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“Don’t the three of you have wives and children of your own to torment?” She questioned them harshly as she tugged at the soft cotton material of the blouse she had worn home.
The light, neutral tone of the gray blouse did nothing to hide the damage done to her fragile face, or where it extended along her shoulder and into the scooped neckline of the garment.
It was one of her creations, he knew—one she was exceptionally proud of. Unfortunately, the light color only emphasized the darkness of the bruises.
“Who did this?” Dawg grated, his voice harsh.
Piper drew herself up, the last hint of any emotion leaving her face.
“I said leave. ” The demand in her voice was impossible to miss.
Just as arrogant, just as condescending as Dawg could be himself, she faced him with icy refusal, her gaze never flickering beneath the fury in his.
“Dawg, let her rest. ” Jed placed himself between them. “Ordering her isn’t going to get you anywhere. ”
Dawg’s fists clenched at his sides, the need to strike out, to take vengeance, clear in his expression and the tension in his large body.
“Get out of my way, Jed. ”
“Get out of her room!” Jed countered, determination hardening his voice. “You’re not going to yell at her, and you’re sure as hell not going to attempt to force answers from her. Just go home and see if you can’t ask nicely next time. ”
Who was more surprised, he wondered, when the three Mackays did just as he ordered—turned and left without another word—himself or Piper?
“This isn’t good,” Piper muttered, suddenly aware that she could have pushed her brother right over an invisible line none of them had known existed. “Dawg never just leaves. ”
Jed turned back to her. “I think you should have told him, baby. But we’ll see what hardheadedness gets you first. ”
The smile he gave her was as chilly and polite as her tone was to her brother, but far more mocking.
She stood there staring back at him, the vulnerability he could see her fighting—and the need and the hurt hiding behind the chilly facade—breaking his heart.
He turned and left, just as the Mackays had. He had no other choice. Because as pissed as her brother and cousins were, she had no idea he was even more so.
She had left without him, faced danger without him, and been determined to handle it all on her own—without him. And now, even knowing he would have to face the full force of the Mackay fallout, she wasn’t volunteering enough information to her brother and cousins to even give him hope that Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches wouldn’t try to kick his ass to hell and back.
And he still couldn’t imagine betraying the trust she had placed in him. Even knowing the enemies he could make, the budding friendships that could be destroyed. The Mackays were strong friends to have, but they could be brutal enemies, too. But, Jed had realized the second he had walked into that fucking hospital room that nothing mattered more to him than being with Piper. Protecting her, touching her, having her.
Nothing else mattered.
No matter what.
EIGHT
Dawg stood next to the pickup, his wrists hanging over the edge, his head bowed, and he had no idea how to unknot the burning fist growing in his chest.
Where was Christa? God, why hadn’t he brought Christa with him? She could have talked to Piper, could have made her understand that he had—he had—to make certain whoever hurt her never—fucking never—hurt her again.
He felt as though every breath he was trying to take was restricted.
“Fuck, hurts to breathe,” he muttered.
“No shit,” Rowdy was hoarse.
Natches wasn’t speaking.
As he wiped his hand over his face, car lights sliced into the parking lot, drawing his gaze as he found himself staring at the little car he’d bought Christa several months before.
As it pulled to a stop behind the truck, it wasn’t just Christa who stepped from the car. Rowdy’s wife, Kelly, and Natches’s wife, Chaya, moved slowly toward them.
