She closed her eyes, and Kenny lightened his hold on her chin.
He kneeled with one leg under him as he leaned the other arm over her waist. His big broad shoulders blocked her view from the others.
* * * *
Kenny was trying his hardest to reign in his anger, but the damn woman was thickheaded.
“I told you not to go back to Rocky’s, didn’t I?” He absorbed the sight of her battered face. He wanted to kill the fucking bastard that hurt her. Wyatt wouldn’t let him ten feet near the jail cell where the four men responsible for last night’s brawl remained.
He watched her swallow hard, the motion of her beautiful neck and chest lifting as she tried to remain calm. Her breasts looked full and round, and the tank she wore hardly covered her.
“I’m not getting into this with you again,” she replied.
He inhaled, trying not to lose his control.
“This isn’t up for discussion.”
“This is unacceptable, Lena. No woman of ours is going to come home from work battered and abused,” Quinn added as he stood behind Kenny.
“This is nothing. You’re the ones making a big deal about it.” She raised her voice then cringed from pain, most likely. Kenny lost his cool.
“You can’t be so calm about something like this, Lena. We can’t allow you to work in unsafe places,” Kenny said.
“It’s not like I’ve never been hit before, Kenny. This is my life, and you can’t tell me what I can and can’t do,” she blurted out.
“What did you say?” Kenny asked, and she turned away from him. Kenny looked at his brothers, including Bryant, who remained standing by the doorway as if on guard. He wondered what the hell was going on before they arrived. He would address that later with Bryant. Right now her admittance that she had suffered abuse before bothered him and his brothers. He could tell by their facial expressions.
“Lena, I don’t know anything about your past, baby, but getting knocked around and abused is not acceptable,” Kenny whispered then caressed her chin.
“It’s not normal, baby, and you are so beautiful and sweet that it’s crazy to think that you feel abuse is normal,” Blake stated.
She turned to look at them.
“I didn’t say that I accept it or think that it’s normal, I said that this wasn’t the first time I’ve had a bruised cheekbone or black eye. Listen, I’m tired, my head hurts, and some ice might help right about now.”
Bryant walked into the room and he locked gazes with Lena. Kenny watched as her eyes lit up and Bryant sat down on the bed and placed the bag of ice gently on her cheek.
“How does that feel?” Bryant asked her.
She covered Bryant’s hand with her own.
“Cold,” she whispered, and Bryant used his free hand to push a stray hair away from her eye then caress her cheek.
“It’s supposed to be. Keep it on. I know from experience that it helps.”
“You’ll have to tell me the story sometime,” she teased him, and Kenny was shocked. Bryant hadn’t spoken kindly to any of his family for over a year.
Bryant completely avoided Kenny’s eyes.
“I’m going back to my house. They’ll take care of you now,” Bryant stated.
“No, don’t go Bryant.”
“I have to. I’m starving and my cook was a no-show this morning.”
“I’ll get up and make you something,” she said then began to rise.
“No!” both Kenny and Bryant stated as they laid a hand against her chest. Lena instantly lay back down.