“What the fuck is wrong with you? It’s not enough you come back to my damn town, you have to cause me to wear my damn dinner?”
Fury burned through Kayden’s veins. The guy went to grab her arm when Kayden pushed between them, shoving Harry’s wrist away.
“What the hell are you doing trying to touch her?”
“Did you see what she did?” Harry growled.
“Yeah, it was an accident.”
“An accident?” Harry spluttered. “Are you kidding me? She walked straight into the fucking waitress while she was holding food over my chair.”
“I’m sorry,” Tilly said quietly from behind him. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“No, you fucking weren’t.”
Harry tried to step forward again, and Kayden shoved him in the chest. “Back…the hell…off.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “Andyou…you think I don’t know what you said to my boys? You’ve made it clear whose side you’re on here.”
“First of all, your boys threwrotten eggsat her house. More than once. If their own goddamn father isn’t going to condemn their behavior and tell them it’s wrong, then I will.” He inched closer. “Secondly, there are no sides. She’s a local. She’s one of us. And she deserves to be treated as such.”
The anger in the man’s eyes darkened, glittering with the threat of violence. Kayden reached behind him and pushed Tilly farther back in case the guy threw a punch. He almost hoped he did so Kayden had reason to throw one back.
But Eastern stepped between them before either of them could act. “Okay, I think we all need to walk away and cool down.”
Kayden didn’t. Not immediately. Instead, he lowered his voice to a hard line. “You make her feel threatened again, you’ll have me to answer to.”
He turned before the asshole could respond, placed a hand on the small of Tilly’s back, and led her to their table at the front of the restaurant.
Harper was on her feet. “Tilly, are you okay?”
Tilly nodded quickly. “Yeah. But, um, I think I should go.”
“No, please! We haven’t had cake yet.”
Tilly reached into her purse and pulled out some money, leaving it on the table. “Thank you so much for having me. I’m sorry I caused a scene on Cody’s birthday. And God, I’msosorry that Avery saw.”
Harper leaned forward to hug her. “It’s not your fault. Do you want me to walk you out?”
“I’ll do it,” Kayden interrupted before Tilly could respond.
Tilly shook her head. “You don’t need—”
“I’m walking you out.” There wasn’t any leeway in his tone. He needed to make sure she was okay, so that was exactly what he was going to do.
A beat passed and finally she nodded.
When they stepped out of the restaurant, Kayden didn’t take his hand from her back. He couldn’t. His concern for her warred with the rage that still filled his lungs at the way Harry had towered over her.
What had he been planning? To grab her? Hurt her?
When they stopped at her car, Tilly reached into her bag and pulled out her keys, but her fingers trembled so badly they dropped from her fingers.
“Dammit!”
Her whispered word just reached his ears as he leaned down and lifted the keys for her. But he didn’t give them back. Instead, he looked into her beautiful green eyes, searching for…what, exactly, he wasn’t sure. Some sort of reassurance that he could let her leave like this.
Needing to touch her, he cupped her neck. “Are you okay?”
