Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
BOOKER
I f this fucker thought he could come here and hurt her again, he was sorely mistaken.
Val bristled at my side. She could feel the anger running through me, and she was ready for whatever happened next.
“I need details,” Trace said grimly as he stepped up beside me.
“I don’t know who he is, but I know he hurt her.”
Trace grumbled under his breath. “Then let’s show this fucker what happens when you mess with what’s ours.”
I glanced at my brother out of the side of my eye, impressed that he was standing beside me right now. Trace had never been the one to get into trouble when we were kids. Well, if you didn’t count the fact that he got his teenage girlfriend pregnant. He’d changed since she’d come back into his life, though. He knew what it was like to lose something precious, and it had awoken a different side of him.
The sports car pulled up a short distance away from us, and the sun glared off the windshield, obscuring whoever was inside.
“I’ve got your back, Book,” Trace told me as I stormed forward, ready to rip whoever had dared to come here out of the car.
Val growled softly as she stalked forward with me. She was low to the ground and ready to go. And she was getting the biggest damn steak for her dinner tonight.
I braced as the car door opened, the need for violence running through me.
This man had hurt Reece. He’d beaten her until she’d thought she was going to die. She was scared of him. He wasn’t walking away from this place until he knew what that felt like.
As the fancy leather loafers stepped down with a crunch onto the gravel and he stepped out of the car, I was moving. I didn’t even look at his face. What was the point? He wouldn’t look the same once I’d finished with him.
But Trace’s gasp behind me had me coming back to my senses, thankfully, before my fist flew for this guy’s face.
“Xander?”
I blinked, coming to a stop as I took in the sight of the brother I hadn’t seen for two years.
Val growled at my side, hunching down further as her fur bristled in agitation.
“Fucking hell, Book. I know I haven’t been around much, but are you really going to set Val on me?” Xander asked, sounding confused.
At the mention of her name, Val sat, her tail wagging and her tongue drooping at the side of her mouth as she panted happily. Yeah, she wasn’t really much of a fighter, was our Val, but she had my back whenever I needed it.
“What are you doing here?” The question came out as a growl. I hadn’t quite pulled my mind back to where it normally was yet.
My heart thumped in my chest, and I squeezed my fists in time with it, hoping the adrenaline would leave my system soon.
“Wow, I know it’s been a while, but I didn’t think you’d hate seeing me quite this much, Booker.”
I should have reassured him it was fine, that I’d missed him even. Xander and I were the closest in age of all our siblings, and we’d naturally banded together against Trace and Gage. But I couldn’t open my mouth.
I couldn’t say a word.
Because all I could think was, had it been my brother that hurt Reece?
My head slowly turned as I sought her out. Somehow, I knew she hadn’t gone inside the house. She’d looked so scared when I saw her standing frozen to the spot on the porch. It had been her wide, frightened eyes that made me snap. That had the urge to protect roaring to life inside me.
And now I was dreading looking at the woman who had me so intrigued.
I didn’t know how I’d ever make it up to her if Xander had been the one to hurt her.
“Trace?” Xander sounded so confused as he turned to our other brother for answers.
I didn’t catch our youngest brother’s response because I was too busy looking at Reece standing on the porch. Delaney had an arm wrapped around her shoulders in support as she sagged against her. Tears trailed down her cheeks, but she looked so relieved. Her hand lay gently on the back of Cade’s head as he wrapped her up in a hug.
She looked so right standing on my porch, part of my family, that it was impossible for me to stay away from her.
“It’s not you, man,” I heard Trace say as I strode toward the house. “We’ve got some stuff going on, and we thought you were someone else.”
I faintly heard the car door close as I took the porch steps two at a time. Delaney smiled happily as I crossed the wooden planks with a purpose I didn’t quite understand.
I pulled Reece from Delaney’s side, wrapping her tightly in my arms as I crushed her to my chest, cautious not to put any pressure on her ribs. My cheek laid against her hair, and I breathed in the sweet smell of her coconut shampoo.
“I’ve got you, baby. It’s not him. No one’s going to hurt you here.”
Reece’s breath hitched as she clung to me, soaking up whatever strength I could give to her.
I knew I shouldn’t be hugging her. It wasn’t right. I’d offered her help, and I didn’t want her to feel like she owed me anything for it.
Yet still I couldn’t step back. I couldn’t let go of her.
Reece and I barely knew each other. We’d spent such little time together, and I wasn’t exactly the friendliest guy.
But more than that, she was here to heal, and she didn’t need me panting after her like she was a dog in heat. I shouldn’t be clinging to her now because I knew this could be the only chance I ever got to hold her. I shouldn’t be thinking about how well she fit against me, how perfect she felt in my arms.
So I gritted my teeth, and I forced myself to step back. To put the distance between us that there always should have been.
“I’m sorry…” she started.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. None of this is your fault.”
She shook her head sadly, and I shoved my hands in my pockets in an effort to keep them to myself. “I’m going to feed the mare. She’s due another hay net.”
I let her go. I hated it, but I knew Reece needed the space.
“Booker, you should go with her,” Delaney said softly from behind me.
“No.”
“She needs you.”
I turned to look at my soon-to-be sister-in-law then and shook my head sadly. She wouldn’t understand. She had her happily ever after already. Delaney was too far into her happy life to realize that it didn’t turn out that way for everyone.
“I’m just the guy who found her on the side of the road and gave her a place to stay.”
This was the best thing for Reece.
I’d get over this stupid infatuation in time, and she’d go on to live the life she deserved.