“She isn’t even worth this shit. I’ve had better pussy than her loose cunt.”
He stalked away and out the door, all of us following him except for Luke and Lydia. As soon as we hit the sidewalk, I cut in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
“Don’t ever talk to Lydia again, do you understand me? If I find you in this town again, next time won’t end so politely.” I leaned in, locking eyes with him to make sure he got the message. “I’ll fucking bury you.”
He huffed and walked around me, throwing his shoulder into mine as he passed by. The four of us stood sentinel outside of the shop until we watched him get in his car and drive away.
“I’m going to follow him to make sure he’s gone,” Wes said. Without waiting for a response, he hopped into his SUV double-parked in the street in front of us and drove off.
Inside, Luke had his arm around Lydia. They looked up when we walked in, and my gaze focused on Lydia. I opened my arms, needing to hold her but not wanting to demand anything. She let out a strong breath and pulled away from Luke, nestling tightly to my chest. Holding her close felt like my lungs were expanding for the very first time. I breathed her in, kissing the top of her silvery hair.
“You didn’t all need to come save me,” she sassed.
“Just say thanks, Lyds,” Wyatt smirked.
Lydia rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Thank you,” she mocked, but a small smile tugged at her lips.
“Are you okay? Did he touch you?” I whispered. I pulled back from her, not liking the minimal distance but needing to get my eyes on her. She looked okay. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair a little frazzled, but that may have been my doing when I held her head against my chest.
“I’m fine,” she said before turning to the rest of the group. “Really. I’m fine. He wasn’t leaving, and I needed a little backup. Not a five-man rescue team.” She looked around again. “Where’s Wes?”
I glanced at Wyatt, Wyatt to Reid, Reid back to me.
“Nowhere important,” Wyatt said.
“You guys are ridiculous,” she huffed.
“He hurt you, Lydia. And he had the gall to show up in our town, at my shop, your place of work, and harass you. We didn’t overreact. We let him walk out that door on his own, so I think we underreacted, if anything. Because what I wanted to do was connect my fist to his face and haul him out of here over my shoulder like the limp sack of shit that he is,” I said, my words coming in a frustrated growl by the end.
“Agreed,” Luke said.
Wyatt and Reid voiced their agreement as well.
The door opening had us all turning our heads. A woman in her late thirties glanced around, taking in the scene.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I have an appointment with Sebastian,” she said, almost as if it were a question.
Shit. I completely forgot that I had two other clients on the schedule for tonight. After getting that call from Wyatt as I left the bank, my thoughts had been solely focused on Lydia.
“Desiree, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. Is this not a good time?”
Lydia tried to slip out of my hold, but I wrapped my armaround her lower back and held her close.
“I’m so sorry. We’ve had something come up. Could we possibly reschedule?”
“No,” Lydia chided. “I’m fine. Don’t turn a client away.”
“Ignore the woman with the silver hair. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I joked.
Lydia’s mouth fell open. “Hey.”
Desiree chuckled. “I’ll let the two of you fight that out. Rescheduling is fine with me.”
“Great, thank you. Next Tuesday, same time?”
“Sounds good,” she agreed.
