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Kyler stiffened.
All of the Club Sin Masters stood from their seats but stayed where they stood. Everyone remained focused on Kyler as he approached the door.
Cora sighed, moving to Ella’s side and taking up her other hand. “Okay, I guess that’s why you never told us.”
Ella couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
This cannot be happening.
Rory kicked at the door again, yelling words that Ella couldn’t make out simply because he was in a rage fueled by alcohol. Her insides shook at the memory of the last time she’d seen Rory like this.
When Kyler opened the door, a cold fear swept into Ella’s soul as she stared at not the Rory she had once loved, but the drunk Rory who terrified her. Cool and collected as always, Kyler’s voice sounded calm. “I believe I was clear when I told you to go home and to stay away from Ella.”
In a speed that her eyes couldn’t register, Kyler had a hand wrapped around the back of Rory’s neck and took him down to the ground. She stood in shock, unsure of what surprised her more.
The fact that Kyler had disabled Rory, pressing a knee to his back in less time than it took her to blink.
Or the realization that Kyler had confronted Rory as if they’d met before.
Outside of Ella’s condo, red and blue lights lit up the night sky as Kyler leaned against the police car. Fuck, his thoughts stayed with Ella, and the embarrassment she must have experienced. He never intended for anyone in Club Sin to learn of what happened to her, especially in this manner.
“He’s something special.”
Following the direction Porter was looking, Kyler spotted the second cruiser. Rory kicked the window of the police car, screaming obscenities and spitting. He folded his arms and grumbled, “Something special indeed.”
“I take it you approached him?” Porter asked.
Kyler nodded, glancing away from the cruiser. “Thought that’d be the end of it and that he would see Ella’s not alone. I thought that by his knowing that I’m a cop it would smarten him up.” He rubbed his exhausted eyes and sighed. “I didn’t expect him to show up tonight and pull this fucking stunt.”
“Possibly, he felt pressed,” Porter offered.
“I’m sure he did.” In fact, Kyler surmised that’s exactly what happened and Rory had drunk himself into a craze. Perhaps Rory realized tonight there was no hope left for him and Ella. Part of Kyler was glad he’d been there when Rory showed up. The other part of him felt like a piece of shit for working Rory up enough that he’d caused this to happen.
He scanned the area, seeing his fellow cops talking to Dmitri and Aidan, while taking notes. It came of no surprise when he made the call that more than one cruiser showed up. More to the point, Kyler didn’t doubt that his father would be asking questions when he saw him next.
“Poor girl, if that’s what she had to face,” Porter said, staring at Rory, who used both feet to kick at the window.
Kyler had seen such behavior before, many times. Booze and a certain type of individuals didn’t mix, bringing out anger that looked animalistic. No sane part of Rory lived in him now. But a real man wouldn’t drink, if he knew alcohol made him this way.
Porter added, “Must’ve been scary.”
“I’d imagine so,” Kyler replied, which only tugged at his heart, reminding him how little Ella shared with him.
He’d been trained in how to deal with drunken assholes, and had the muscle mas
s to ensure he kept them at bay. Sweet Ella had none of those things. But why was it so hard for her to tell him how afraid she’d been? He craved her vulnerability like a drug … and yet he doubted he’d get his fix.
As Rory got in three good kicks on the window, the rookie, Maggie, strode up to her cruiser, then opened the door just as Rory was about to kick it again. She said in a controlled voice, “Do that again and we’ll tie you down, so you can’t. The choice is yours. Make good decisions.”
Kyler shook his head, suspecting Rory would be put in the restraint chair when they returned to the station. But past all that, he felt sorry for Ella that she had once had to deal with Rory on her own.
It should never have happened.
For doing what Rory did to her, abuse to a woman who couldn’t defend herself, Kyler wished death—or something far worse—on the man in the cruiser.
“All right?”
Turning to Dmitri, Kyler muttered, “Yeah.”
