She froze and he came over and picked her up. He held her with one arm under her ass and carried her to the porch. “Go and put on some clothes and shoes first.”
There was something wrong. She just couldn’t work out what. He’d gone from furious to cold and detached. He wouldn’t look at her. She knew he was angry at her, but he’d tamped i
t down. Trying to figure it out, she rushed inside and dressed. Her shoulder was so sore she had to hold in a whimper of pain as she pulled on some sweatpants. She didn’t bother to attempt to lace up her boots. She grabbed a flashlight and ran out to the shed, grabbing the rope and returning to West.
He still didn’t look at her as he hog-tied a now groaning Snake.
“I called Alec. He’ll be here in a few hours. I’ve got to go get dressed.” West looked from her to Snake. “He’s not going anywhere. You come with me.” He stormed inside and she walked slowly after him.
“Um, West, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said curtly. “Need to pack shit up. We won’t be staying here any longer.”
“Oh.” To her surprise, she felt sad to be leaving the cabin. “Can we come back some time?”
He turned to her with a frown as he hastily packed his stuff. “Thought you hated it here.”
“It’s grown on me. I’ve enjoyed being here with you.”
There was a softening in his face.
“West, I know you’re upset with me—”
“I’m not upset.”
He wasn’t?
“I’m fucking furious.”
Oh, right.
He stood. “But right now, I can’t give in to that. I have to figure out a way to control it so I don’t fucking frighten you. So I don’t remind you of him.”
She took in a sharp breath. She stepped forward, into his path as he was making his way towards the front door. “You never remind me of him.”
“You get this scared look on your face every time I get angry. You think I’m gonna hurt you.”
“No, I don’t.” She let out a breath. “All right, maybe I do but it’s not you. It’s not because I think you’ll hurt me. I wouldn’t be with you if I thought that. It’s instinctive.”
“Well, I don’t like it. Which means I’ve got to rein things in for you. Right now, I’m holding onto my control by the skin of my teeth, considering I got woken in the middle of the night by some bastard who’d come to kidnap my woman. Then I let him get the jump on me, so I could take him down and, instead of my woman listening to me and staying where she was or fucking running like she should have, she decides to fucking offer herself up instead.”
“Oh. You let him get the jump on you?”
He glared at her.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that? He had a gun on you!”
“You should have done what I told you to, which was to stay inside where you were safe. You didn’t even have shoes on!”
That seemed a weird thing to get angry about. “So that’s why you’re mad.”
“Damn fucking right I’m mad. You do not ever, ever risk yourself for me. Understand?”
“I didn’t know you let him get you. I thought he would shoot you if I didn’t do what he said.” Did he expect her to be a mind-reader?
“He was going to shoot me anyway!”
“I know, that’s why I deliberately tripped and fell into him.”