“Put me down, Liam.”
“Nope.”
“I mean it. You can’t carry me around like a bag of oranges.”
“Bag of oranges?”
She groans. “I’m drunk. That’s the best example I could come up with.”
We pass a few resort workers, who give us curious glances.
“She’s drunk,” I say to them.
“I can still walk.”
“Trust me, firecracker. It’s easier this way. You were about to fall off that bar.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
I almost laugh at the petulance in her tone. “You were. Straight into the arms of that creep who wanted to slurp tequila off your body.”
She scoffs. “What if I wanted him to?”
Possessiveness fires through me. “That wasn’t fucking happening. Not while I was there. Not while you’re in this state.”
I make my way up a staircase to Kendall’s hotel room on the second floor of the resort.
“God, you’re a caveman. I don’t need you to protect me, Liam. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can, firecracker. But why go through the trouble when you can just sic your caveman friend on any nearby creeps?”
Kendall makes an annoyed sound. I reach the door of her hotel room and set her down. The second I do, she shoves me. But because she’s smaller than me, I barely move.
“You don’t get to do this, Liam.” She pushes her hair out of her face and pokes a finger at my chest.
I lean down closer to her. “Do what, firecracker?”
“You don’t get to swoop in like you’re some hero. Especially when I don’t mean anything to you.”
She’s glaring at me now. That drunken daze has faded. Her eyes are clear, and I can spot the pain in her gaze. It’s crystal clear, and it’s ripping me apart.
“I didn’t mean it that way, Kendall.”
Her lethal frown doesn’t budge.
My heart races with the urge to explain everything to her, to say “I’m sorry” a million times. Whatever it takes to get her to stop hurting.
I start to explain, but she rolls her eyes and turns away, grabs the key card from her pocket, and opens the door to her room.
“I told you, I don’t want to hear whatever made-up excuse you have,” she mutters as she opens the door and walks inside.
Frustration rockets through me. I step forward and hold open the door, holding her gaze as she looks at me.
“That’s fine if you don’t want to listen to me, Kendall. It’s fine if you hate me. It’s fine if you never want to speak to me again. But no matter how you feel about me, I’ll never just stand there and watch a bunch of scumbags try to creep on you. I’ll always look out for you. I’ll always protect you.”
Before she can say anything, I let go of the door and walk off, my heart hammering in my chest.
Chapter 27
