“Listen,” the man with the light eyes says. “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.”
My mouth goes dry. “I’m calling the police.”
He doesn’t react to that threat—none of them does—and that’s the most terrifying part.
Every instinct in my body tells me torun.
I fumble to get back into the garage, feet slipping as I try to move as quick as I can, but before I can get beneath the door, a hand clamps over my wrist and yanks me back a few feet.
I freeze, and when I look up, I find the tallest man of the three invading my personal space. His eyes are narrowed and dark in ways my brain can’t comprehend.
When I try to yank my hand away from his hold, he leans toward me so we’re almost nose to nose. “Don’t,” he says, his voice harsh.
I want to scream, but when I open my mouth, nothing comes out. My breath is sharp and frantic, and I twist my arm back and forth manically, trying to pull free from him.
But his grip just tightens around my wrist.
“Stop, Kylie. We don’t have time for this.”
How he even knows my name when I’ve never seen him in my entire life makes my panic spike into something that feels a lot like lava. “Let go of me!”
I try to scream again, but it comes out strangled.
“Relax—” he starts to say, already dragging me toward their Escalade, but another voice cuts through the air.
“Take your hand off her.”
The man stops, and I turn my head to find Rook Slater walking up my driveway. He’s not in his uniform or work boots, but in jeans and a dark jacket, hair messy like he didn’t sleep. His eyes are locked on the man still gripping my wrist, and this isn’t the grumpy demeanor I’ve grown accustomed to.
It’s harsher. Sharper. And it looks like he would burn the world downforme rather than against me.
Kane and Calloway follow behind him.
Kane is looking directly at Rook, while Calloway’s gaze slides over the men like he’s counting them.
“Rook Slater.” The man with the light eyes smiles faintly. “We heard some rumblings. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here.”
Rook doesn’t smile back.
“This doesn’t involve you,” the man still holding my wrist says.
“Yeah, it does.” Rook takes one more step forward. “Because it involves her.”
“She’s coming with us,” the man says.
Rook tilts his head slightly. “No.”
And then, he moves.
It’s not fast like a normal person fast, but fast like my brain can’t keep up with what I’m seeing. One second, he’s standing there. The next, the man holding my wrist is within Rook’s grasp, and choking sounds are coming from his lungs.
I stumble back, wrist suddenly free, but shock making my knees weak. It takes all my strength to stay on my feet.
The man with the light eyes lunges and Kane intercepts him like a truck hitting a deer, and the impact is loud and violent in ways that make their hockey brawls look like child’s play.
Calloway’s already on the other man, shoving him back against the Escalade with a sound that makes me flinch.
Someone swears. Someone grunts. Something cracks.
