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“I’m aware. Came for Danica.”
Mr. Dorson looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. “Is he the reason you’re upset or is it only the situation with Jordan?”
“You know about that, huh?” Wylde narrowed his gaze at Mr. Dorson.
“Everyone in town knows. Her parents are livid.”
“You takin’ it out on Danica?”
Now it was Mr. Dorson’s turn to narrow his eyes at Wylde. In fact, the older man stepped between me and Wylde, putting his shoulders back and standing up to him. “Dani is like family to me and my wife. Not only do we know exactly why this place is as successful as it is, we consider her another one of our children. I told her if she’d stay here through all this, I’d be giving her a much-deserved raise.”
“And Jordan?”
He shrugged. “That’s up to Danica. She’s the manager. She can let her go or not. I’ll support either decision.”
That seemed to satisfy Wylde. He gave a crisp nod, then flashed a brilliant smile. “Well, that’s settled. Jordan’s gone and it’s time to go home, Dani.”
I sighed. “Wylde, I simply don’t have the energy to spar with you tonight. Brick is supposed to either bring my car or send someone to pick me up who’s not you.”
“I volunteered.”
“Then un-volunteer!” I snapped. “I’ll call an Uber before I’ll go anywhere with you.”
“No need for that.” Henry put an arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the door. “I’ll take you home. We can stop and get the girls something to eat on the way so you don’t have to cook.”
“You know Apple will have supper ready. She always does.” I grinned up at the older man. “If you give her a hug, she might pack up something for you and Mai.”
“I’d never turn down anything that young woman cooks. It’s a miracle what she can do in the kitchen. If she wants to earn some extra cash, tell her the offer is still open for her to make muffins for the shop. All the proceeds will go to her.”
“I’ll remind her.” I tried my best to ignore Wylde, and I was pretty sure Henry was doing it on purpose. But when Wylde didn’t want to be ignored, it was pretty hard to do.
Henry tried to move us past Wylde, but he snagged my hand and tugged me in his direction. “I’ll take her home. We have some things to discuss.”
“I’m sorry, young man. If she wanted to go with you, she would have.” Henry gently extracted my hand from Wylde’s. “If you’ll excuse us.”
“Well, I ain’t excusin’ ya.” This was a side of Wylde I hadn’t seen before. I’d see him annoyed. I’d seen him amused when he wanted people to think he was angry. I’d even seen him intense and hyper focused. I’d never seen him truly angry. He was angry as shit now.
“Look, Wylde,” Henry said. “I knew Warlock. I don’t know anything about your club other than you’re not bad guys, and you protect the people in Evansville. Right now, you’re making yourself into the very thing Warlock fought against. Accept the fact Dani doesn’t want to go with you. I have no idea what’s going on and don’t want to know. But you need to back the fuck off.”
OK. That wasn’t like Henry at all. The man never used bad language and he was never an overly aggressive person. As evidenced by the soft handling of the Jordan situation. It was why he would most definitely be at the shop as often as he needed to be in order to keep me safe and comfortable.
Wylde took another aggressive step toward me. Henry moved with him, still in front of me.
“You’re not gonna win this one, old man.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Young man.”
“I think we all need to take a step back,” I said, pushing past Wylde and taking Henry’s arm. The older man had the same hard look as Wylde. Both men looked as badass as they came. Which surprised the fuck out of me. Henry never seemed like that kind of person. He was always so passive and congenial. “Henry will take me home. I’ll talk to you… uh… later, Wylde.” Which would translate to never. My heart couldn’t take it and I wasn’t putting myself through a conversation with him.
Wylde growled, but backed off. If reluctantly. I wasn’t taking the reprieve for granted. I hurried along with Henry, who helped me into his truck, shutting the door with an admonishment for me to fasten my seat belt. If the situation had been different, I would have smiled. The man really was like a surrogate father. If I’d known my father, I’d have wanted him to be just like Henry.
Henry drove me to my house where Lemon sat on the top step on the porch. She stood when Henry pulled into the driveway. Right behind him, Wylde pulled his motorcycle to the curb and stopped.
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
“You want me to call the police?”
“No. I don’t think that’d be the wisest decision given the present circumstances. Wylde’s not going to hurt me. He’s a lot of things but he’s not that big of a bastard.”
