Unfortunately, that calm was obliterated by a single voice coming from behind me.
“Lennix.”
I swallowed down a groan and stopped, despite my body’s desire to keep going. Pushing out a gust of air, I turned to face the voice just as Mitch stepped out of the shadows cast by thelights streaming through the windows by the door. It looked like he’d been leaning against the brick wall... waiting.
That realization sent a shiver down my spine. “Mitch. What are you doing out here? Have you been waiting for me?”
He closed the distance between us, only stopping when Havoc let out a low growl. It was a useless noise, seeing as he wasn’t big enough to do much of anything, but I still loved him to death for being protective. The fur stood along his spine as he eyed Mitch like he was waiting to take a tiny chunk out of him.
“Hey.” I waited for more, but that was all he said. Justhey.
I glanced around the parking lot. The bar was still going strong inside, but at this time of night, most people who wanted to be here already were. The parking lot wasn’t completely empty of people, walking in or out, but I would have preferred having more around. More witnesses... just in case. “How long have you been standing out here?”
“Not long. I just... I wanted to see you.”
“So you’ve been standing out here waiting instead of coming inside? You can understand why that might come off a little creepy, right?”
His expression closed down, his features hardening. “It’s not like that. I only wanted a chance to talk to you.”
It took everything I had to keep from sighing dramatically. It felt like I was stuck in some sort of loop with this guy. Anything that needed to be said already had been. The guy was beating a dead horse at this point.
“Mitch, we’ve been over this again and again. There’s nothing left to talk about. We broke up. That’s it. I’m really sorry I hurt you, I hope you believe that. But you need to move on.”
His face flushed red with anger and his top lip curled up in a sneer. “So that’s it, huh? You got yours and now you’re done. If you were just out for a little dick, you should have said so. We could’ve really had some fun.”
That hit the button that lit a fire in my gut. My face pinched up in a look of pure rage. “You know, men always take it so personally when a woman says she’d pick the bear, yet you guys keep doing shit likethis. I will not stand here and be judged or slut-shamed by you or any man who walks this planet, you understand me? I will not apologize for the things I’ve done or the way I’ve behaved. God forbid a woman likes sex and dares to embrace her sexuality. You assholes run around sticking your dicks in any willing woman, and no one has an opinion about it. But the woman who behaves the same way gets judged and gossiped about.” I took a step closer and jabbed my finger into the center of his chest. “Well guess what, dickface? Times are changing, and I amnotthe woman you want to fuck with. Now, I really wanted to keep this as civil as possible, but you shot that straight to hell. Consider this your lifetime ban from The Tap Room.” I started to turn but decided to say one last thing. “Oh, and you had one thing right. It really was alittledick.”
With that, I swung around and stomped off toward the staff lot at the back of the building as Havoc growled in my arms.
“I know, little guy. But it’s okay. The bad man is gone.” The general public wasn’t allowed in the back lot, so as soon as I rounded the corner, I let out a relieved breath, knowing Mitch wouldn’t follow me. I needed to have a word with Zeke about Mitch’s lifetime ban, but that was something I could handle another time. Or by email. I was a firm believer if it could be handled by email, it should be.
I tried to push the anger that encounter had created to the back of my mind and focus on the fact I would be seeing Raylan soon enough. That was enough to put a smile on my face. However, that fell as soon as my car came into view.
A sudden chill skittered across my skin and burrowed down deep, wrapping around my bones as I took in the flower and note on the hood of my SUV. Only, it wasn’t like the times before.I moved forward tentatively, goosebumps spreading along my arms and the back of my neck. The head of the tulip had been ripped from the stem, the petals ripped apart and strewn about. The note was in a crumpled ball, like whoever had been holding it squeezed their hand into a tight fist. My own hand trembled as I reached out to grab it.
Unsteady fingers worked to unfold the paper, and what I saw written in thick, black bold ink turned the blood in my veins to icy slush. The same two words were written, onlybeautyhad been scribbled over so sharply that the author’s anger felt clear as day. Whoever had destroyed the words was so mad, they’d ripped the paper in places from pressing too hard with their pen.
The cold beneath my skin grew more intense, wrapping around me to the point I couldn’t stop shivering as I let the note fall from my hand and drop onto the dirty blacktop at my feet.
Reading the change in my emotions, Havoc let out a whimper and squirmed in my arms, trying to lift himself up so he could lick at the underneath of my chin. I held him closer—more for my comfort than for his—and took a step backward as I reached into my purse with my free hand for my cellphone.
I tapped the screen to find the number I needed and brought the phone to my ear. It barely finished the first ring before Raylan answered. “Hey, Chaos.”
Those two words said in that rasp, like velvet over craggy stone, helped to soothe the worst of the fear coating my skin, but definitely not all of it. “Raylan?”
He must have heard it in my voice, because the next words out of his mouth were clipped and hard, panic riding the edges to make them razor sharp. “What’s wrong? Where are you?”
“I’m still at work. I... Raylan, there was another note.”
“I want you to get in your car right now, baby, and get to me, okay? Fast as you can. I’m going to your place right now.”
I looked back at my car, curling my lips between my teeth and biting down. “I can’t.” I told him, finally getting to the worst of it. “Someone slashed my tires.”
A rapid-fire burst of curse words exploded through the phone, but beneath that, I heard movement, and what sounded like the clinking of keys slapping together. “Inside, baby. Inside the bar, and lock yourself in the office until I get there. Don’t open it for anyone but me.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lennix
