Not a grunt.
Not a growl.
Not so much as a hard fucking swallow.
The entire drive, he kept his hard gaze on the unpaved road and didn’t even glance at me. I wouldn’t have even known he was still aware I was even in the damn truck with him if I didn’t see the ticcing of the muscle in his clenched jaw and the whitening of his knuckles on the steering wheel every time I spoke.
Connor McBride is stone cold.
I learned that a long time ago, but seeing it in action in these current circumstances has reminded me just how icy and thoughtless he can be. Right now, he seems intent on doing…whatever the hell he’s doing, whether I cooperate or not.
His massive body directly in my way confirms that he has no intention of letting me slip past him to try to find someone rational on the property who might talk him out of whatever deranged plan he’s concocted in his head.
My eyes dart toward the dark path through the trees that would lead to Killian and Willow’s, but Connor just issues a warning growl.
“We’re alone on the homestead, Raven. Killian and Liam are helping Willow and Lucky with some new installations at the shop tonight. More shelves or some shit like that. There is nowhere for you to go and no one to run to.”
Fuck.
I didn’t see Killian’s truck when we drove onto the homestead, so there’s a good chance Connor isn’t completely full of shit and just fucking with me right now.
Which means I am in big trouble.
He stalks past me without a word, up onto the porch, and opens the door to his cabin, seemingly unconcerned that I’ll make a break for it when there isn’t anyone to run to.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
There may not be anywhere to hide from Connor, but that doesn’t mean I have to make any of this easy on him.
I remain standing on the ground next to the truck, glaring at him as he tosses my bags unceremoniously onto the floor just inside his door in a way that makes me cringe. “I swear to God, if you damaged my computer…”
It’s bad enough I have the broken pieces of the voice recorder jammed in my pocket. If he fucks with my laptop, too, I will literally kill him with my bare hands.
He issues a low growl. “Get up here.”
I cross my arms over my chest, maintaining my ground and whatever dignity I still possess after being manhandled by him. “No.”
The man already managed to muscle me into his truck against my will. He’s lucky no one saw him, otherwise Tony might be up here trying to intervene, but it looks like I’m on my own until one of the McBrides returns home, hears us arguing, and comes to my rescue.
He raises a brow. “No? So, you want to do this the hard way.”
I throw up my hands. “I don’t want to do this at all.”
A sneer curls his lips. “Well, you don’t have a fucking choice, Raven.”
He stalks back down the porch steps, drops his shoulder, and throws me over it, clamping his thickly muscled arm around the back of my thighs.
“Hey!” I yelp and pound at his back. “Put me down!”
“Absolutely fucking not.”
“What are you doing?”
He can’t seriously think there’s any way I am going to stay in his cabin willingly, and he isn’t unhinged enough to tie me up.
Is he?
He stalks back up the porch steps into his place and kicks the door closed, then sets me on my feet. “Grabbing some things. And I don’t trust you out there alone for one second.”
