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The earliest memory I have of my late parents was when I was six and my mother baked some cookies. Her instructions were simple. I was supposed to wait until they’d cooled down before I could grab one, but the second she’d looked away, I reached over and snagged a cookie, burning my hand in the process.
Patience is not exactly my greatest virtue. I’m used to getting whatever I want, when I want it. And right now, I want Kirsten with me. Inside that bar is a man who has made my angel’s life a nightmare. Rage burns through my body, both at Johnny for his treatment of her and myself for not noticing what was right in front of me. If not for Kirsten stopping me, I would have done far worse to Johnny than throwing him across a table. I trusted him to manage my bar, which I’d inherited from my parents. I’d trusted him to look out for both my angel, and my cousin, Sara, when I couldn’t be there.
I’m not done with Johnny, that’s for sure. If he has any sense of self-preservation at all, he’ll be long gone. But I’ll find him. I know people who can help me track him down. I’ll also be having a conversation with my cousin about why she never mentioned Johnny’s behavior to me. But that will all have to wait. Ensuring Kirsten’s safety and comfort is more important right now.
And her five minutes are officially up. Kirsten is out of her pretty little mind if she thinks I am going to sit out here and wait for her one second longer.
Not in this lifetime, I’m not.
I approach the entrance Kirsten used and slip into the back corridor of the bar. I hear voices to my right and head that direction.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I catch as I walk through the door to the kitchen.
“Yes. I just want to get my things and get out of here. Hawk is waiting for me, I need to hurry,” Kirsten says, and I see that she’s talking to my cousin. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me since I started working here. I am going to miss you, Sara.”
I watch the two embrace briefly before Sara pulls back. “You know you don’t have to leave?” Sara glances over Kirsten’s shoulder and catches my eye. She smirks slightly as she says, “I’m sure you can speak to the owner about what happened. It should be Johnny who loses his job, not you.”
“I don’t want to keep working here without Hawk, and there is no way he will get to keep his job after what happened. It’s fine. I’m just going to grab my things; I really need to hurry.”
Sara opens her mouth to say something, but before she can get any words out, Kirsten has moved around her and walked off toward the employee breakroom.
I watch my angel go as I step out of the shadows and approach Sara. “Care to tell me why you never mentioned my manager is a creep, little cousin?” I ask her.
Sara’s eyes are filled with regret and she fidgets with her fingers. “Johnny hardly ever came out of his office before Kirsten started working here. I knew he made her uncomfortable, but I thought she might just be wary of men in general. She’s so shy. When I started to suspect what was happening, I brought her to see you fight. I thought if she asked you for help, she might tell you what has been going on. I couldn’t get her to tell me.”
I breathe out a frustrated sigh.
I want to be angry with my cousin for not realizing what was happening sooner, but I hadn’t realized it either, and I’ve watched Kirsten nearly every night since she started working at my bar. After giving Sara a quick hug and promising to call her later, I move past her toward the breakroom. It shouldn’t be taking Kirsten so long to gather her things.
But when I try to open the door, I find it’s locked. Icy dread sweeps down my neck and back when I hear Kirsten’s voice from the other side of the door.
“No, please . . . What are you doing?” she cries.
“You are such a little tease, you know that?” a male voice mocks. Johnny. “I hired you even though you didn’t have any references because you are pretty. The least you could do is show your appreciation.”
The whimper that reaches my ears is more than enough to have me breaking down the door.
I kick it once, splintering the frame and allowing the door to swing open freely. It hits the wall inside the breakroom with a loud bang. My eyes immediately zero in on the woman I love. Kirsten is backed into the far corner. I take in Johnny’s open pants and the tear in Kirsten’s blouse.
“Hawk,” she whimpers, her beautiful eyes clouded and cheeks stained with tears I never want to see on her again.
“Don’t come near me,” the man I should have killed earlier threatens. “I am going to call the cops if you come anywhere near me, you maniac!”
Oh, I will show him a maniac alright.
My fist is already clenched as I stride toward him, and there is a loud yell as my fist cracks across his face, but I don’t let him fall, fisting his shirt as I land blow after blow to his face and torso, over and over again until his shirt and my knuckles are stained red. He raises his arms to block my fists, but I just grab his wrist and snap it like a twig, unmoved by how loudly he screams.
“You will never touch what’s mine again,” I growl, landing a hard punch to the man’s side.
“Hawk, stop! You’ll kill him!” Kirsten cries from behind me, but I am too far gone to stop. The sight of this man’s pants just enrages me further. How dare he think he can touch what’s mine!
Johnny drops like a boulder, and I lift my boot to kick his stomach when Kirsten wraps her arms around my waist and uses all her weight to pull me away from the man. I turn around to find her teary eyes staring up at me full of fear, and for a second, I think it’s me she is afraid of. It fucking kills me to see her like this.
I should kill this bastard for putting us in this position.
“I’m sorry, angel,” I whisper, cupping her face and swiping my thumbs over her wet cheeks. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She’s seen me fight but not up close, and now, I just showed her the demon that resides inside me. She’d be right to run far away, but . . . I can’t let her go. I won’t!
