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“You can’t stop me from speaking to her,” Owen says, standing up straight and squaring his shoulders. He has a couple of inches on Dalton but I don’t think it would help him.

Not with the way people talk about Hyde.

Dalton laughs, the sound full of anger. “You want to bet?”

“Lennon,” Owen pleads, trying to reach around Dalton to get to me. “I just need to talk to you.”

“How many languages do you need to hear her refusal in before it penetrates your pea fucking brain?” Dalton says, getting into Owen’s face and I place my hand on his back, steadying him. Owen clocks the move immediately, turning his glare to Dalton.

“This is none of your goddamn business.”

Dalton fists ball up at his sides. “Lennon is my business. Now and fucking always.”

“That right?” Owen looks to me. “You claiming her?”

“I don’t have to claim shit, fucker,” Dalton growls. My gaze bounces between the two men and my chest feels tight. “She is already mine.”

We’ve drawn a crowd, everyone watching the two men in front of me cautiously but not one person is willing to get involved and I suck in a stuttered breath. I don’t know how this ends but I feel like I have to do something.

“Baby,” I whisper to Dalton. He turns his head slightly to acknowledge me without taking his focus off of Owen. “Let’s just go.”

Owen uses that moment to try and reach around Dalton again to get to me and before I can even register what is happening, Dalton’s fist is connecting with Owen’s face with a sickening crunch. Owen falls to the ground like a lead fucking weight and my jaw drops.

“You’re done, fucker,” Dalton mutters, only loud enough for Owen and I to hear, his voice lethal. He grabs Owen by his shirt and pulls him up off the ground. Owen has trouble focusing on Dalton’s face but he doesn’t care. “The next time I see your face, I will end you. This will be the last fucking thing you ever see.”

He drops him and Owen is still too out of it to respond.

Dalton turns to me and brings my hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to the back of it. “Ready to go home, sweetheart?”

I nod, my heart pounding and my mind tripping over one word.

Home.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lennon

The wind whips through my hair, breaking up the dense Louisiana heat as I drive along the river in the Jeep with the top down. Colors dance across the surface of the water as the sun sinks toward the horizon and I sing along to the song playing on the radio, earning me looks from Jumper in the passenger seat.

“What is your deal?” I ask and he shakes his head, turning back to the road in front of us.

“Just figured you’d be stressed with the whole Owen thing.”

I roll my eyes.

Was Owen cornering me at the street fair yesterday a little unnerving?

Sure.

But I can’t get on board with Dalton or anyone else thinking that Owen is behind my drugging. Honestly, why would he fucking bother?

He wants me back because I made his life easier.

It’s as simple as that.

Or maybe he’s running out of money at this point.

That’s probably the most likely option.