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Drew stared up at me with his eyes wide.
His pain was suddenly an afterthought.
It wouldn’t be the first time I’d threatened to hurt him, and it probably wouldn’t be the last because Drew was an asshole. Why he and Jared weren’t still good friends stumped me because they were like two peas in one screwed-up pod.
“Jesus Christ, Drew,” a female voice groaned loudly, surprising me. I looked up to see a young woman with long blonde hair dancing in the breeze, staring down at the injured man in disgust. To my surprise, there were no guns pointed at me anymore, and half the men were still glaring, but it wasn’t at me. “Hawk, you’re not actually gonna let him get away with that, are you?”
“It look to you like he got away with it?” the gravelly voice responded, drawing my eye to a striking specimen of a man who was leaning against the banister at the bottom of the stairs, his arms folded across his chest. Our eyes met, and the deep emerald green that shone back at me almost stole my breath. He held my gaze as he spoke, which was intimidating on its own. “One of you bastards drag him around the back before I let her have another go at him.”
My grip tightened on the bat, the small movement not going unnoticed and drawing the corner of his mouth up.
Two men jogged down the stairs, and each took one of Drew’s arms, dragging him off the road and onto the grass, not even apologizing when he screamed at the movement of his leg.
Okay, maybe it was a little more than bruised.
“I didn’t get your name?” Mr. Green Eyes questioned with his arms folded across his chest. I couldn’t help but be distracted for a moment by the decorative barbed wire tattooed as if it was wrapped around his fist.
“I didn’t give it to you.”
“I’d like to know it.”
“Then ask bitch boy,” I snarled, nodding in the direction they’d dragged him, actively trying to avoid eye contact with the gorgeous-looking man in front of me.
“How old is your daughter?”
I clenched my teeth and wiggled my nose, fighting tears that burned my eyes as I remembered the look on Kadey’s face, how frightened she’d been, and how it had crushed her to see her father hurt. She knew he wasn’t perfect, and, hell, there were times when she didn’t want anything to do with him when she questioned whether he even gave a shit about her.
But that was her dad.
And she still loved him.
So to see him attacked and hurt—it was scarring.
“Four,” I growled before shaking my head and reminding myself to get the hell out of there as the adrenaline began to fade, and I suddenly realized exactly what I’d done. And to who. “Tell him to stay the hell away from my family.”
Green eyes narrowed, flicking toward the rear of the house for a blink before returning to me. “I’ll pass the message along. I’m sure Drew and I are going to have a great talk about what’s acceptable and what’s not.”
It was a casual statement, but the way his hands curled into fists let me know that his intentions included more than merely a chat.
With reality beginning to settle in, I took a step backward, returning to the stone driveway.
He followed, meeting me step for step as I backed away.
“Next time, I won’t be bringing a bat,” I warned, my heart leaping up into my throat when he let out a deep, rumbling chuckle. “And I won’t be aiming for his damn leg.”
“Baby,” he started, the smooth term of endearment that I’d slapped other men for using suddenly felt and sounded so incredibly different. It sent this surge of electricity shooting through me. Not the bad kind, though, more like the kind you get with firsts. The first time he touches your skin, the first time you kiss, the first time the words ‘I love you’ fall from his lips. “If there is a next time, I promise you, by the time you get here, the fishes will already be enjoying their lunch.”
The tone of his voice was almost angry. Maybe protective?
I couldn’t help but shake my head, trying to clear the air around me and get my senses back.
“Call me baby again…” I started with a soft smile, “… and the fishes will also be getting dinner.” I lifted my bat, pointing it straight at him and throwing him a wink, not bothering to wait for his reaction before turning and hightailing it the thirty or so feet to the road where my run-down car was parked.
When I turned the key, and the engine started the first time, I swear my entire body sunk into the seat.
I’d just threatened more than one member of The Exiled Eight MC.
Men who I’d heard made people go missing for far less.
