“What?” Jeremy shot back. “You’d shoot me like you did my brother? Kill me here in the middle of the street?”
“I didn’t kill your brother,” Gabe told him on a sigh, now feeling sorry for the kid more than angry. “And I’m not putting the moves on your sister. She’s worried about you and your younger brother. Your father has brainwashed you, Jeremy—”
Gabe saw Jeremy’s fist coming in plenty of time to block it. He grabbed the kid’s arm and twisted it behind his back in one swift motion, frog-marching him across the sidewalk and pressing him against the wall of the pharmacy.
“I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen,” Gabe ground out, hoping cutting the kid some slack would help persuade Jeremy that Gabe could be trusted. “I’m not the enemy, Jeremy. But you take another swing at me, kid, and I’m throwing your ass in jail. You get me?”
Jeremy nodded, but when Gabe released him, he took a step back out of Jeremy’s reach, just in case. The kid was glaring daggers at him, his face white with a mixture of fear and fury. Without taking his gaze off of Gabe, Jeremy grabbed his sister’s arm and shoved her ahead of him toward a pickup truck double-parked a few yards away.
Sandra sent one more pleading look at Gabe over her shoulder before climbing in the truck. Her brother quickly scurried around to the other side and peeled away, nearly taking out the front-end of another car in the process.
Shit!
Gabe ran a hand over his hair in frustration and cursed a blue streak. He’d been this close to convincing Sandra Monroe to come with him before her brother had shown up. Now he wasn’t sure she’d ever give him the information they needed. And part of that information included an unknown threat to Elle. Fear squeezed his lungs like a vise, making it hard to breathe.
Forcing himself to get his shit together, Gabe got into the Charger and headed back to Elle’s office to pick her up, using the two-minute drive to shake off the apprehension worming its way under his skin.
When he pulled up to the curb, Elle’s smile was exactly what he needed. As soon as she slid into the seat, he leaned over and captured her lips in a long, slow kiss.
“Is that an apology for taking longer than five minutes?” she murmured with a grin. “If so, you can be late as often as you’d like.”
He kissed her again, briefly, then pulled away from the curb and reached over, clasping her fingers and giving them a squeeze. “Sorry. Took a bit longer than expected.”
“What happened?” she asked, reading him better than he liked at the moment.
He opened his mouth to tell her about Sandra Monroe, about what she’d been trying to tell him before her brother’s sudden arrival, but his gut twisted with dread. He’d taken it on faith that Sandra’s story was genuine, that she’d reached out to him in a genuine cry for help. But even if that was the case, he hated to think how her father would react if—hell, he might as well be honest—when he found out she’d spoken to someone he considered an enemy.
But Sandra’s warning echoed in his head, making him bite back the truth. Instead, he shrugged and forced a smile. “Nothing. Just trying to help somebody who was lost. But promise me you’ll be careful, okay? If you see one of the Monroes, just walk the other direction.”
She frowned at him. “Yeah, okay. What’s going on with you?”
“Seriously, Elle, promise me,” he demanded. “I’m worried as hell about what Monroe’s up to. If anything were to happen to you…”
She nodded and squeezed his hand. “Okay. I promise.”
Chapter 19
“Jezebel!”
Jeb Monroe’s fury stoked a fire in his veins that threatened to burst forth at any moment and blaze brighter than the pits of Hell. He charged toward his daughter where she cowered on the sofa, wrapped in her mother’s embrace, tempted to smash her pretty face with the hand he’d balled into a fist.
“Who is he?” he roared, throwing the box of condoms at her. He’d been waiting for her to return and had forced her to empty her pockets and show him what she’d purchased. Her cheek was still red and swollen where he’d struck her. “Who’s the boy you’re spreading your legs for, you filthy little whore!”
“No one!” she cried through her sobs. “I’ve not been with anyone yet!”
“Yet!” he shouted, seizing upon the word. He grabbed her hair and wrenched her head up, forcing her to look him in the eyes. Through clenched teeth he demanded, “You give me a name, girl. You tell me right now or I will take a strap to you until you bleed.”
“Leave her be, Jeb!” his wife screamed at him, digging her nails into his hand, trying to pry his grip loose. “She’s done nothing wrong.”
Tired of his wife’s interference and coddling, he swung his free arm, catching her in the temple, barely sparing her a glance when she fell to the side with a groan. He pulled Sandra to her feet, dragging her out of the room. She flailed and punched at him, screaming at him to let her go, which only increased his rage. Didn’t she realize what he’d done to protect her over the years? What lengths he’d gone to to keep her safe from the lascivious eyes of the corrupt and sinful who would defile her innocence?
Society had grown too lax. The government had ruined the youth of today with their interference. All he had ever done was try to keep his daughter safe from these modern-day Sodomites. And the ungrateful little bitch thanked him by running headlong into the arms of the very sinners he was trying to protect her from.
He opened her bedroom door and shoved her in, locking her inside. “You’re staying in there until you’re ready to give me a name. You hear me, girl?”
The only answer was incoherent screaming as she pounded her fists on the door.
His chest heaving, Jeb strode back into the living room to deal with his traitorous wife. She was lying on the sofa where he’d left her, not moving. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at having knocked her unconscious, but he shoved it aside. She’d brought it upon herself. If she’d just shut her mouth and let him handle things instead of coddling Sandra when her sins were laid bare, then the woman wouldn’t be in such a state now.
