“Lucas,” Julian said, that single eyebrow arching. “I was told you and Finn would be at least another day in Chicago.”

“Yeah, I bet you were,” Lucas said, stalking into the office. He made a direct line for her. “You want to explain to me why you have my sub in your office without the courtesy of a fucking phone call? I had to find out from Finn who found out from Dani.”

“Both of whom will get a stern talking to from me.” Julian had gone positively glacial. “I did not call you, Lucas, because she is not wearing your collar. I called her closest male relative. It’s what I do. Call me what you like, but I believe in the traditional ways. Jackson is her father. As she has no permanently contracted Dom, I called him in because she’s in trouble. Would you prefer I simply shoved her on the street? I don’t do that with family. Alexis, would you have preferred I called in your mother?”

Dear god, no. That would be so much worse. “I don’t suppose you could simply consider me an adult and just talk to me?”

“Heavens no, dear. After last night, I don’t consider you a functional adult at all.”

Well, she’d brought that one on herself.

Lucas’s hand reached down to grasp her own. “Come on, Lexi. We’re leaving. If Julian can’t honor my rights, we’ll find someplace else.”

Jack stepped forward. “You are not taking my daughter to another club, is that understood?”

Lucas’s jaw settled in a firm, stubborn line. “She’s mine, and I’ll do what I think is best with her. I’ve taken care of her for years, Jack. Fucking years. So you will back off. She belongs to me. And I quit. You can find another goddamn lawyer, brother.”

Whoa. Lexi pulled away from Lucas. What was wrong with him? He loved Jack. He practically worshipped the ground the man walked on, and he was willing to walk away from him? Lexi shook her head. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She’d already cost a man his job. She couldn’t cost Lucas his relationship with Jack.

She looked at Julian, well aware that she was practically begging. “Please, let me make this up to you. I’ll do anything. Don’t let this happen.”

Jack and Lucas were staring each other down. They looked like the same damn man, just at different stages of life. Jack had ten plus years on Lucas, but they had the same eyes and face, and the same stubborn glare.

“Well, I wasn’t allowed to finish,” Julian said with a sigh. The testosterone flowing around the room didn’t seem to bother him at all. “I was about to map out a plan that would give you access to The Club again.”

“She doesn’t need access to a place that doesn’t appreciate her,” Lucas snarled Julian’s way.

“Nor does she need someone who enables her every self-destructive tendency,” Jack snapped right back. “I love you, Lucas. You’re my blood, my brother. She’s my daughter in every sense but biology, but I’m starting to wonder if the two of you aren’t going to be the death of each other.”

“You stay out of my relationship with Lexi!”

She moved between the two men. “Stop, please. Can we just hear Julian out?”

Lucas looked like he was ready to continue the argument, but Jack took a step back. Lexi put a hand on Lucas’s chest and realized she’d brought him here. She’d brought him here with all the things she wasn’t willing to say to him. She’d never told him she loved him with all her heart. After that terrible day when Aidan had left her, she’d shut down and simply accepted Lucas’s love without really giving him much back. The time had come to move past what she’d lost. She needed to decide if she was brave enough to try a real life with Lucas and that included this club.

“Please sit with me.” She knew how to get to Lucas. She softened against him. She put her arms around him and let herself sag into his strength. Just like that, the fight went out of him, and his hands found her hair.

“All right, baby. I’ll listen, but I reserve the right to pick you up and walk out. We can find somewhere else.” His words were soft against her ear, and he settled into the chair next to her. He held her hand as they looked to Julian. As always, Lucas was the strong presence anchoring her. He’d been her best friend for the majority of her adult life. He’d stood beside her when he wasn’t even sure why she needed him. It was way past time to stand up and be brave, and that meant facing the music with Julian Lodge and her stepfather.

There wasn’t anywhere else. This was home. She wasn’t going to get kicked out of her home. “What do I need to do?”

Julian Lodge leaned forward and began to speak.

* * *

Lucas kept his eyes on the road in front of him, though every other cell of his being was intently thinking about the woman in the seat beside him.

Jack was right, damn him. Lexi was going to be the death of him. Why had he left Dallas? He’d known she’d been on edge the last week. Why had he thought he could waltz off to Chicago?

