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He almost choked on his laughter as Lloyd’s face went red, a blistering stream of cursing erupting from him as Brooklyn darted away, no doubt planning to hide behind Travis.
Lloyd shot out a hand and Travis slammed the bladed edge of his palm down along Lloyd’s wrist, hard.
Lloyd let out a pained grunt and yanked his hand back.
“You don’t want to touch that girl. You don’t want to bother either of these kids. Neither does that boy of yours,” he advised softly. “Go on home. Make your call to the cops. Have fun with it. But ... keep in mind, that boy came swinging at me. All I did was defend myself. The laws allow an adult to defend themselves against a minor when the minor attacks—I only deflectedhisattempted assault and I never laid a hand on him otherwise. All the scrapes came from him tripping over you when he tried to rush me. This entire fiasco, including your boy’s attempt to swing at a child, was caught on the video set-up at my house. All of it will turned over to any authorities.”
Lloyd’s mouth tightened.
“Ms. Bella is here!”
The nameBellastruck a knife into his heart. An old, beloved nickname for a beloved person who no longer loved him.Bella-mine.
He shoved the painful thoughts away as Brooklyn caught Travis’s hand and tugged on it several times, her excited squeal helping to separate the then from the now a little quicker, and with a bit less pain.
“Lloyd.” The woman’s voice was warm and husky, catching Travis’s attention immediately. “If that kid of yours is harassing Aaron again, I’m calling the police.”
Travis might have looked over at the woman just then—she sounded kind of familiar. But his blood had started roaring in his ears, his still recovering body telling him to sit the fuck down. Now.
“This ain’t about Brant harassing anybody. This fucker here was knocking him around!” Lloyd snapped, finally looking away from Travis.
“You liar!” Brooklyn shouted. She shoved between Lloyd and Travis, moving in a way that said she did everything at top speed. She half-tripped over the hem of her fluffy pink gown and wobbled, her thin shoulder slamming into Lloyd’s groin as she tried to steady herself.
This time, at least, it was an accident.
Lloyd went red, eyes crossing in pain. His hand shot out toward the little girl and Travis reacted. Pure instinct guided him again as he shoved forward, using his body to separate child from adult before catching the man’s wrist. He twisted Lloyd’s arm and the man bent over, snarling out a curse at the pain as Travis put pressure on the limb.
“Itoldyou not to put your hands on that kid,” he said, teeth clenched as the wound in his side protested—and tore. Something hot oozed down his side. Fuck. Perfect.Justperfect. He’d gone and busted open the staples, or at least a couple of them.
He dragged in air, tried to focus past the nauseating rush of pain, tried to clear his head.
It might have worked. Maybe.
But over the scent of the sea and the overpowering scent of the man’s cologne, Travis caught the hint of something warm and feminine. It tugged at an elusive memory, teasing him even as the warm, wet body fluid trickled down his side to dampen the waistband of his loose, gray sweat pants and the asshole in his grip jerked against his hold.
His head swam even more and he blinked hard, blew out a slow, steady breath.
Some piece of shit asshole wasn’t going to put him on his ass. He didn’t care if hewasjust a few days out of the hospital, still recovering from a miserable infection that had been hours short of going septic.
His thoughts cleared, some.
“My patience is pretty much gone, so somebody needs to start talking.”
That voice—
This time, the memory wasn’t so elusive. Adrenaline swam over him in a wave, clearing the fog from his head.
A face came to him. He blinked and gave another sharp shake of his head. Nah. Couldn’t be.
Miles wouldnothave done that—
Fuck. Yes, he would have.
Slowly, he looked up and found a pair of green eyes slanting his way at just that moment.
For a minute, she stared blankly at him, her gaze showing no sign of recognition.
Then her lips parted on a soft inhalation.
