Page 35 of Renard's Deliverance

He grunted. “Name.”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why the hell not?” he demanded, not liking that.

Did she think he wouldn’t do it? Because he damn well would. He tightened his hands into fists.

“Because it would take you too long to work through the list,” she said quietly.

Those words hit him like a stab to the heart.

What the fuck?

Who was she hanging out with that she had a list of people who would say something like that to her?

“Opal,” he said quietly. He could hear the pain in his voice.

She was staring out the front windscreen. “Heard it for the first time when I was five. It was what some guy called my mama as we were walking along the street. He drove past and yelled it out the car window.”

“Fucking bastard,” he snarled. “Wish I knew who that was.”

“Why?”

“Why?” he asked incredulous. “Because I’d fucking end them.”

“You’re very bloodthirsty, aren’t you? You didn’t even know my mom.”

“Not mad on behalf of your mom,” he told her. “Well, I am. Because no woman should be called that. But I’m fucking furious that you heard some bastard yell that at your mom.”

He was upset for her?

Opal wasn’t used to people getting so upset on her behalf.

“Anyone calls you anything like that, makes you feel bad, hell, gives you a funny look or makes your skin itch and crawl, you tell me.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need anyone to fight my fights. Or replace my security light.”

“Yeah? You don’t get tired of having to do everything yourself?”

Tired?

She was fucking exhausted. All the time. Sometimes it felt like she was more tired when she woke up than she had been when she went to sleep.

But she’d rather be tired than disappointed. To be let down. To be heartbroken.

She’d felt that before

“I’m not sure why you care whether someone insults me,” she told him huffily.

“Hmm. Not sure of that myself. Just know that I do. And I’m not one to ignore my needs.”

“Youneedto defend me?”

“Seems that I do. And your job is to let me. And, by the way, you’d be gorgeous no matter what you wear. But, baby, those clothes . . . fucking hot.”

The guy was nuts. Gorgeous, sexy, but completely insane.

He started driving toward her place again and for the first time in her life, she really didn’t know what to say.

---