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“Sugar?” LJ called without taking his attention off Higgins. “We’re good to go. Hop in the truck. I’ll be thirty seconds.”
Holly remained silent for a beat, then said, “Please hurry. I really want to go home.”
After he heard the truck door slam shut, LJ took another step closer to Higgins. He had a good six inches on the guy and at least sixty pounds of bulk. It’d be so easy to wrap his hand around the man’s throat and give a good fucking squeeze.
So damn tempting. Instead, he said, “I find out you laid one hand on my woman, you’ll learn exactly what the Handlers are all about.”
Higgins raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t think even you were dumb enough to threaten an officer of the law.”
LJ glanced around. “No witnesses.”
“Huh, guess not.” Higgins tilted his head. “Just like there were no witnesses when I was here with your woman.”
With a growl, LJ stepped forward. Higgins was a dead man.
“LJ! Your woman is waiting on you.” Copper’s booming brogue might have just prevented a murder.
“Aww, Daddy says it’s time to go. Better listen.”
Fuck this. He was done. He’d be behind bars if he took this fucker’s bait and Copper was right, Holly’s needs trumped Higgins. LJ turned, stuffing his weapons registration card in his back pocket. He nodded to Rocket who pulled out onto the highway. Copper would most likely stick around until both Higgins and LJ had gone.
Didn’t fucking matter that Higgins still had his gun. He marched to the truck with two goals in mind. Get Holly as far away from this spot as fast as possible and find out what the fuck happened.
In that order.
He hauled himself into his massive truck with the ease someone only his size could pull off. With a two-fingered salute for Copper and Zach, he drove off. But not toward home. Their apartments didn’t need to be tainted by whatever went down today. Hopefully, they could talk it out, then leave it in the past.
After about two minutes of silence, Holly said, “LJ, I—”
“Not yet.”
He cast her a quick glance to find her watching him with wary eyes while she gnawed on her lower lip. Dammit. Freaking her out hadn’t been the goal. He just needed a few minutes to get his shit locked down before they spoke.
For the rest of the fifteen-minute drive, neither made a sound. He should say something, comfort her in some way, but he was too on edge to offer anything more than time to think. As he pulled off to the side of the road, Holly gasped.
So, she recognized the overlook as the place he’d first had her. Hopefully, the positive memories of that night would outweigh whatever shit she was about to tell him. He put the truck in park, rolled the windows down halfway, then killed the engine. They turned to face each other at the same time.
“I’m okay, LJ,” Holly said. “I can see this whole incident really upset you—”
“You being harassed by the cops and nearly arrested because I didn’t think to remove the weapon from my car? Yeah, it fucking upsets me.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re not blaming yourself for this, are you?” When he didn’t respond, she said, “LJ that’s crazy! That Higgins guy is just a straight-up asshole. You aren’t responsible for his actions in any way.”
They’d have to agree to disagree on that one. Goddamn, why hadn’t he just bulldozed over her desire to rely on herself and driven her to the damn diner? She’d been out there on the side of the road, unprotected. And once LJ had shown up? He still couldn’t do anything without getting his ass tossed in jail. Goddamn fucking helpless. The worst state for him to be in. He blew out a breath. “Tell me what happened.”
“You have to promise me you won’t flip out, okay?”
“I make no such promise.”
“LJ!” She scoffed. “Come on.”
Instead of answering her, he captured her face between his mitts and gave her a kiss. Probably the sweetest kiss he’d ever given her. No exploring tongues or plans to escalate. Just lips pressed together in comfort. “Shoulda done that the second I saw you,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers. “My mistake. I’ll try not to lose it. Okay, baby?”
Holly sighed and closed her eyes. “Damn you, LJ for being so sweet.” Another sigh. “Like he said, he pulled me over for going a few miles above the limit.”
He smiled. Though loosening her tongue hadn’t been the purpose of that kiss, he’d be lying if he wasn’t thrilled for the side benefit.
Her eyes remained closed. “He was your basic jerk at first. Suggesting I was some angry club whore who hijacked your car. A woman scorned kind of thing, I guess. I tried to explain we were…more than that.” She shrugged. “He either didn’t buy it or didn’t care. You know what happened when he asked for the registration and insurance.”
