“Fine. I’m going outside and calling the sheriff. You’re a wanted man and he already knows you’ve made contact.” She grabbed her phone and key and started toward the door, but strong fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her back.
“No. You need to help me.”
“Let go!”
He didn’t. He tightened his hold until it was bruising before shoving her against a wall. “Justlistento me.”
The panic and wild need to get away overrode every other thought. She brought up a knee, nailing her father betweenthe legs. He groaned, and the second he released her arm, she shoved him away, ran out the door, and got into her car.
She didn’t even slow to put her seat belt on, just started the engine and drove. Tears pressed at her eyes while her wrist throbbed from where he’d grabbed her, but she ignored it all, only thinking of one thing. Only needing one thing. Her new sense of safety…Kayden.
Kayden liftedpieces of chopped wood and carried it toward the visitors center. A tree had fallen in the high winds last night, and all the guys had been working overtime to get it off the path. Jake was helping with the small bits where he could, while Kayden was trying like hell to ignore the asshole.
His words from the previous night still played over in his mind. Fuck, every time he thought about it, it made him angry as hell. The guy hadwarnedTilly against him, like he had the right to involve himself in his and Tilly’s relationship.
Theo dropped the wood in his arms onto the pile before rubbing his temple.
Kayden eyed him suspiciously. “You doing okay, Theo?”
The guy’s eyes shot up. “I’m fine. Just a headache.”
Hendrix came down the path and dropped the next handful of wood, his gaze shooting between them. “Everything good here?”
“What did you do last night?” Kayden asked, almost feeling like he was picking a fight but not caring. He’d woken angry, and that anger wasn’t going anywhere.
Theo’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t drinking, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It is.”
Anger reddened the other guy’s cheeks, and he stepped forward. “You’re our leader, but that doesn’t give you the right to harass me.”
Kayden stepped forward too. “Only it does, because you’ve done the wrong fucking thing before.”
Hendrix pressed a hand to Theo’s chest. “Hey. Let’s chill out, okay.” He turned to look at Kayden. “I was with Theo last night. We hung out, watched some football, and that was it. No drinking.”
“Good,” Kayden growled. “It better stay that way.”
He knew he was being a damn hypocrite. He’d been at his brother’s bar last night drinking, but the difference was, he never drank to excess, particularly not on a work night.
Theo’s eyes grew colder, but he let Hendrix pull him back down the path toward the pile of wood as Jake came to stand beside Kayden. “Hey, uh, is everything all right?”
Not even close. “It’s fine.”
He started to turn, but Jake grabbed his arm. “Before you go, I just wanted to apologize for last night. I’m sorry. It was none of my business, and if I was dating a woman and someone said to her what I said to Tilly, I’d be pissed as well. I let my feelings for her cloud my judgment.”
Kayden scrubbed a hand over his face. The apology sounded authentic, but it didn’t change what Jake had done, and right now he didn’t feel all that forgiving. “I’m taking a break.”
Before Jake could respond, Kayden was moving, getting the hell out of there before he did or said something he’d regret. He’d just stepped onto the deck when his phone rang, Cody’s name on the screen.
“Cody. Everything okay?”
“Actually, I need to tell you something, and you won’t like it.”
Kayden wrapped his fingers around the railing. Maybe he should have just stayed in bed today. “What?”
“You know how Flint Matthews bought our family house when Dad couldn’t afford to keep it?”
The guy had owned the land beside their father’s and bought it to expand his farm. “Yeah.”
