Chapter 6
Killian
Pierce’s harsh tone and insensitive words send a spike of anger firing through me so intense that I almost demand that Asher pull the SUV over.
I could get out of this car and open the back door in just a few seconds, placing my hands in the right position on either side of his head to snap his neck with ease.
My fingers twitch to carry out my sordid thoughts, but I think my violence will only scare Celani, and make her afraid of me.
And I don’t need either of those things to happen.
“Woow,” Celani’s sweet voice drawls, cutting through my angry thoughts. “How generous of you to offer to marry me despite my health issues.”
Pierce sighs heavily as if she’s said something possibly more offensive than he just did. “Of course now you are going to twist what I said when I’m just trying to be honest with you. You know what I meant, Celani,” he responds irritably.
My fists stay clenched as we continue driving out of the city and Celani goes back to choosing silence. Asher and I exchange a look, and I know by the expression on his face that we both are thinking the same thing.
If he speaks to her like this in front of other people, what the hell is he saying to her when they’re alone?
The car goes silent and we drive for a few more minutes until we reach their long driveway. Asher pulls up to the front entrance and I get out of the car, rounding the front of it to open Celani’s door.
When I pull it open and look at her, for the first time since we met, she avoids my gaze. She murmurs a barely audible ‘thank you’ again before hurrying into the house. I watch her take off and move to follow her, but Pierce steps out in front of me.
“We are good here,” he says, looking up at me. “You two can be done for the evening.”
I look down at his smug face, wanting to tell him to get the fuck out of my way so I can go check on Celani. She obviously is not “good”, and something tells me that he is only going to continue to piss her off even more when he follows her inside.
Sometimes it feels like the only person I really need to be protecting her from is him.
I glance at the door one more time and try to calm the insubordinate reaction that is ready to explode from me. But I know the last thing I need is this jerk firing me and taking me away from her.
“Fine,” I respond gruffly. “We will reconvene here in the morning at 5:30.”
He takes a step back from me seeing the aggravated look on my face, and nods before hurrying inside without another word, shutting the door behind him.
Asher steps up next to me and the two of us walk silently around the side of the house, down the paved path to the backyard. Our team is staying on the property and have split up in between a large guest house, and smaller pool house.
Our surveillance team, Davi and Floyd, are set up with all of their equipment in the pool house rotating the 24-hour surveillance of the house with each other in shifts.
A few feet away from them, Asher, Malakai, Jules, and I are all stationed in the guest ‘cottage’ that is bigger than most people’s regular homes.
It’s not abnormal for us to stay on the property of a client who requests 24-hour surveillance and protection since most of our clients have more than enough space to accommodate all of us.
Asher is quiet until we reach the front door of the guest house, but he stops me before I go in, obviously needing to say something that he doesn’t want anyone else in the house to hear.
“Crowell is a real bastard,” he says with conviction, looking back up at the main house before meeting my eyes again. “You good, Kill? I could feel the anger rolling off of you in that car.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “Yeah, I will be. Let’s get some sleep,” I respond, knowing good and well I won’t be getting any rest tonight after what just happened.
He looks at me a moment longer like he wants to say something else, but then thinks better of it. He knows when not to push something with me.
“Alright. I’ll see you in the morning, boss,” he concedes heading inside.
I look back over at the main house and see the master bedroom illuminated through the upstairs window as a light flickers on.
The curtains are closed too tightly for me to see what is going on, but I stand here anyway for a while making sure that I don’t hear any yelling, or see anything that indicates Celani needs me.
I don’t know how long I wait there until the light turns off in the bedroom, but when it does I go inside the guest house, my mind still feeling unsettled for not doing more to stand up for her.