Page 73 of Penn

I could lie. I should. But I don’t. “After I take everything important to him away, yes. I’m going to make sure that asshole never comes near you again.”

It’s the truth. I plan to kill him in one of the most torturous ways I can come up with, and I don’t want to lie. But Dixie surprises the hell out of both of us when she says, “Good.”

“Good?” Capone asks.

“He’s never going to stop. Not until someone stops him,” she says. “I never expected this was who he really was. I never would have—”

“I know. We know,” I assure her.

Her lip quivers. “Can we go to Princess? She shouldn’t be alone.”

“She’s with the people who can help her,” Capone assures her.

“But she’s there because she protected me. I want to be there. I want to make sure she knows we didn’t leave her with strangers, Penn. Please?”

Nodding, I hug her tightly. “Of course. Pacino took my pickup, so we have to take your car.”

She snorts. “You fit so well in it.”

“Whatever we need to do, we will. Let’s go.”

“I’ll board up the front door,” Capone says. “We’ll get it fixed tomorrow when we can get supplies.”

“Penn!” Kannon shouts, walking through the house. “Where the fuck are you?”

Nodding, Capone heads to the bedroom door and sticks his head out. “Back here.”

“Motherfucker’s a slippery bastard,” he says, walking into the room. “Dixie, you okay?”

She sniffles and nods. “I’m fine. Thanks to Princess.”

“Who the fuck is Princess?”

“The dog,” Capone says. “Stephen beat her pretty good.”

His eyes widen. “Oh, he’s an animal beater now. Great. Just fucking great. Even more reason to…”

“She knows,” I say.

“Do me a favor?” Dixie asks.

“Anything.”

She looks around and locks eyes with each of us for a second. “When you kill him… Make it hurt.”

“Oh, I like you,” Kannon says. “Girl after my own heart.”

“We’re heading to the vet,” I say.

“I’ll help Capone with the door. And we’ll keep a watch on the house. He won’t get to you again, Dixie. We’ll make sure of it.”

“Just be careful,” she says. “He’s capable of so much more than I ever dreamed he would be. Don’t get hurt.”

Giving her a wink, he nods. “We got this. Don’t worry.”

Chapter 28

Dixie