Locking my cell before I lean back on my seat, I close my eyes as if I’m taking a minute when in actual fact I’m listening intently.
“He said he’s gonna send his lackey again,” one of the guys says.
“Again?” Dex asks. “If he doesn’t show his face soon, I’ll have to reconsider this arrangement.”
Someone grunts in agreement before saying, “He thinks he’s hot fuckin’ shit. Dick needs to be taken down a peg or two.”
“And here I thought Canadians were meant to be the nice guys,” the first guy says, a loud belly laugh sounding out.
I frown. Canadian?
“Either way, he has one last chance after this meeting and if I don’t see his face, we’re done with him. I don’t deal with lackeys.”
Opening my eyes before I lift my beer to my lips, I drink the last little bit then push my chair back. “Gonna head out,” I grunt, grabbing my jacket and pushing my arms through the sleeves.
“Gotta service the wife, huh?” the first guy says, and when I stare at him, fire in my eyes, his grin drops from his face.
Leaning my palms on the table, I watch the tattoo on my hand move as I get into his face. “You don’t know me,” I start, my voice low and threatening. “So, you wouldn’t understand how I’d react to someone talking about my wife like that.” I advance on him. “This is your first and only warning, talk about my wife in any context again and I’ll end you.” I pause a beat. “End. You.”
His throat bobs as he visibly swallows, his head nodding like one of those dogs you have in the back of your car. Not moving my gaze from him, I stand up and crack the knuckles on my hand before rolling my shoulders back and looking over at Dex.
“I’ll need you in a couple days.”
I nod. “You got my burner number.”
He tilts his head in acknowledgment and I spin around before walking out of the bar and right to my SUV. I work on automatic, turning the key in the engine before starting the drive home. I pull up at a stop sign and my hands grip the steering wheel tighter, my breaths coming faster as I look left, knowing if I head that way I’ll be going past my mom’s… and Lily’s dad’s.
I know I shouldn’t go there—all it’ll do is cause more trouble—but the thought of leaving him out there, threatening Lily and any other woman who falls for his charms, has my blood pressure rising.
Charlie’s right, we should be taking the bad people off the street but doing it the legal way will only cause Lily more pain.
I press my foot to the gas pedal as I head toward her dad’s house, but all I see is red—red lights as they make my journey longer, red blood as it marks Lily’s pale skin, red knuckles from knocking Jonah out—and when I look down as I pull up outside his house, I see the blood dripping over my palms, slipping through my fingers. I blink but it’s still there, overflowing, not stopping, dripping onto my jeans and mixing in with a woman’s screams. Only when I look up, it’s not my mom sitting against the wall asking what I’ve done… it’s Lily. Terror on her face, her eyes widening as I step toward her.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I open them again, shaking the images from my head.
It’s easy… too easy to end him right now. To pull the gun from my holster and walk in there. I could shoot him between the eyes and have him buried within an hour, no one any the wiser. But could I live with that… again? Could I take away another person's life without a second thought?
The answer is yes, and that’s what has me speeding away from his house and back to the compound.
Lily doesn’t know the true me, the me who damages the people he loves. I may not physically hurt them, but bruises fade whereas memories haunt you.
Protecting the people you love sometimes shows them parts of you that you don’t want them to see. And you can never take it back once you’ve shown that side.
I don’t want Lily to see that part of me, and I’m not afraid to admit I hate how quickly I react when someone hurts a person I love. I hate being the one who loses his temper, who hurts the people who are hurting him.
It’s always in the back of my mind—the terror of turning out just like my dad.
For years I’ve worked to control my anger, to not let it guide me, and until now I’ve not had to worry about it, but as I pull up in the compound and look over at my house, I know it wouldn’t take much for me to do what is necessary to protect Lily.
Whatever the consequences.
LUKE
“Eat it!” he screams, his hand gripping onto her hair, pushing her face into his dinner. “Eat the shit you cooked me!”
“I… I’m sorry—”
“You stupid bitch.” He yanks her head back and stands over her before his fist comes out of nowhere and slams into her eye. “You’ll never learn, will you?”