My phone blipped from my back pocket.
Kale dropped his forehead to mine. “Someone has awful timing.”
“Whoever it is can wait because I’m not sure I can.”
A sexy chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Ah . . . there she is . . . my little vixen hiding under all that sweet. I love it when she comes out to play.”
My phone blipped again.
“Shit.” He pulled back, those blue eyes glimmering, hovering somewhere between playfulness and lust. “If that’s Jenna, you’d better get it.”
The smallest laugh jolted free. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of my best friend.”
A smirk ticked up at one side of that delicious mouth. “Not scared. Terrified. You know she threatened to cut off my dick.”
“No,” I wheezed, embarrassment riding to my face.
She had no shame.
Kale ran a thick lock of my hair between his thumb and forefinger, flirty play moving across his features. “It is my best asset. I don’t think I can risk it . . . for your sake.”
He grinned one of those earth-shattering grins. The kind that was cocky and arrogant and did funny things to my insides.
Heat flashed to my face, flutters lighting in my belly and making my hands tremble. I fumbled to reach for my phone, the words a wisp. “You’re ruinin’ me, Kale Bryant.”
He nuzzled under my chin, leaving a trail of kisses across the sensitive skin. “Oh, baby, trust me, I plan on it.”
Oh God.
This man.
I quickly slipped my thumb across my screen, sure Kale was right and it was Jenna checking on us. Hell, knowing her, she was probably wanting a play by play.
When I saw what was on the screen, it was instant. The way fear cinched down on my chest like the tightest band and sickness clawed at my spirit.
Nausea churned in my gut.
Unknown: Last chance, Harley, before I see to it that you never see your son again.
Kale edged back, eyes slanted down so he could read me in the darkness. “What’s wrong?”
Anxiety climbed my throat, clotting and suffocating. I tried to force it down. Play it off. “It’s just my ex.”
Anger.
In a flash, it had taken Kale hostage. His entire being vibrated with rage.
Fierce and brutal and savage.
His voice was grit. “What does he want?”
I had a feeling if I told him the whole truth, he would go flying out the door. Set on destruction. Intent on crushing anything that might stand as a threat to Evan or me.
But I couldn’t hide this from him. Not when I’d already dragged him into the middle of it. I turned my phone toward him so he could see what it said.
Fury.
It ignited on Kale’s face.
Kerosene.
This was not a knight dressed in shining, unblemished armor. Not the kind fairy tales were made of.
This was the kind that filled history books.
The kind that fought to the death for what they believed was right.
Kale pressed a fist to the wall at the side of my head as if he was barely holding on, coming unhinged, words gravel as they scraped from his throat. “I want to erase him, Hope. I want to hunt him down and destroy him. Make sure he can never hurt you or Evan. Not ever again.”
“I hate him,” I admitted over the clot of horror and fear bottled like acid in my chest.
Kale dropped his forehead to mine, this time in a tortured, rattled rage. “Who is he?”
I blinked, pressed my mouth to the roar of his heart that pounded through his shirt. “You can’t do something crazy, Kale. You can’t. You have to trust me that I’m doing everything to end this and end it for good.”
I’d already gotten myself in deep enough without drawing more attention.
I needed to do this quietly and swiftly.
And God, I wanted to tell Kale, admit it all. But he was still Evan’s doctor, and I wasn’t sure I could risk putting him in that position.
Endanger him that way.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t right.
So instead, I pushed my phone into my back pocket and wound my hands back into the fabric of Kale’s shirt. Clinging to him. Hoping he could hear the beat of truth in my words.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him away from my son. But the next months are going to be difficult. I’m up for the greatest fight of my life. I need you to know, I will do anything, sacrifice anything, to make sure I win that fight.”
I was gathering evidence.
Each text.
Each message.
Each threat.
My attorney was sure that would be all the proof of abuse we needed. The callousness and carelessness.
Kale groaned, as if it caused him pain. “And what if I want to be the one to do it? Protect him. Save him.” His big hand slid to my face. “Save you.”
My words were a breath. “You’re already savin’ me. In so many ways.”