Micah’s eyebrows furrowed, and he continued eyeing me, but after a long silence, he finally declared through gritted teeth, “Fine. I’ll have Bass make sure no tracking devices are on the truck and we’ll go pick it and your grandfather’s ashes up as soon as I’m out of the shower.”
I forced out the breath I’d been holding. “Thank you.” I nodded, feeling vindicated. “Oh, and we need to go over the autopsy report. It’s still in your car.”
Another hard glare from him, but I only met his gaze with one of my own. “Once we get back from the house.”
I watched his rigid movement as he exited the kitchen. His anger continued to permeate the air, even after he was gone.
“You’d think he was the one who was attacked,” I murmured to Hound, who’d walked into the kitchen. Mindlessly, I pet Hound while wondering why this situation with Micah started to feel as if I belonged to him.
Chapter Twenty
“I swear, you’re such a screwup,” I hissed at the man in the backseat of my car. “Don’t get your fucking blood on my leather seats.”
He grunted and shifted, eyeing me through his swollen eyelids. His face contorted in agony as he did so. I blinked and looked away as my anger tightened around my windpipe.
“I can’t believe you tried to come to my damn house looking like this.” He indeed was an idiot.
“Where the hell was I supposed to go?”
“Back to that rathole you live in.”
“I couldn’t get to the hotel. It was too far, and I could barely see.”
I shook my head, curling my top lip as I stared at his swollen eyes. They were barely slits. “How the hell can you be as big as you fucking are and still get your ass handed to you by a woman? Asleepingwoman, no less.”
“Shut the hell up, okay? I wasn’t expecting her to come at me like that. You didn’t fucking tell me she was some sort of ninja. Ow,” he bellowed once he let his anger get the best of him and pointed his finger at me, using his injured shoulder.
I frowned harder, looking at the pathetic being in front of me. Blood stained the T-shirt and jeans he wore. A result of his broken nose. It’d taken an hour since he’d gotten in my car for the nosebleed to stop. Cotton balls plugged both nostrils. I had to stop at a convenience store to purchase them. We were sitting in an empty parking lot at the edge of town.
“Incompetent. You know that?” The dumbfuck had even stabbed himself with his knife. I had to patch up the large gash on his chest with the bandages I bought.
I swear I had to do every damn thing myself.
“A ninja,” I murmured. “You should’ve known what she could do. I’ve had you following the bitch for weeks. Digging in her trash. Didn’t you know she was capable of kicking your ass?”
“I never saw her fight,” he argued.
I clicked my tongue, looking out the windshield of my car. I grew hot from the heat of my anger.
“She’s just a chick. A bitch who’s been asking too many questions around town.”
He grunted. “Maybe you shouldn’t have killed her grandaddy, brother.”
“What the hell did you say to me?” I turned and pulled out the revolver from my waistband, aiming it directly between his eyes.
He didn’t flinch. “Put that shit away. We both know you wouldn’t kill me. I’m the only relative you’ve got.”
I twisted my top lip, grimacing. “Family isn’t everything,” I reminded him.
“But ours is. It’s why you trusted only me to help you with this. Are you going to let me stay with you or not?” This was the third time since we came out here he’d asked.
“What the hell would it look like for me to have a career criminal staying with me? We need to let the heat from last night die down.” That I had to explain this pissed me off even more. My finger moved to the trigger of my gun.
He didn’t notice.
“Listen, brother, this is just a little setback. The bitch didn’t see my face. Even if she had, she wouldn’t know who the hell I was. I’m gonna— Ahh,” he gasped as he pushed himself farther. “Didn’t you get some ice?”
I cut my gaze to the bag of ice that remained untouched in my passenger seat.
