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I let go of the phone, now searching with him, telling him the house number.
I saw Brett first, pointing at him without saying a word.
He pulled in, parking next to Brett’s rental and as I rounded the truck, I heard Brett’s tone. “Why the fuck did you bring my woman, Monroe?”
I faltered, not recognizing that voice from him. I’d heard Brett when he was angry, happy, about to release. I’d heard his growls. His savage curses. His fear and alarm when I’d almost been taken.
That was not this person. I didn’t know this person.
He was so far from human that a part of me broke.
I paused, just slightly, before I surged ahead.
Monroe didn’t respond. Smart of him.
Brett almost stopped me in my tracks, “I wouldn’t, Little Billie.”
My heart clenched. He had no idea why him saying that name, how it came from him, affected me so much. I would need to rectify that.
“What are you doing, Brett?” I kept going to him.
“No,” a savage growl burst from him, and it stopped me in my tracks, but only for a second.
I leveled him with a look and surged forward. My hands went into my sweatshirt, pulling his hoodie tighter around my frame, but my eyes were on his. They weren’t moving from him. I could feel the other guy lingering behind me.
“Stop.” I closed the distance. If I swayed just a little toward him, we’d be touching. My front against his knees, since he was sitting on the top of a picnic table, his feet on the bench between us. A baseball bat was beside him. Seeing that, my heart sank. “What are you doing here?”
“Go away, Billie. I mean it. You gave me an ultimatum and I’m choosing.” His eyes sliced through me. “I’m not choosing you.”
My chest swelled, and I let myself sway the rest of the way. We both stilled at the contact. I savored it. He was here. He was solid. He hadn’t gone anywhere. He hadn’t done anything yet. I could take back my words. He couldn’t take back his actions. “Don’t do this.” I moved in closer, pressing harder against him.
“You have no fucking idea who I am.”
“You’re Brett Broudou—”
“No fucking idea who I really am.”
I leaned back, cocked my head to the side and repeated his own words. “Your twin’s in prison for attempted rape. Your mom never left the trailer park. Your dad was a drunk all your life. Your sister—”
“My sister is going to prison for letting her daughter be around a drug dealer and whatever fucking else she failed to protect my niece from because I know this is just the beginning.” His words were so ugly, filled with hate. “And, baby, it’s about time you realize something because I’m just tuning in myself.” He shoved in against me, ignoring my gasp as he quickly reversed our positions. He jumped down, caught me, and lifted me up so I was on the top of the picnic table, and Brett shoved my legs apart, moving in and leaning over me. His hands went down to the table on either side of me. He was pushed up so close to me, I could feel his dick, feel him hardening for me.
I closed my eyes at how good he felt as he slowly began rubbing against me.
I didn’t think he was aware of moving. His eyes were so heated, the need to hurt was spitting back at me. “Stevie was selling drugs for her boyfriend. I know that world, know what else he might’ve been making her do for him.” Torment wrung from him. He hissed, a low snarl coming next. “I had no clue. Not one damn clue, thought Shannon would never go back there because baby, that’s the world I used to live in. Budd sold drugs and I enforced for him. A part of me liked it. I liked hurting people. It made sense to me. That world’s not going to touch Stevie. I won’t let her get pulled back in by him, by his boss, by his boss’s boss, because that’s how it works. Once you’re in, they don’t let you leave.” His eyes burned at the same time they were dead. “I know what it takes to get out. I won’t let that land on my niece.”
Pain sliced through me.
“Not this time.” He started to pull back, his words so icy. “It’s time for you to leave. You don’t want to be here for what’s going to happen next.”
My hands clamped down on his arms, holding him in place, although we both knew that was a lie. I wasn’t strong enough to do that, but my touch on him had the same effect.
He froze, still wrapped around me.
“Billie,” he sighed, tipping his head back.
“You think words like that are going to scare me?” I leaned in close and he looked back down to me. An inch separated us. “You forget who you’re talking to.”
His nostrils flared. We continued to battle each other, silently, until he clipped out, “I’m going to do what I was born to do and I’m going to protect Stevie as I do it. I know what’ll happen to me after. Prison or death. That’s where we end up in my family. It’s my time, my turn. I’m okay with that. If I survive whoever this asshole’s boss sends after me, then Budd’s going to be fucking ecstatic when I show up in the cell next to him.”
