“Yo, old man, get lost or things are gonna get real ugly.” The guy I recognized from last month finally spoke up. He cast a nervous glance toward the table where the other guy had gone.
“Can’t you just go?” Rae asked. Anger turned her eyes bright.
“You got it.” I let go of the prick who’d been sitting next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Before she knew what was happening, I flung her over my shoulder and clamped an arm over her ass to hold her in place. I was five feet out the door when the prick raced out after us.
“Yo, you’re going to pay for this. You just fucked me over, old man.”
“Get Rae home. I’ll stay here and take care of these motherfuckers.” Thunder cracked his knuckles. “I want to keep an eye on that blonde and make sure she knows what kind of company she’s chosen to keep.”
“You can’t do this, Priest.” Rae’s fists pummeled my back.
“It’s already done, Sunshine.” I jerked open the door to the truck and set her ass on the front seat. “You’re coming home with me tonight.”
CHAPTER2
RAE
I pressedmy back against the door, trying to get as far as possible from Priest. He was pissed. I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves from the other side of the truck, and I couldn’t care less. He had no right to dictate who I could hang out with on a Friday night, and I intended on telling him that as soon as I trusted myself to speak.
“What the hell were you thinking?” His fingers wrapped around the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles looked white. “Do you know who those guys are?”
Ignoring him, I turned to look out the window. My breath fogged up the glass, and I lifted my finger to draw the outline of the sun.
He reached out and held my shoulder. “I’m asking you a question. Do you have any idea what kind of company those assholes keep?”
“Leave me alone.” I shrugged him off and continued to stare out the window.
“You think your dad would want you?—”
“Don’t you dare bring my dad into this.” My hair flew around my face as I turned to stare daggers at him. Even though my dad had been gone almost ten years, I still couldn’t think about him without tears stinging the backs of my eyelids.
Priest pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry, Rae, it’s just?—”
“Don’t.” I shook my head and shifted my gaze to my feet. It wasn’t my dad’s fault he never came home. Priest blamed himself for not being there to protect him, but my grandparents always said my dad knew the risks he was taking when he became a Navy SEAL. I didn’t know who to blame, so I blamed everyone.
“You warm enough?” He turned the heat up another couple of degrees.
“I’m fine.” Hoping guilt might have changed his mind, I tested the waters. “Can’t you just take me home?”
He shook his head. “I promised your dad I’d look out for you and keep you safe.”
He’d made that promise almost ten years ago, back when I actually needed someone to look after me. I’d been living on my own since I graduated from high school. I didn’t need Priest interfering in my life anymore. He had his own crap to deal with and I’d always felt bad for being an unwanted burden. “I don’t know those guys, okay? Ashley just started seeing one of them and she invited me to hang out tonight.”
Priest cast a serious side glance my way. “They were meeting up with an out-of-state supplier and blame me for scaring him off. That means you’re in danger, Sunshine.” He let out a long, low exhale. “I can’t let you go back there until I know they’re not going to come after you to get to me.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’m nothing to you.” Even as I carelessly flung the words in his direction, I knew they weren’t true. Priest took his vow to my dad seriously and considered me the closest thing he had to family. I’d always secretly hoped he’d one day see me as more than the daughter of his best friend, but over the years he’d stayed as distant and aloof as ever.
The truck shuddered to a stop on the side of the road. Priest flung his arm in front of me out of habit, like I was a little kid who might not get caught by her seat belt in time.
“Don’t ever say that.” His eyes burned dark and bright at the same time. “Keeping you safe means everything to me.”
Guilt made me bite my tongue. All he’d ever done was look out for me. Even though I’d always wanted so much more. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Let’s compromise. I’ll drive you by your apartment so you can grab a few things.” He faced forward again and eased his foot off the brake. “We can be in and out of there before those assholes leave Stella’s.”
I didn’t bother to respond. He’d do whatever he wanted, whether I went along with him or not. That’s the way it had always been with Priest.
“How long am I supposed to be your prisoner?” I clamped my arms over my stomach in a huff. In all the years I’d known him, I’d never been to Priest’s cabin. After my dad died and I was living with my grandparents, Priest would stop by a couple of times a week to check on me. He’d take me out for lunch or run me to and from my friends’ houses to help my grandparents, but he never took me back to his place. After I left for college and my grandparents passed, he’d send texts or make a rare phone call to keep tabs on me. We hardly spent time together anymore, and it seemed like he liked it that way.
