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Except he clearly had zero respect since he sneered, grabbed me by the wrist, and jerked me toward him. “This is about him? Because you’re fucking this rich asshole? I never took you for a gold-digging slut.”
Oh, I wanted to claw his eyes out for that.
But I didn’t get the chance.
Caleb was set on doing the honors for me.
He had him by the collar of his shirt.
A fist smashed into Jeremy’s nose. Hard enough it knocked Jeremy from his feet.
Jeremy hit the ground, but he hopped back up, swiping away the blood that gushed from his nose. “What the fuck? You’re dead, motherfucker.”
He took an arrogant step toward Caleb.
And Caleb descended.
Dark intensity sweeping in.
A fallen angel who’d come to collect.
I didn’t even know how he’d gotten him there, but he had Jeremy pinned to the table to the left, the man nothing but a blur of fury.
Caleb was over him, pounding into his face. Jeremy struggled, kicking his feet as he tried to break free, though it didn’t take long for him to go limp.
Caleb continued his assault, and I finally got myself together enough to rush to him. I grabbed onto the back of his shoulders to try to pry him back. “Caleb. That’s enough. Stop. Please stop.”
He continued to pour his wrath on the man who wasn’t worth our hate.
“Please. Stop,” I begged him.
Ezra was suddenly there, dragging Caleb off him. “Enough, man.”
Caleb stumbled back, his entire body quivering with violence. I fully wrapped myself around him from behind. Holding him.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I whispered.
Jeremy moaned from the table, and he managed to sit upright.
But oh, God, was he a sight.
Blood covered his face, his eyebrow and lip both split open, his breaths strained.
Air huffed from his nose as he raked the back of his hand over the blood running from his pompous mouth. “You really are just a selfish bitch, Paisley Dae.”
I tightened my hold on Caleb because there was no question he wanted a second round.
“You get anywhere near Paisley again, and I’m hauling you in,” Ezra warned. They’d once been friends, but obviously that ship had sailed.
“Ezra’s going soft on you. I see your face around here again? You won’t be walking out next time,” Ryder added.
Jeremy slipped off the table and staggered toward the side gate, though he paused to glare back over his shoulder. “I’m not finished with you, Paisley.”
“I can assure you that you are.” Caleb’s warning was as sharp as a razor blade.
Jeremy lifted a finger just before he disappeared around the side of the house.
“Fucker is begging for it,” Ezra rumbled.
“Yup,” Ryder agreed.
While Caleb stood there trembling in my arms.
Fury shook him to the bone.
“Come with me,” I whispered, and I took him by the hand and led him in through the back of the house, slipping down the hall until we were closed in the small bathroom.
He leaned against the countertop while I dug a washcloth from the cabinet and ran it under warm water.
Energy buzzed.
Intense.
Potent.
Taking his right hand, I dabbed the cloth to the open cuts across his knuckles.
“You don’t need to take care of me,” he grumbled. Shame tumbled out with the words.
I peeked up at him.
Icy eyes blazed at a million degrees.
“That’s what you were doing out there, Caleb. Taking care of me. Standing up for me. How about you let me take care of you, too?”
I doubted he’d ever had anyone do it.
“Only thing I want to do. Take care of you. Take care of Evelyn.”
“I know, but that’s how this thing works. We take care of each other.”
“This thing?”
“Yeah.” Whatever it was. This thing that swirled through the enclosed space, this thing that kept knitting us closer.
“I keep warning you I’m not a good man.”
I choked out on my disbelief. “You think I minded what you did back there?”
He stroked the pad of his thumb over the hollow beneath my eye. Ferocity lined his features. “I scared you.”
“I wasn’t scared. I just didn’t want your cousin to have to arrest you.” I tried to make it come out a joke, but it was too thick.
Saturated with everything he’d come to mean.
He blew out a sigh. “We should get Evelyn home.”
“Yeah.”
I tossed the cloth into the hamper.
We eased back down the hall and into the living room. The volume on the television was quiet, the lights dimmed, the kids starting to doze from their full, fun day.
The second she saw me, Dakota got off the couch and met me at the end of the hall. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Not sure Jeremy is, though.”
I glanced back at Caleb who lingered a few feet behind me before I returned my attention to Dakota.
Her brows lifted. “So I heard.”
“I’m sorry he came here and messed up Kayden’s birthday.”
“Don’t you dare apologize. That was on him. Some guys don’t know when to give it up, though I’m pretty sure he received the message loud and clear this evening.”
