Rage vibrated through Stone, defiant of the command. Why couldn’t God just let him find some peace? Where was this grace Mom always talked about? He’d screwed up and paid for his mistakes ten times over. When would it be enough? How did he keep ending up on the wrong end of love, being betrayed. First Dad, then Marie, and now—her!
The door to his office jiggled and he straightened?—so did Grief, who let out a low warning growl. Not in the mood for conversation, Stone headed out the rear door with Grief on his heels. He gritted his teeth when he didn’t hear the door shut.
“Stone. Wait!”
Brisk mountain air smacked him as he stomped up the path, ignoring Taggart thudding after him. “Go back if you know what’s good for you.”
“C’mon, man. Please.”
He rounded on Taggart, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him up against the brick wall. When pain ricocheted through his fist and red bloomed at the corner of Cord’s mouth, he realized he’d punched him.
Rattled, he shifted. Wasn’t letting the guy off the hook. “A ‘friend’?! You knew!” His pulse hammered amid Grief’s angry barks that mirrored his own. “You knew about her. About me!” He shoved him again, thumping the guy’s bald head on the brick. “That’s why you hung up when I asked for name and information. You knew I’d say no!”
Taggart wiped blood from his lip. “You’re right. I knew. Everything. About you. Her.”
“You’re done.” Stone stabbed a finger at him. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you?—ever. She goes. You go. Now!” Stone spun toward the cabin.
Cord caught his arm.
Grief slid in, snarling. Forcing Taggart back.
“Hear me out. Please.” He palmed his hands. “I beg you.”
Stone struggled for a breath that wasn’t choked with rage or adrenaline. He cursed again, shaking his head, hauling in breaths around the rubble of his life.
“I know this might make me scum, but … you owe me.”
“You low?—”
“If you hear me out, no matter your decision, I’ll respect it and call us even.”
Hand on his belt, Stone huffed through several thick breaths. Closed his eyes and shook his head. Told himself to walk away before Cord used those operator skills to talk down an unfriendly.
If he listened to whatever bull the guy wanted to dish and still refused, the debt would be paid. Good, because Stone never wanted to see this guy again. “Talk.”
Taggart stood several inches shorter than him, but what he lacked in height, he more than made up for in tactical expertise. “First??—I am sorry for ambushing you with this, her. But I honest-to-God had no choice.”
His respect for Cord dropped another notch. “There’s always a choice.” Stone had made many bad ones in the course of the nightmare that led to this moment but always owned them.
“You’re right.”
“You’re ticking me off.” Stone looked out at the mountain, wanting to escape.
“She needs a place to lie low for a few days. I don’t trust anyone else with her.”
“Not my problem. There is no way on God’s green earth she stays here. She already ruined me once. I’m not going to hand her the RPG launcher to do it again—this time, taking the lodge with her.”
“Please. I know—”
“You don’t know!” he barked, shoulders squared. “I heard you out—now I’m refusing. And she goes.” He stared his buddy down. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? That the debt would be paid?”
Taggart stared back, his jaw muscle jouncing. “You’re one cold-hearted—”
“Me?” Raising his eyebrows, Stone stepped forward. “I’m cold-hearted? Who just waltzed into a man’s home and livelihood with the very person who destroyed him, then asked him to invite her in for food and bed?” He cringed at that last word.
“And this is the best you can think of me? Of her?”
“Her?” Stone cocked his head. “I can think of a lot worse.”
