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When we reached her car, I stood at the driver’s door. “If you don’t give me the keys, I will get a cab and follow you to ensure you get home safely.” Did that sound stalker-ish? It probably did, but I didn’t care. I had a responsibility to keep her safe. As her boss, of course.
With a heavy sigh that made her shoulders slump, she said, “Fine. I’m too tired to come up with a counterargument.”
The weariness in her voice almost made me give in. I never gave in. Besides, no way was I letting her go home alone after what had just happened.
As we drove through the traffic, I cranked up the heat, and the feeling in my fingers slowly returned.
She pointed to the right and said with a yawn, “Turn here.”
“Put the address in my phone’s GPS, then you can close your eyes and get some rest.”
“No need. At the next light, turn left.”
I clenched my jaw at her defiance, followed her directions, and mutteredstubbornunder my breath.
Her head snapped sideways at that, and I could almost feel her glaring at me. “I appreciate your concern, Mr. Cox, but I don’t need help from anyone.”
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Don’t need help? That guy would have beaten you if I hadn’t stopped him.” Oh smooth, Steven, remind her of the one thing she’s probably trying to forget. Why was I such an ass?
“No, because I was ready. He wasn’t going to lay a hand on me,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone as she shook her head.
“Ready? With what? A can of hairspray?” Shut up, you idiot. Don’t let your anger control you. She’s not the one you’re mad at. You’re mad at that jerkface and all the other pricks in this town who could hurt her. “What were you going to do, style his hair for him?” Dammit, I wanted to kick myself.
She hugged herself. “It’s not hairspray.”
My gut twisted in a way it hadn’t in years. Was this guilt? For giving her shit when she’d done nothing wrong? As if in answer to my question, the knots in my gut twisted even more. With a deep breath, I pushed all the anger that gave me the Hellhound nickname down into the darkness. With a gentler tone, I said, “Whatever it is, you can’t take down a man twice your size and strength with an aerosol can.”
She raised her chin proudly. “It’s pepper spray.”
Pepper spray? Well, that was useless nine times out of ten. She should have run instead. So many things might have gone wrong. He could have hit her before she had a chance to press the nozzle. And even if she had sprayed him, she could have missed his eyes and he would have been able to…
I gripped the wheel tighter, this time to avoid reaching over to take her hand in mine. “It’s always safer to keep running.”
“Not when the guy is faster than me. He would have jumped me from behind, and my chances of fighting him off would have been worse than facing him head-on.”
That made sense. Was that really what had gone through her mind at that moment? Had she been able to make a rational decision at a time when most people would have panicked? “Pepper spray isn’t the best self-defense weapon. You could have easily sprayed yourself in the confusion of the fight.”
“It’s the best option for me. You don’t need to worry about me. As I said, I would have been fine. I don’t need anyone fighting my battles for me.”
What the hell was she saying? A fight with an armed mugger wasn’t like a dispute with a co-worker. “I’m getting you a parking spot in the building.”
She sighed heavily. “No, you’re not. We’ve been through this before.”
An hour later, I was in a limo on my way back to the office with what was probably a very confused look on my face. I didn’t know how it had happened, but somehow our long-winded argument about her parking spot had ended with her winning the debate and me conceding. No one ever beat me in negotiations. Since when did I give in? What the fuck was happening to me? I’d better remember to start bringing my jacket to work because there was no way in hell I was putting her safety into that old guard’s hands.
Hawk’s fist came in fast and slammed into my ribs, the blow barely softened by the padding of his gloves. It was the day after, and we were facing off against each other in the cage at Titan’s Club. Sharp pain seared into my side, making my lungs seize and distracting me from the incessant loop playing in my mind about Laura and the prick who had attacked her. Almost attacked her. What if I hadn’t been there? My tortured thoughts about what might have happened to her hurt more than any punch my opponent threw at me.
I sucked in a big breath. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me wince. That was the third jab I hadn’t seen coming. Probably because I was too fucking distracted. Was Laura ok? Safe? What if she locked herself in her apartment, too scared to go out again? She could put on a brave face and repeat a million times how she wanted to fight her own battles, but she hadn’t fooled me. Deep down, she was shaken, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Hawk let out a quick whistle, tearing me away from my thoughts. I looked at my buddy, if you could call him that.
I didn’t have space in my life for friendships outside of the office. With John, it was easy because we worked together. I didn’t need to make time for him because his office was down the hall from mine, and he was always barging in, making sure we spent some down time together. Would we still be friends if we didn’t work side by side?
Shit, yeah. I loved the guy, even if I always acted like a crabby prick around him. What about Hawk? Was he a real friend? Did taking your shirt off every weekend, and fighting each other in a cage at a prestigious club reserved for the richest and most powerful men in New York count as friendship?
No, but that wasn’t why I considered him a friend. I’d known him as long as I’d known John. During our college years, the three of us partied together, studied together, and fought together. Our competitive drive forced us to push ourselves in our studies, each trying to outrank the other.
After all these years, I trusted him more than anyone, except John. And I knew he would be there for me if I needed help. But I never asked because I didn’t like his methods. I always thought him slightly beneath me because of the illegal shit he did, but last night I was willing to stoop to his level. For the first time, I could justify why he did the things he did, because I was ready to do them myself. Maybe I had misjudged him. Maybe he had his reasons.
