CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE VIOLENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER RHYS
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
VIOLENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
RHYS
Why am I not surprised she didn’t listen?
Leaving my empty office, I walked out front and spotted Lo working as if I hadn’t given her an order. As if she hadn’t just been assaulted. She smiled as she darted around to take care of people.
I, on the other hand, was not smiling as I stalked through the crowd.
“I tried, boss,” Stevie said from his spot at the side of the bar—close, but not in the way.
I lifted my chin, knowing full well that no one could make Lo do a damn thing she didn’t want to.
Or things she wanted to do, for that matter.
She spent a lot of time bickering with me about shit we agreed on. The sick part was how hard it made me even though it was the perfect example of why acting on it would be a disaster. She was too damn stubborn for her own good, and she’d hate how I did things.
Maybe hate me.
The thought of that burned at me.
“He’s a little thingy,” LaQuin said to Lo before his gaze landed on me. “Uh-oh.”
She didn’t ask what was wrong. Resignation already coated her pretty face, and excuses were on her sharp tongue when she turned. “I’m fine. It got super busy. I didn’t want to leave them shorthanded and create more issues tonight. So, really, it was for your benefit. You’re welcome.”
“My office.”
“Would it help if I told you that you’re handsome?”
Yes.
“Now,” I said instead.
She rolled her eyes—but did it while walking.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a brat?” I asked when she slipped by me to get from behind the bar.
“Nope.” Her flirty lash flutter might’ve been exaggerated, but the pleased smile wasn’t.
I kept my mouth shut before I said something I would regret as we headed for my office. Once we were closed inside, I asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
“Annoyed but relieved.” She gestured toward the door. “I thought I blew it, but I told them I learned the move in self-defense class. They seemed to buy it.”
“Security is probably more worried about you and O putting them out of a job.” At her lost blink, I explained, “She kicked a douchebag in the dick till he threw up outside of the bathrooms. I thought she told you that?”
“Not the backstory.” She grinned. “I knew I liked her.” That smile was gone just as fast as she slipped into her role as a detective. “Did you get a name from the guy?”
“No. Searched his pockets for a wallet, but he just had some cash. No ID or anything else with his name, and he was too busy crying and threatening to sue to give one. Warner shoved him in a pre-paid cab with instructions to take him to the nearest emergency room.”
Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped. “What? What happened out there? You’ll be fine. I’ll handle it.”
Christ, that hit me in the chest. She hadn’t even heard what was going on, and her first instinct was to have my back.
I wasn’t the one who needed it, though.
“Not me I’m worried about.” I closed the minimal distance between us and gripped her chin, forcing her face up. “Don’t get me wrong. Wanted to break both his hands for touching you. And if I ever see that motherfucker again, that’s exactly what’ll happen.”
Lo took her oath to serve and protect seriously. Her instinct while getting shot at had been to cover me. Then after, with blood dripping down her face, she’d calmly worked to ensure everyone was safe.
Yet as I bluntly told her my intentions to shatter a man’s bones, she didn’t roll her eyes to call a bluff that damn sure wasn’t there. She also didn’t remind me of the laws I would be breaking as she talked me down.
No.
She melted.
She fuckin’ melted.
Her expression softened, a small smile curved her lips, and she blinked up at me with those big eyes like it was the most romantic thing she’d heard.
It killed me to break the spell, but she needed the heads-up more than I needed the look of adoration that was testing my control. “Only reason I didn’t do it was I didn’t want this to fall on your shoulders. You fucked up his arm, hellcat.”
“I did?”
“Either broken or dislocated. I’m not a doc, so I couldn’t tell you which.”
“Oops,” she whispered with zero sign of regret or remorse.
That shouldn’t have made my cock jerk.
It did anyway.
“Laura was coming over to grab her tray from the server area and said she saw him spill the glass on purpose,” Lo shared like I wasn’t fighting for my damn life against her pull.
I released the hold I’d kept for too long and put some needed distance between us. “Thought he was just wasted.”
“No, that’s the thing. He was acting drunk, but when he left, I double-checked the system. He only had the two beers I gave him. Unless someone else served him and forgot to ring it in.”
“Maybe. Or he could’ve been a lightweight. Or high.”
“Good thing he didn’t drive.”
I gave her my guess if the bastard wasn’t shitfaced. “Or it was just a ploy to get you close enough to touch.”
