“Planning to? No. But I’ll sure as hell put the fear of God into Colby for messing with my little sister.” I put the holster on over my shirt.
Dean got us to the address in twenty-five minutes instead of forty. We pulled up to a rundown cabin with trees closing in on almost every side. Four trucks parked haphazardly in the grass out front.
Lights were on inside, but all the curtains were closed.
“I’ll tell her to come out.” But my call to Stephie’s phonewent unanswered. Her voicemail picked up, the automated message garbled from the shoddy connection.
I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I’ll get her.”
“Want me to come in with you?”
“Nah. If you come in, Colby and his friends will just focus on the big, strong man. They’ll get territorial, and that could escalate this. Colby needs to learn to fearme.” I touched my weapon.
“You just said youdidn’twant to escalate this.”
“I won’t. I’ll just calmly explain he will lose his balls if he comes near my sister again.”
I pushed open the truck door and jumped down. As I started toward the house, Dean opened his door and leaned out.
“Keira, wait. Try calling her phone again.”
“I’m not waiting. My sister’s in that house, and I’m going to get her.”
Loud music thumped inside the cabin, and shadows moved behind the curtains. Marching up to the entrance, I rapped on the metal screen door. It rattled.
The hinge squeaked as I yanked it open and knocked hard on the wood. “Hey!” I shouted so they’d hear me over the music.
The door wasn’t latched, so the pressure of my knocking pushed it inward. I took a step forward across the threshold, and my breath caught.
My sister sat on a sagging couch facing the front door. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying. A scowling man I’d never seen before stood behind her, a thick-knuckled hand on her shoulder.
“Kiki, run!” she screamed, trying to get up, but the man held her.
Shit.
My hand had already gone to my weapon, but a stronggrip landed on my wrist that same moment, twisting my arm. I lashed out with my elbow, catching the person in the torso. He’d been hiding just behind the door. The guy let out anoomphof pain and shoved me hard. I fell to my knees on the carpet, and the front door slammed closed behind me. The weight of my gun in the holster was gone.
The music kept thumping.
“I’m sorry, Keira,” my sister sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”
Another person walked into the room. A neatly trimmed beard, ice-blue eyes.
Ryan Garrett.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Dean
I satin the car watching Keira head toward the house. Every instinct screamed at me to follow her, to go inside with her. But she’d said no. She was a cop, and aside from that, what she’d said made sense.
My presence could make things worse. At the very least, it might suggest I didn’t have faith in Keira’s abilities. She didn’t need an escort.
But when it came to her sister, Keira was emotional, and that could be dangerous for anyone. Emotion made you do foolish things. I knew that well myself. Every moment that I’d been back in Hart County since hearing about Keira’s injuries, emotions had been driving me.
I’d been in love with her this whole time. Fuckingyears.
I could finally admit that, now that Keira was really mine. But if anything, my nerves were even worse now. Worrying about something going wrong. Losing her.
