet spot on his pants much bigger than what was left of his beer. I laugh and put my gun away as he trips over himself running for the door, but I grab his collar and reach into his jacket.
“I’m also keeping your wallet to pay to clean up your piss, asshole,” I say. I kick him in the ass and he falls forward, then scrambles, half crawling out the front door.
I turn around to see Zeva peeking out of the dressing room. I take her hand and hug her tight, partly in greeting, partly to comfort.
“Ugh, that guy would not stop asking for time in the VIP room. Kept saying he heard all the girls here do ‘full service’ and he was some big shot from out of town, talking about all the businesses he owned and just would not shut up!” she explains, laying her head on my chest.
“Let’s call it a night for you okay? I’ll give you a ride up to the diner and we can grab a bite,” I say.
She nods against my chest, and within minutes we’re on my bike and on the way to the diner. She holds onto me tight. I don’t know the last time she was on a bike but she definitely doesn’t seem completely comfortable with it. I take it slow and easy just to make sure.
We arrive and get our table. I order my usual breakfast platter, and the waitress makes her usual joke about it being the dead of the night and I’m asking for breakfast.
“I really don’t get shaken like that normally,” Zeva says as we finish our meal. “Just…when he asked I thought about somebody besides you, Wade, or Alex touching me and it really threw me...”
I watch her as she stares into her coffee.
“It’s one of those things that can come with the territory, sadly,” I say. “Guys can be pretty big assholes, but that’s why we’re here for you. We can take care of trash like that like it’s nothing.”
“I really appreciate you showing up, Jason,” she looks up at me. Our eyes meet and it brings a smile to my face like always.
“Well, Wade or Alex would do the same. I just happened to be closer. We care about you, Zeva. We won’t let anything happen to you okay?”
She smiles and nods. “I know. I wish there was something I could do to show you the same.”
“We know just as well. It’s not every day three guys as close as us share feelings for the same girl without having any competition between us. You’re something seriously special.”
“F-feelings?” Zeva blushes.
Oops.
“Oh…umm. Well yeah. You’re more than just a dancer or a lay,” I say. I wonder to myself if this is a conversation we all should have had together, but shit happens, I guess. “I’m not going to speak for the other two completely but it’s not stepping too far out to say you’re a pretty big part of our lives.”
She stares into her coffee again. “I’ve…been alone for quite a while. I have plenty of friends, but nobody that I share much with aside from your occasional chat. But just being with each of you, or all three of you, I feel really safe. I feel at home. I hope that doesn’t ever need to change.”
She stands up and hugs me tight.
“Thanks again, Jason. I need some time to process it all,” she whispers, her voice just a sweet sigh. “Do you mind giving me a ride back to my truck now?”
I nod and leave some cash on the table, giving the waitress a nod before we leave.
Fuck, I can’t believe I just told Zeva I had feelings for her.
What’s this girl doing to us?