“It isn’t your fault, Lucas.” Lexi sounded tired.

“I wasn’t thinking it was,” he lied.

She laughed, but it held not an ounce of humor. “Yes, you were. I can tell from the way you’re holding the steering wheel. You’re wondering why you left me alone. Let me tell you why. You left because you have a job to do, and it isn’t babysitting a stubborn woman twenty-four-seven. I don’t want a babysitter. I want a friend, and I need to be one, too. I did the crime. I’ll do the time.”

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he turned up Good Latimer. “Maybe I don’t like the time you’re going to do.”

A slight smile played at her lips. Her black hair was glossy in the morning light. She was so ridiculously gorgeous to him. “What do you object to, babe? Sessions with Leo?”

Julian’s verdict had been a strange version of parole with the possibility of a full pardon. Lexi was to enter into therapy sessions with Leo, and she had to be cleared by a Dom of Julian’s choice. That was the part Lucas had vocally objected to. Unfortunately, Julian had proven far more stubborn than any judge Lucas had to deal with.

He frowned. “You know I don’t care about the therapy sessions. I trust Leo. I have no fucking idea who this Master A asshole is.”

“You haven’t been talking to Dani,” Lexi replied.

Her eyes drifted closed as she relaxed back into the seat of the Lexus SUV. They had left her car behind. He’d have someone bring it out later. After last night, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight for a day or two. It didn’t matter what she thought or what Julian Lodge believed. Collar or no collar, she was his responsibility. He wasn’t willing to let that go. No matter what Jack said, he was good for her. He had to be.

“What does Dani say about this guy, and why do you have to get cleared by him? Leo, I understand. He’s a psychologist. But he’s also the Dom in residence. Why can’t he clear you on both?” Lucas asked.

The thought of Lexi in some unknown Dom’s hands terrified him. His every insecurity was bubbling to the surface and had been since Finn had gotten the call early this morning. Lucas had gotten on the first plane back to Dallas.

She didn’t open her eyes, merely talked and turned her porcelain skin toward the sun. He loved her skin. It was so pure and lovely, like the woman herself. She brought out his every protective and possessive instinct. “Supposedly he’s a badass. He’s become Leo’s little protégé, and by little, I mean really big. He’s as big as Leo, and one of the other subs said he’s covered in scars, like he was wounded in battle. They say he’s one tough son of a bitch. He’s former Army, which is probably why Leo took to him. You know those military types. Dani says Julian brought him in a couple of months back. He’s some sort of cowboy now. He has a ranch or something.”

“Then shouldn’t he be on his ranch rather than setting himself up to play with my sub?” Yes, Lexi brought out his possessiveness, and this asshole was going to bring out his need to kick some ass.

“You know all the other Doms have day jobs. Leo is the only full-time Dom. Dani says Leo is really high on this guy. He’s supposed to be hard, but fair. I’m not worried about it. I can pass whatever test this guy tries to give me.”

“You have no idea what he’s going to do to you.”

Her husky laugh went straight to his cock. Fuck. He hadn’t had a moment of sleep in forty-eight hours, but one laugh from Lexi and he was like a bull in rut.

“I can imagine. The question is what’s he going to do to you, babe?” Lexi asked.

“Nothing, if he knows what’s good for him.”

Lexi’s eyes opened now, and she turned in her seat. They were so dark blue he could drown in them. “Lucas, have you thought about the fact that maybe we should find a Dom?”

Now there was a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Had he thought about it? Of course he had. He found slight refuge in defensiveness. “I’m not Dom enough for you? Maybe Jack’s right.”

Her hand came out, stroking across the line of his jaw. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You miss bottoming, babe. I know you do.”

He’d given it up a long time ago. He didn’t need it. He needed her. At one point he thought he could have both, but that had turned out to be a lie. Aidan had been the perfect solution to everything. He was gorgeous, and Lucas had been so very sure there was a spark between them. Aidan O’Malley had been dominant down to his bone, but he hadn’t understood the lifestyle and certainly, in the end, hadn’t wanted Lucas himself. One night. He’d had one night before it all fell apart.

It hadn’t just fallen apart for him. Guilt washed over Lucas. He’d done that to Lexi. He’d upended her whole world and caused her fiancé to leave. He owed the woman he loved everything.