Page 25 of Whiskey Shivers

Following the turn-by-turn directions on my screen and keeping a watchful eye on the flow of traffic, I tried to keep the light banter up but I wasn’t being very good at distracting her. People drove like assholes in and around the city and I was just as defensive driving my damn truck as I was on my bike, but probably even more now than any other time with the precious fucking cargo I had in my passenger’s seat.

I didn’t want to hurt her any more than she was likely already hurting, and I really wasn’t enjoying the idea of leaving her in this place alone to take care of herself. I damn sure didn’t picture him doinganythinguseful for her if he couldn’t even be bothered to spend more than ten minutes at a time in her presence while she was laid up in the fucking hospital.

I smoothly pulled up to the curb in front of the address she’d given me and it was a nice little house. Probably a one bedroom by the looks of it out here.

“Stay put, let me come get you,” I said, and I pushed the button to turn off my truck and exited to come around and help her out. I grabbed my cut without thinking and shrugged into it as I came around the front of the truck where I could keep an eye on her. To her credit, she did good, and simply undid her belt and popped the door when I got to her side, waiting for me to be in a position to catch her if she needed it.

She got down on her own under my watchful eye, and I relaxed a little once she was settled onto terra firma and looked steady.

I got into the back seat and got her purse.

She looked good, some kind of Texas with her Wranglers on and her pair of boots. Up top, she wore a fitted white cami tank top under an open turquoise, black, and white plaid country snap-button blouse that made her eyes practically glow. She looked like she’d just stepped off a Texas dude ranch and looked comfortable enough, which is honestly all I cared about. It wouldn’t have been what I would have picked for her first set of street clothes after an ordeal like hers, not with the complexity involved with the form fittingness of it.

I had to imagine there was some weaponized incompetence there. I know she would have asked for something loose and easy to get her arm through.

I definitely wouldn’t have chosen layers.

I got into her purse at her behest to extract her keys and helped her key her way into her front door.

“Thanks,” she murmured, and I stared down at her from the few inches that separated us.

“I’m not letting you go in there by yourself, babe,” I said softly. “I’m not leaving here until I’m sure that you’re safe and good to be here, and that he’s going to do right by you and take care of you.”

She stared up at me, her color going something white as snow.

“Hex, I’ll be good no matter what,” she said gently, and I could see a certain amount of stubbornness start to surface; a defiance in her eyes.

“I know you’re tough,” I said gently with a smile. “Still ain’t leaving you here by yourself to face whatever’s goin’ on inside that door.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, and I gave the knob a twist to let us inside.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Corliss…

The front door opened to our dimly lit living room, Mark’s desk space in the dining room, and the kitchen beyond that which was all empty… but that’s because we could hear them in the bedroom.

I bowed my head in embarrassment and humiliation with a heavy dose of defeat.

Hex was staring at me, his face unreadable as he waited me out to see what I would do.

I took a deep breath and walked loudly, my cowboy boot heels clacking against the hardwood floors dully as I went to the back of the house and to the bedroom, pushing open the door flush to the wall.

Mark was cursing and trying to pull up the sheet to cover himself but the blonde was working against him, tugging on the same sheet to cover herself too.

“Stop, just stop!” I barked, loudly, but just so damned tiredly. “Just what the fuck, Mark?”

“Don’t you what the fuck me!” he cried incredulously, “What the fuck,you? You’re not supposed to be here!”

I felt Hex at my back, the energy, the vibration coming off him the same as anytime you stood outdoors, pending a violent electrical storm. The air around him practically humming, the heat coming off him scorching my back and fueling my fire as I exploded.

“You were supposed to pick me up from the hospital today, you piece of shit!” I screamed at him. “You left me sitting there for fuckinghours,waiting on your lying, cheating apathetic ass to come get me! I finally had to call Hex! All the while you’re in our house, in our bed, fucking—” I spluttered. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are! Who are you?” I demanded.

“Doesn’t matter,” Hex grated. He gently moved me aside and grabbed Mark by the back of his neck and fetched him up against the wall by the door. He planted a fist next to his head and slapped a hand against his chest, pinning a bunch of money to it.

“This is what’s going to happen,” Hex declared, and Mark sputtered. Hex put his fist through the sheetrock next to Mark’s face.

“You’re done talking!” Hex bellowed in his face. “Now, you’re listening!”

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