“I never meant to hurt you.”
“It was for the best. I was leaving, and in doing that I realized what I felt for you was superficial. I was a young girl who hadn’t experienced life, with foolish stars in her eyes. Coming to LA made me understand that.”
Cubby should have been pleased with her words, but instead he felt pissed off. He didn’t want a woman in his life but he wanted Katie McBride to still care about him. He was a sick and twisted bastard.
Your father was a sick man, son, you have to understand that about him and be mindful you share his blood, so be careful you don’t turn out the same.
His mother had told him repeatedly over the years that he, the eldest of the Hawker siblings, was the exact replica of his father. He’d seen the resemblance physically, but he’d done everything he could to make sure that was where it ended. His father had had a temper and he had manipulated his wife and sons with threats and emotional blackmail, and Cubby would never be like that. He’d vowed he would never allow himself to get close enough to a woman to find out if he had it in him, either.
“Sure, I understand that, Katie, but I just want you to know that I never meant to hurt you.”
Her shoulders rose and fell. “It doesn’t matter now.”
But it did, he realized. It mattered a lot, and he’d hurt her, and she wasn’t going to forgive him anytime soon.
“You should get some sleep,” he said, trying to get comfortable.
“I know when I need sleep.”
“Whatever,” he said, closing his eyes simply so he didn’t keep looking at the soft place at the back of her neck that his fingers itched to stroke.
He felt her sit back, and when he opened his eyes a few minutes later, she was resting. She’d taken off her cap and her hair was everywhere, a wild tangle of black silk. Her eyes were closed and she slept. The tension had eased from her face and she looked more like the girl who had left home and less like the one he’d seen in that bar yesterday. Was it only yesterday? It felt like way longer. Her lashes fanned her cheeks and her lips were slightly open, almost in a pout. She had high cheekbones and a small round chin; it was the face of her brother, only prettier.
God, she was sweet.
Something stirred inside him, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He shut it down. She was nothing to him but his friend’s sister; could never be anything more than that. Cubby switched his thoughts to something he could deal with. He would need to do some research on these Alessi bastards so he knew what they were facing if they came calling. No one was hurting her; he’d make sure of that. He let the thoughts come and go as he watched over her while she slept.
She moved and winced as her wrist tugged; even braced it obviously still hurt. He then watched her good hand clench tight into a fist. Her head started to move from side to side as her dreams disturbed her.
“Sssh, Katie, it’s okay.” He touched her cheek, stroked it softly, and she settled, turning into his touch.
Jake would need to get her to talk, get into her head somehow and release the pain she had stored in there. Her brother was the man for the job, because he knew what she was going through just as Cubby did, but she wouldn’t appreciate his attempts to help her. He was someone she would tolerate but no more, and he knew she needed that, needed someone to get angry with. He was a target because he was the one bringing her home, back to the place that would help her heal; plus there was the incident before she left still between them, no matter how much she denied it.
“Katie, you need to wake up now.” Cubby touched her cheek as the plane began its descent. Her eyelashes fluttered open, her eyes going to his before shooting away again.
“We’re coming in to land now.”
She clenched them shut briefly, and then sat upright, leaning forward to get a glimpse of Brook as they started to descend.
“You need to put your belt on.”
“I heard the announcement, Cubby,” she said in a soft sleepy voice.
“Don’t get snippy, princess.”
“Snippy? Who the hell says stuff like that these days?”
“Pissed?” Cubby smiled as Katie glared at him. Even pale and worn out, she was beautiful. It was in her bones. “Is that a better word?
“Whatever.”
After the plane had stopped and the sign finally said they could, they unclipped their belts.
“Ethan’s meeting us,” Cubby said, getting out of his seat. The tall Texan was a friend of Jake’s and had moved to Howling when he fell in love with a local girl, Annabelle.
“Okay.”
He opened the locker and got pulled down her carry-on luggage before grabbing his.
