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“I had another set of papers to serve on Craig and Kent Bennit. I changed into jeans and a t-shirt and tennis shoes, thinking that I’d try a different tactic. I went up the other road, the one closest to here thinking maybe there’d be different men guarding it.”
“Okay.”
She swallowed and let out a breath. “There were different men, and I simply said I had papers for Craig to see.” She sniffed lightly. “They took me to him. I could take my Jeep. I didn’t have to go far. He was nearby.”
Sipping her coffee to wet her throat, she finished. “I asked him his name, and he just glared at me. So I asked him if his name was Craig Howard. He said, “What’s it to ya?” And I handed him the papers. He threw them back at me and told me to take my fucking papers off his mountain. I started walking to my Jeep when one of his men punched me in the side of my face.” She touched the right side of her face, where she knew she was a weird shade of purple this morning. “I fell to the ground. I was so blindsided. Another of his men came over and kicked me,” she laid her right hand over her ribs on the left side, “before I could get up. When I got to my feet again, the men each took another shot at hitting me. I got to my Jeep and locked the doors. I turned around, but before I left the mountain, I rolled down my window and yelled, ‘You’ve been served, asshole.’ They had me blocked in, but I found another road across the mountain which brought me to the road near the construction site. I started crying when I saw it and I hoped you’d be there.”
She squirmed in her chair as his face grew hard. Spencer laughing was glorious. Spencer mad was a whole different person. She swallowed and her fingers began shaking as she watched him. She’d never gotten over feeling afraid when Colt’s moods changed. Now she realized it was anyone’s mood change that scared her.
She clasped her hands together in her lap as she prepared to run if he came near her. She watched his face and his eyes captured hers and he stared. “I would have gone with you. I should have been there with you.”
Her eyes rounded as she listened to him, and he cocked his head to the right.
“You’re surprised to hear me say that?”
“I... um...” She let her breath out in a whoosh. “I still get nervous with major mood changes.” Her cheeks burned at the admission. Boy, she was a keeper! Scared of someone’s changing moods, didn’t listen when he asked her to call him when she was going up there, and now she’d caused him to stay here with her as her nursemaid.
Colt’s truck drove past again, and Spencer looked at his watch. “On his way to work this time.”
17
Spencer stood and refilled their coffee cups. “Do you have work to do today?”
“Yes. I have to draft my Affidavits of Service, but I can email them to the attorneys. But I won’t be serving papers for a while. Not looking like this.”
He turned after replacing the coffeepot on its burner. “So, I’d like to bring you back to the HOG. Helissa will have a nice breakfast made and Addy can look at your injuries again this morning. I can catch up with my teammates and see what’s happening today, then we can go back and get your Jeep.”
She stared at him for a long time. “That’s a lot.”
“Sorry. I know it is, but you have little to eat here, Kenna. I’m hungry and I need a shower. You need someone better than me with bandages and food. I can get you groceries for up here. I’d also like to install a security camera system here.”
“Why?”
His jaw clenched. “Colt.” He raised his brows as she assessed his words.
She nodded slightly. “I’ve been wondering what he’ll do. I’m scared of him. I heard he was engaged, so I hoped he’d leave me alone, but if last night was an indicator, he’ll escalate.”
“Addy and Henry said he was going back and forth between the construction site and looking at your Jeep to driving past here. Clearly he was brewing on something.”
She laid her hand over her stomach and her head began throbbing. Both her injury and a headache. She wasn’t strong enough for this again.
Spencer moved a chair to face her and sat close. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “If you think he’s a danger, we’ll do more than a security system. You can stay at the HOG, we have room. Or, we can figure something else out. You could stay at your parents.”
“No,” she snapped.
His brows rose again, this time he waited her out.
“My dad...my dad is sick. To be honest, I haven’t let myself think too much about it, but I don’t think he’s going to make it. His heart isn’t functioning as it should, and I don’t even think he’s telling me everything.”
“Okay. So, staying with your parents is out. Do you think it’s safe to stay here?”
She closed her eyes and sat back in the chair. He watched her face and saw her lip quiver slightly.
“I don’t know. I’ve spent the past ten years worried about Colt. After I left here, I looked over my shoulder every damned day, afraid he’d come after me. He threatened all the time we were together that if I ever left, he’d search until he found me. That fear—it consumed me day and night. After a few years, I relaxed. I’d ask my mom if Colt was still in town, and he caused so much trouble that she always knew he was around. So, I relaxed more. But, I always look over my shoulder and I’m always just on the edge of running. So, to answer your question, now that I’m here and he’s still here and his behavior last night... What do you think?”
“That you’ll stay at the HOG.”
“I don’t want to do that. I don’t know anyone out there but you and Addy. And I don’t really know either of you.”
