Clara frowned. “Really?”
Helen opened her mouth to respond, but the door opened and two guys wearing leather jackets stepped out, one of them being the guy Helen had been dancing with.
Immediately, dread trickled through Clara’s body, settling in her belly when they looked straight at Helen before starting toward her.
Clara forced herself to straighten. “We’re just going back inside.”
The taller guy smiled, but it seemed…off, and made the pit in Clara’s belly deepen. “I’ll take her home.”
Hell no. “No need. I’m already taking her home.” She pulled Helen closer.
The taller guy stepped forward, his height suddenly feeling threatening. “She and I were having a great chat inside. Really getting to know each other. She’s happy to go with me.”
The jerk said that so confidently.
He took another step forward, and Clara instinctively inched in front of Helen. “No. We’re going back inside now.”
The second guy lifted a brow. “I don’t think so, honey.” Then he stepped forward, and before Clara realized what he was doing, he slid a strong arm around her waist.
“Hey! Get your hands off me.”
She shoved at his chest, but he just laughed as he tightened his arm and tugged her away from Helen.
Helen stumbled, and the taller guy caught her. “I’ve got you, honey.”
“No…” Helen tried to push him away.
“Shh. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Clara’s pulse took off, and she was a second away from kneeing the guy in the balls when the back door flew open and a very tall, very angry-looking Holden stepped out, closely followed by Jesse.
Holden tipped back his beer,the cold liquid doing nothing to cool the burning frustration running through his body.
She’d seen it. She’d seen everything he was trying to hide. His want for her. His need. Hell, he told himself he’d moved here for Jesse. To be closer to his best friend and his found family, but he wasn’t even sure if that was true anymore.
Jesse came to stand beside him. “Hey. You okay?”
“No. I might head home.”
“Why don’t you have a beer with me first?”
“I—”
Indie suddenly ran up to their table, panic in her eyes. “You both need to go check on Clara—now.”
Holden’s back straightened as he scanned the bar. “Where is she?”
“She followed one of the women from the hospital outside,” Indie said in a rush. “I was watching the door, waiting for them to come back in but they didn’t, and two guys in leather jackets followed them out there. I didn’t get a good feeling from them.”
Holden was moving before Indie had finished speaking, dread burning through his gut.
When he reached the back door, he pushed outside—and what he saw made him see black. One guy with his arms around Helen, and the other holding Clara, who struggled against him.
He was a fucking dead man.
Jesse cursed from behind him. Holden shot forward.
Suddenly, the guy holding Clara threw her to the side and withdrew a gun, but before he could even aim, Holden grabbed the man’s wrist and squeezed. He cried out and dropped the pistol. Then Holden spun and threw him against the dumpster.
