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I didn’t wait for his reply, but I could envision his facial expression. I made it all the way to my truck before sensing I’d been followed. Michael wasn’t the kind of man to allow my unwanted entrance into his world to go without punishment.
The first man took a hard swing, but I’d been prepared, ducking. The moment his fist hit the side of the truck, he howled like an injured animal. It allowed me to grab the tire iron I’d placed in the truck bed.
As the second asshole threw two punches in a row, one of them grazing my chin, I allowed the pent-up rage to unlock the cage to the beast I harbored inside. I snapped my wrist, catching the first asshole under the chin, the force I used enough to toss him back several feet onto the pavement. When the second dude tried to catch me off guard, I swung and connected three times in rapid succession, every strike smashed against his abdomen.
When both remained on the ground, I swaggered closer, letting off a husky roar. I waited for a few seconds as they writhed in pain, finally turning back toward the Ram. They believed me for a fool, both coming at me at the same time. They had no way of knowing among my other skills I had a blackbelt in Karate and had engaged some MMA fighting while overseas. After using a combination of my fists and the thick piece of steel, I used the different skills to my advantage, easily kicking first one then the other in the kidney, watching as their bodies pitched backward, slamming hard against the pavement.
My intention wasn’t to kill, just provide enough of a warning Michael would think twice about sending his goons in my direction. I knew I’d just crossed a line that I could regret, but there was no other way to get the fucker off my back and out of my company. At least the clause in the contract was legit, something that would hold up in a court of law.
I was beginning to have the utmost respect for my brother, even though the dangerous game he’d played had cost him more than he’d been able to accept.
I’d heard that a man in love would do anything to protect what he had, sometimes the methods used ill-advised. Galen had spiraled into a dark place because of the love he had for Marissa and Lily.
As I backed away, wiping the tire iron on my jeans, I realized that I was experiencing the same goddamn thing.
Love.
It wasn’t supposed to be possible for a man like me. I didn’t deserve happiness, a second chance to share a life with anyone. But the need to protect both Harlow and Lily had become everything that mattered to me. Everything.
My feisty Sassy wouldn’t like what I was about to do, but she would soon learn that she had no choice.
This wasn’t just about avenging my brother’s death. This was about securing their future.
Even if it meant my death.
CHAPTER15
Harlow
My father had a favorite quote that seemed appropriate. It was one that I’d never thought much about over the years. That it had been rolling through my mind all day perplexed me.
“Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.”
Sassy Day
Rules. That’s likely what had saved Savage from turning into his father, the necessity for rules in any military organization allowing for succinct actions in dangerous situations, the security of the soldiers and the continuity of operations. I’d also heard my father make that claim more than once, but usually when trying to provide verbal guidance after I’d gotten myself involved with an unsavory situation.
That had been his effort to provide tough love.
I suspected whatever childhood Savage had endured was tough, but not in any conventional sense. I couldn’t imagine growing up with a father who had no issue killing others. Savage’s time in the Army had provided a kinder sense of discipline, which for him had been a godsend.
Then they’d turned against him, issuing the worst possible punishment for a man like him.
He’d been hurt by people who tormented others for their weaknesses because exalting men like him for their strengths would only highlight their own faults.
Hunt was a great man who’d turned himself into a savage in order to escape the atrocities of what others had done to him. He’d reveled in being involved with the Silent Kings, choosing them over partaking in another lifestyle that would pull him away from danger.
As well as being able to exact revenge. I suspected his love of destruction, even taking another life was a direct result of the pain buried deep inside, not because of the man he believed he’d become.
Half laughing, I realized that I was attempting to psychoanalyze a man who was so complicated it would take peeling away dozens of layers in order to find the truth inside.
But he’d allowed me to catch more than one beautiful glimpse and I wanted more. I was still intoxicated from some of the most incredible moments I’d ever experienced.
But he was scarred, broken, and I was no magician. I couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Or could I?
Hmm…
