He appears content to wallow in his own self-pity and drown himself in bourbon.
I should let him.
It would certainly make my life easier to not have to see Connor McBride anymore.
No more sneers. No more snide remarks. No more insults slung at full force in my direction. No more having to even acknowledge the man who always manages to get under my skin in the worst way possible. But the pain it would cause Willow to see anything happen to him wouldn’t be worth any relief I might gain from letting him destroy himself.
One of his dark brows rises as he stares me down. “Did you not hear me?” He points his axe back down the hill toward Killian and Willow’s cabin. “Get the hell out of here. Leave me alone.”
The growl that punctuates his final word would be enough to make most men cower and most women run. Especially while he’s clutching that axe so tightly in his hand that he can wield with such precision—even when he’s three sheets to the wind. No matter how much I may hate Connor, the middle McBride brother’s prowess with that blade is impossible to ignore.
It saved Liam and Lucky’s lives…
I release a heavy sigh, my frustration with him beginning to make my skin itch. “There isn’t a chance in hell I am going back down that hill to tell Willow I let you stalk off into the woods drunk with your axe.”
Who knows where he would go or what he would do…
His permanent scowl returns, and his hand flexes on the weapon. Huge, powerful hands that can destroy so easily. Those dark eyes of his dart toward the pitch-black woods to the right of his cabin—away from his brothers and the homestead they share.
He is going to bolt.
Again.
It’s no secret that he’s been disappearing for days at a time, without explanation. Each time he vanishes on the mountain, everyone gets more worried that he might just not come back. And given his state tonight, I can see why.
Missing dinner with his brothers and their women is one thing—but making them constantly agonize about the worst potentially coming true is another.
Something I can’t stand for.
Not when it’s hurting my best friend and she’s already suffered more than any one person should in a lifetime.
It’s finally Willow’s chance at her happily ever after, and she deserves to have it without Connor’s self-loathing getting in the way.
What happened on this homestead when the Lorells came for Lucky shook all of us, but Connor has completely crumpled under the weight of it rather than letting the people who love him help carry the load.
I came up here tonight so that Willow and Killian could get Niall to bed without having to deal with this, to make an apparently useless attempt to convince him to come eat, so they would have an opportunity to talk to him and maybe get him to open up.
I certainly didn’t climb this damn hill to argue—again.
And he appears done with it, too.
He takes a step toward the stairs that lead down from the porch, and I take a step forward, effectively blocking his escape route.
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“Raven…” My name comes out more of a growl than spoken from between his clenched teeth. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
He could easily move me himself if his hands weren’t full, but I’m willing to bet he isn’t giving up his axe or the booze. That leaves him at a tremendous disadvantage at this moment. As does the fact that he’s unsteady on his feet from no doubt drinking too much bourbon already.
The last thing he needs right now is to be alone. And while I am certainly not the person Connor wants to see right now, I’m also the only one literally standing between him and a downward spiral he might not be able to get free from.
Which means as much as I may want to tell him off and explain how selfish he’s being when everyone is trying to help him, I have to maintain my cool.
“Come with me to Willow and Killian’s. They’re putting Niall to bed now, but she has dinner waiting for you. You shouldn’t be alone?—”
“Who the hell are you to tell me what I should or shouldn’t be?”
Fair.
