Dawg would have pups if he ever found out she had traveled there alone. He was so damned protective and controlling of his sisters’ lives that he had even fully vetted their roommates at college. She and her sisters had become so disgusted over the choices he had given them that they had opted to just share an apartment together.
Piper hated it.
She hated having to look over her shoulder at every party she went to and every event she attended. Even worse was how often her dates and potential lovers looked over their shoulders.
The few men Piper had actually considered sleeping with had run so damned fast once they’d realized who she was related to that there hadn’t been a chance of finding out whether they were as compatible as she had thought they might be.
The men who hadn’t run had been far too much like the male Mackays for her to even consider, once she realized the traits they shared with her family members. She was terrified of ending up with a man just like Dawg, or worse yet, a man who reported to him.
That would be so humiliating.
She couldn’t imagine anything worse than being in a relationship where she couldn’t trust her lover to have more loyalty to her than he had fear of her brother.
Would Jed really fear Dawg, though?
She couldn’t imagine that happening, but she could imagine him reporting to Dawg simply because he believed her brother would have the right to know what she was doing, when, and where.
She glanced to the planner again as she finished packing her duffel bag with the items she’d bought before leaving for the meeting with the bastard who ha
d tricked her into coming to New York. She’d literally upended her purse to get all the little packages of stones and colored glass into the duffel, and stuffed all the fabric and notions in after them.
It would serve Eldon right if she did tell Dawg exactly what he had done. Dawg and her cousins would be in New York City so fast no one would dare realize they were gone. And they would beat the skinny, rat-faced little pervert to a pulp.
The thought of it was immensely satisfying, but she knew she could never do it.
Shaking her head at the pleasurable image and heading across the room to collect her planner, she was brought up short by a knock on the door.
The bellhop was quick. She had called the front desk and asked them to give her an hour before sending him up, but she didn’t mind leaving a little earlier than she had planned. It would give her a few extra minutes to settle onto the train and feel a little sorrier for herself.
Mockery curled her lips. If there was one thing she didn’t do well, it was feel sorry for herself.
Dawg wasn’t really a prison warden, though in the past year, she admitted, there were often times she accused him of being one.
Checking the peephole quickly, she saw a large form dressed in the familiar hotel jacket and quickly opened the door.
For the second time that night, her world went to hell.
She had seen Eldon’s attack coming; she wasn’t expecting this one.
The second the door parted from the frame it slammed inward with such force Piper found herself thrown back into the room, where she crashed into the room service cart delivered earlier.
Dishes and food were suddenly flung across the floor as the cart took her weight, and Piper let out a piercing scream.
Don’t be quiet, Dawg had always advised her and her sisters. There was nothing an attacker hated worse than having attention called to his actions.
And evidently it was the truth.
“Shut up, bitch.” Enraged, the apelike figure dived for her as Piper fought to scramble away, using every breath she had to scream her lungs out.
A heavy fist caught her shoulder, causing her face to slam into the side of the dresser.
For a moment, her senses were rattled, light flashing before her eyes and exploding in vibrant color as she fought back the dizzying darkness gathering beyond the lights.
A hand attached to her upper arm with bruising force, jerking her from the floor as a hoarse demand was growled in her ear.
“Where is it?”
Where was what?