She grimaced. “I hope I broke his arm.”
So did I.
“What’re the chances you’ll agree to stay back here and watch the cameras for the rest of the night?”
“I’ll stay back here until I check the cameras and get a clear shot of the man. But then I’m back out front.”
That was about what I figured.
Luna
The rest of the night was uneventful. I’d hoped patrol officers would come investigate—either actually or another one that was just for show.
I’d kind of expected it, too. Only an absolute narcissist would file charges while thinking he could skate by with his own wrongdoings, but it happened more often than people would think.
Even worse, some did get away with it. It would’ve been a mess to deal with, but I’d happily do it since it would’ve meant getting the man’s name.
Since that didn’t happen, I’d texted Murdoch screenshots from the footage with a brief rundown of what happened.
Murdoch had pretty much dismissed it as a run-of-the-mill scumbag doing run-of-the-mill scumbag stuff, but he’d promised to look into it anyway.
It sounded awful to even think, but I hoped the perv had a history of getting handsy with bartenders that’d already landed him in our system. There was just something off about him and the situation. That level of brazenness didn’t just happen. And if it did? That was worse.
Because it would only escalate from there.
I should’ve been sleeping or packing, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t even gaming until the adrenaline wore off—something that rarely worked because gaming amped me up, but that was beside the point.
I was replaying the night to try to figure out what was poking at me. It very well might’ve just been the craziness bartenders and servers had to deal with on a nightly basis being viewed through cop eyes. But once my brain locked in on something, it was hard for me to let it go.
And by hard, I meant impossible.
My phone dinged to alert me of movement on a camera, and I loaded the footage to see Rhys walking toward my house.
Guess I’m not the only one unable to sleep.
Or not.
Catching his quick pace, I realized it was more than a social visit to check for mystery men or watch me take down a troop of aliens.
I opened the door before he even reached the steps. “What is it?”
“Got an alert from the security system at Rye. MayCo already called the cops.”
“Give me two seconds.”
He came in while I backtracked into the bedroom.
I was in yoga pants that’d never seen a yoga studio and a sweater for bed, but they worked for leaving the house, so I didn’t waste time changing.
Since the oversized top hid plenty, I did opt to secure my weapon in a waist holster rather than the ankle one I’d been using.
I went back out into the living room to slide on my shoes and grab my phone. “Do you know what happened?”
“Someone got brick happy.”
Guess not so uneventful, after all…
“Son of a bitch,” Glitch bit out as he rapidly flicked through a multitude of views on the laptop he’d brought with him.
Each showed the same thing.
A partial view of whoever had painted obscenities on the brick exterior before rounding the building to shatter three windows.
Matthews and another detective were already on scene when we’d pulled up.
Earlier in the night, I’d hoped for an investigation, but the answerless one left a lot to be desired.
Not that it was their fault. There wasn’t a single thing to go on other than the man seemed to be average height and weight.
Actually, we couldn’t even say for certain it was a man.
Whoever had been layered up with every inch of skin covered.
It was probable their eyes were uncovered given the accuracy and level of detail of the fluorescent penises painted out front, but we had no way to know for sure because their hat was pulled low and their head was always turned.
“How did they clock every single camera?” I asked as Glitch cycled through again.
He stabbed at the screen. “Luck? The damn camera detectors they sell to paranoid people that just make it harder to actually keep people safe? He’s a time-traveler sent to stop the timeline from fracturing? Who the fuck knows?”
“If it has to be anything, I hope it’s the last one,” Hollywood said. “I like the idea that the fate of the world depends on painted wieners.”
“Neon wieners,” Rhys bit out. “They fuckin’ glow every time headlights hit them.”
“Haze and Texas have that handled.” Glitch clicked some buttons, and the stream changed from the past view to a live one. “Probably.”
Rhys rubbed his palm down his face at the mess out front.
The porosity of the brick was not making cleanup easy, and the festive phallics were beginning to look a little… mutilated.
I had no right to do it. I had no reason to do it. The Court of Mayhem brothers knew who I was and why I was there, so I didn’t have to play a role.
I moved to Rhys because I wanted to.
He must’ve wanted it, too, because as soon as I was within reach, he hooked an arm around my waist and plastered my front to his side.
I tilted my head back to look at him. “It’ll get clean.”
“I know, baby,” he said.
That’s a new one.
I liked it.