Page 35 of Betrayed

Okay, yes. But Blake was mine to protect and I wouldn’t let anyone get close enough to hurt or intimidate her. And while she may not remember flinching when that guy got too close;I couldn’t forget it. Hell, she probably didn’t even realize she’d done it. It didn’t matter; that asshole made my woman flinch.

Unacceptable.

When did I start referring to her as mine?I need to cut that shit out and focus.

When she walked to the rear door of the car and threw it open, I knew it’d be a long, silent drive back to her father’s house.

And I was right; her frosty silence was deafening.

She didn’t wait for me after I parked. Instead, shoving the door open, getting pissed when it bounced back at her, and pushing it open again. When she finally got out, she practically ran to the door.

It would have been comical if I wasn't the reason she was angry.

I made sure she got in safely before parking and waiting impatiently for Eric to relieve me for the night.

Why didn’t she understand I was there to protect her? And while she didn’t think it was true, everyone else on the team would react the same way. Almost. To do our job, we had to assume anyone acting aggressively—no matter who—was a threat until proven otherwise.

For all I knew, that kid had a knife or a needle. Him getting close enough to make contact was out of the question.

She seemed to have forgotten that I left her and her friends alone until Stan got handsy and refused to leave.

The drive back to Weatherford did nothing to improve my mood. I was stupid for letting her get to me. It wasn’t like I was her boyfriend, or even her friend. I was her bodyguard.A bodyguard she doesn’t want, let alone like.Nothing more.

Part of me couldn’t wait until Maxwell took over the day shift, so I could be free of her attitude.

Part of me wanted to be on duty twenty-four-seven.

Part of me wanted to forget I’d ever laid eyes on Blake Edith Davenport.

All of me wanted to shove my hands into her sassy pink-striped, blond hair, pull her head back until she had no choice but to look at me, and kiss her until the annoyingly sexy, irritating, sassy attitude drained right the fuck out of her.

I slammed my hands on the steering wheel.

I am so fucking fucked. Blake was under my skin, living rent free in my head, and turning my world inside out.

And I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want to fall in love.I can’t. What if I turned out like my father?

I slammed my hands on the steering wheel again.

A call interrupted the radio and my spiraling thoughts.

“Janerek,” I barked after hitting accept.

“Dude, who pissed you off?” Jack’s question echoed in the car.

“Nothing,” I forced myself to calm down.

“Whatever, dude. Can you meet me for dinner? I want to update you on the Davenport investigation.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

“What’d you find?” I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what I heard.

“Not over the phone.”

I definitely won’t like what I hear. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel and applied more pressure to the gas pedal.

“Where are we meeting?”