“I’ll speak to her, and try to check over her bruises. Where are you going?”
“To handle that monumental dickhead next door.”
“Keep him away from Cara. Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere near her until she tells us she’s ready for that, if she ever is. I’m not sure I would be after the way he acted last night.”
I agreed and turned to leave. My brother was right, Cara may never forgive Dante for what he had put her through, and why should she? She barely even knew him really. Yes, she had trusted him, but he’d destroyed that now, and I got the sense Cara was not a person who would trust easily in the first place, let alone a second time around.
But if Cara didn’t trust Dante again, then Dante would have to leave Rafe and the family we had all kind of made ourselves into. If Rafe even knew what Dante had done, I had a feeling he’d kill him. But if Dante left, I’d be lost. He was as much my brother as Cal. They all were – him, Dario, and Rafe. Our family wouldn’t be whole without our resident wild card there with us.
I tried to rein in my temper as I crossed the hall and opened the other room door with my key card. I was pissed with Dante, but he was volatile at the best of times, and I wasn’t insane enough to want him spoiling for a fight with me. Because that would be bloody and likely result in us killing one another.
But then I walked into the room, just in time to see Dom, one of four of Rafe’s men that we had brought with us, come stumbling out of the bedroom. He had a split lip and blood was trickling from a cut near his left eye.
“What the fuck?” I snapped.
“Dante’s flipping out. He’s not pleased about being kept here,” Dom sighed. “You could give us a hand, if it’s not too much trouble,” he added with a roll of his eyes.
I cracked my neck to both sides and shook my arms loose as I crossed the room to follow Dom.
Dante had Joey, the youngest of the guys with us, in a headlock, the both of them laid across the askew bed. Joey was bleeding and fighting to get free of the hold, but Dante was red faced, breaths heaving, and refusing to relent.
Joey, the poor kid, looked frantic. He wasn’t even supposed to be there. He’d been in Chicago for weeks, investigating Isabella’s murder. He’d only come to join us on this trip, so that he could catch a lift home. Now he was getting his ass kicked by his own fucking boss!
“Christ!” I cursed.
Dom jumped on the bed to grab Dante around his wide neck, causing him to release Joey, and as the lad jumped up, Dom released Dante and leapt out of fist throwing range fast too. I was ready when Dante jumped up with a roar, fists flying. I dodged his first two hits, then used my speed to throw a hook at his head hard, when he stumbled back I grabbed him, wrapping my arm around his neck and gave him two swift hits to his ribs, not enough to bust them, but definitely enough for him to feel the pain he had made Cara wake with that morning.
He tried to fight off my grip, but he was tired, likely having been fighting with the others for a while, judging by how cut up and bruised they all were. He had also woken with a nightmare of a hangover and my guess was it was making him sluggish.
“Stop fightin’ me, ye prick!” I hissed at him. I landed a couple more blows to his side and his fight died.
“You shouldn’t be here! Who’s with Cara?” he growled.
“Cal and Brax. She’s safe. She doesnae want ye anywhere near her, ye stupid bastard!” I raged. I released him and when he doubled over in pain I kicked out at his other side, determined to ensure his whole body was as bruised as Cara’s.
“Fuck off, Arran!” he cursed as he fell back, landing on the end of the bed.
“She’s bruised, Dante! Her whole fucking torso, front, back, and sides. Bruised because ye put hands on her, and terrified her!” I barked as I fell back, leaning heavily against the wall opposite him, breathless and still filled with fury.
I was grateful when Dom and Joey quietly left the room, closing the door behind them. I knew they wouldn’t share anything they heard us discuss, but I still didn’t want them knowing Cara’s business.
“She was bruised before,” Dante sighed.
“Don’t you dare!” I snapped. “You fuckin’ terrified her! Ye locked her in a room and had her crying out for help! And the bruises all over her are new, and yer doing! What were ye thinkin’ getting’ drunk? Ye know it sends ye stark ravin’ mad!”
“I don’t know. I didn’t mean to. I was just angry. Cara needs to understand that she’s mine, and she doesn’t! She put herself in danger last night. She tried to deny me protecting her!”
“She’s no’ yours, pal,” I sighed. “She doesnae want to belong to anyone, and she’s an adult. She gets to make her own decisions, foolish or no’ without anyone treating her like she’s a naughty fuckin’ kid. I understand that ye want to protect her. We all do, but ye can’t try and bulldoze her. She’s had too much of that in her life.”
“Did I really scare her that much?” he asked as he looked to me with regret, finally.
“Yes, ye did. Cal was up wi’ her all night and she’s still shaky and jumpy this mornin’ too. She’s asked that she no’ have to see ye, and I agreed I’d make sure we respected that. Ye fucked things up, Dante. Now yer gonna have to step back and leave Cara be, at least until she feels ready to face ye again,” I explained honestly.
“Fuck that! She’s not safe right now. I don’t care what she wants. She needs me to be close, to protect her. She’ll get over this. We don’t let her have a choice in the matter!”
I couldn’t have held back if I tried. I stood and lunged forward, punching out and landing a blow to the left side of Dante’s jaw before he even saw it coming.
“What the…” Dante glared at me as he held the side of his face.
