Page 55 of Anything for You
Hawk had been shaking his hand, likely having broken a finger or two after throwing a remarkably bad punch, though it had hurt, and I’d be bruised. The other fool had rightly chosen to stay out of it.
“Dove, you know what’s true. You know what’s right.”
With that, Hawk and his goons scampered back into their truck as Bear unleashed his ferocious bark and chased them down the driveway.
Dove was with me before I had a chance to turn to her. “You’re hurt. Let’s get you some ice. I’m so sorry, Dorian. I never imagined he’d come here. I shouldn’t have let him. I didn’t realize?—”
I folded her into a hug, and she instantly deflated, tears coming, too. “I’m alright. Everything’s fine. You can’t control another person, honey, and I’m not mad at you.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said over and over again as she let me hold her and she clutched at my shoulders.
We pulled back, and I cupped the nape of her neck,stroking down the long hair cascading over her back. “Come inside?”
She nodded, then dropped to her knees as Bear trotted back to us, breathing hard. He swerved from me to her.
“Thank you, Bear. Thank you for protecting me.” She hugged him around the neck and then stood, the three of us heading toward my house.
My heart still pounded like it might try to break out of my ribcage, but with her hand around my back and Bear at my side, no spiraling fear reared its head.
We were safe. We’d be fine.
And as soon as I could, I’d report this to everyone possible and figure out why the boys of Patriot Ridge felt like they had a right to come onto my property and speak to Dove that way.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Dove
Idabbed at Dorian’s head with a damp paper towel. His skin had split the tiniest bit, but as head wounds tended to do, it’d bled like a drama king. He wouldn’t need stitches, though.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, hating that this had happened at all.
Stupid Hawk. What did he think I would do when he came here?
“What did he want?” he asked, gaze steady on me.
I couldn’t return it. The embarrassment and shame still swirling around in my belly made it hard to look him straight in his clear, forthright eyes.
“He wanted me to go with him. Said it was ‘time for me to come back.’” My teeth ground together remembering his words and the expression on his face packed with so much certainty.
“Come back?”
I exhaled through my nose, working to calm the inner turmoil and focus on patching up this sweet hero of a man. After covering the small wound with a bandage, I brushed back the hair that’d fallen onto his forehead and finally let myself make eye contact.
“I left a while after my parents died. I think I told you that—I came to live with Nan but he ended up in juvenile detention, then got out when he was eighteen, so he went back. I’d made him promise me he wouldn’t hurt himself and he assured me he wouldn’t.” With a shake of my head, I sighed. “Clearly, he stayed with a group who maintained the ideology of the cult. I don’t know if Patriot Ridge is a cult community now or if he and the people he arrived with brought that in or what, but I can tell you that’s what we were raised in. And if they have someone they’re following like we did the leader back then, it’s bad. The way he showed up like he had a right to me… that tells me he’s still in it.”
Dorian’s gaze turned steely. “No one has a right to you but you.”
“I know that. That’s why I told him I wasn’t going with him.” Pressing my lips together, I debated telling him the other part. I didn’t want to keep anything from him, and it did involve him since they’d not only come onto his property, but they’d also hurt him. “He said I was acting like a whore and I needed to come home.”
There was a pause, a stillness in the air that almost made me tremble before Dorian spoke.
“Any idea why he’d say that?”
I swallowed hard, anxiety notching up at the conclusion I’d come to. “I think he was watching us. At our picnic. I’m guessing that’s what Bear was barking at.”
My cheeks flamed hot, and I was yet again on the verge of tears.Ugh.
His hands reached out to rest on my waist, and even in the context of this conversation, the contact sent a thrill through me.
