Greer studied the occupants at the bar. Under King’s watchful gaze, he saw Diamond sitting at the bar in the back. Not giving a fuck that King wasn’t happy to see him, he walked toward her.

“Where’s Holly? I don’t have all night.”

The woman stared up at him grimly. “What are you doing here?”

“Dustin called me and said Holly needed a ride home. I just got to Diane’s, but Dustin said that Logan isn’t feeling well and he doesn’t want to take him out.”

“Oh. She’ll be right back. I left my business card at the office, and she offered to go get it.”

“Why didn’t you pay it with another card?”

“Since you’re a former client, you know what I get paid. I have to save money where I can.”

Greer gave her a steely look. “I paid you.”

“Most of my clients aren’t so conscientious.”

“Diane’s waiting. She’s cooking dinner. Lindy, bring me their bill,” Greer shouted over the muted conversations taking place in the bar.

When the waitress he had recognized as going out with Dustin a couple times approached with the check and a hostile expression, Greer returned it with one of his own.

Taking the check from her, he took out his cash, counting out the bills to pay. “I want my change back. Next time, lose the attitude.”

Lindy’s expression went from hostile to furious. “I knew when I saw big boobs I wasn’t getting a tip. The only tip the Porters give is which weed gives the biggest high.”

Greer’s jaw tightened at the insult. “I can see why you’re jealous of her. Those little tits are the size of miniature marshmallows. You should use your tip money to buy a boob job. Hell, maybe then Dustin will put you up in that apartment he promised you.”

Lindy’s mouth opened and closed like a guppy without water.

“You ready?” he asked Diamond. “King’s waiting to throw me out. I’d rather not give him the opportunity. If this bitch smarts off again, I’ll deck her.”

He wouldn’t, but the slut didn’t know that. Being a Porter did have its perks. One of them being that no one really knew how they would react. Greer had no compunction about inspiring fear in others.

“One day, the Porters are going to bite off more than they can chew.”

“When I want your advice, I’ll pay for it,” he advised Diamond, ignoring the waitress Dustin had screwed over.

He motioned for Diamond to go first. He wasn’t about to turn his back to the slut until Lindy walked away. With a hate-filled glare, she walked back behind the bar. That was when Greer went to stand at the front door where Diamond was waiting.

“My truck is parked outside the door. We can wait there for Holly.” Greer pushed the door open, holding it for Diamond.

She stopped midway through the door when a police car whizzed past with its siren blaring and lights flashing. “That was Knox,” Diamond exclaimed.

“Looks like he’s in a hurry.” Greer turned to see which direction the squad car was going. They were on the main street in Treepoint, leading toward most of the business and branching off to residential neighborhoods.

They watched as Knox’s car made a right. Greer frowned. He could see Diamond was becoming worried. Then she gave a horrified gasp when two police cars drove past them with their sirens piercing the night air.

“Holly!” Diamond took off at a run when they saw the blue lights from the street where her office was located.

Greer ran past her. He didn’t want to leave Diamond behind, but she couldn’t keep up with her high heels.

“Go on ahead!” Diamond screamed at him, pausing to take off her shoes.

Greer took her at her word, running toward Diamond’s office. Nothing scared him, but the sight of those blue lights had his legs running with a speed he hadn’t used since he ran track.

Diamond managed to keep up with him once her shoes were off. Both of them came to a stop when they saw Holly standing outside Diamond’s office building with a large jacket over her shoulders and Knox’s arm wrapped around her.

Greer saw the busted window in the door and took in Holly’s fear-filled expression as she answered Knox’s questions.

“Did you see who it was chasing you?”

“No.” Holly shuddered, leaning into Knox as if she was afraid who was chasing her would come back. “I didn’t see him. It was too dark. When he started running toward me, I just took off.”

“Are you okay?” Diamond asked as she moved to stand next to her friend.

“I’m fine. It just scared me more than anything. I thought he would leave when I got inside the building, but he broke through. He destroyed your office door, too. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

“He left when I told him I called the police.”

The sight of Holly being comforted by the heavily-built man wasn’t something he could stand. Porters took care of their own.

“What are you doing here?” Holly’s eyes narrowed on him. “Did you do this to pay me back for this afternoon?” There was no mistaking the accusation in her emerald-green eyes as she burrowed into Knox as if she was afraid of him.

“You think I did it?” Greer was sickened that she would think he had done something so low. He might have made no bones about how much he disliked her, but that she thought he would actually physically hurt her revolted him.

“He came into the bar right after you left. He’s been with me the whole time.”

He didn’t need Diamond to defend him, but it was better than seeing that fear on Holly’s face when she stared at him.

Diamond held out her arms for Holly when one of his deputies called out to Knox from inside. And Holly turned toward Diamond, growing more composed now that her friend was here.

Greer shoved his hands in his back pockets to keep from tugging her to him.

“Do you want me to get you some water?” Diamond offered.

“No, thanks. I’m fine now that I’m not alone. I’ve never been so afraid in my whole life as I was when I turned around and saw him running at me.”

“You’re safe now,” she reassured her.

“I’m going to go get my truck. I’ll be right back,” Greer said, seeing there were two deputies watching over the women.

“Where’s Dustin? I thought he was the one who was coming?”

“Since I was in town, Dustin asked if I could.” He didn’t want to worry her more about Logan when she was still trying to deal with the aftereffects of someone trying to attack her.

“You were with Diane?”

“Yes.”

“He shouldn’t have bothered you. You can go back on your date. I’m fine. I’m sober enough to drive myself home now.”

“I not going anywhere, other than to get my truck.” He turned on his heel, leaving the women and not letting Holly’s suggestion make him feel like a jerk. She knew he hadn’t wanted to pick her up. He never did anything voluntarily for her unless he had no choice.

He retrieved his truck and drove it to the parking lot where Holly and Diamond stood. He then turned on the heat before getting out.

“Get in the truck. I warmed it up for you. You can roll the window down when you need to talk to Knox.” He held the door open, giving her no choice but to climb inside the large pickup.

“I’m going inside to talk to Knox,” Diamond said when Greer asked her if she wanted to sit with Holly.

Greer shut the truck door, going to the other door to climb inside.

“I told you I didn’t need you to stay with me.”

He turned toward her. “You’ve lived in my home for about six years now; have I ever laid a fucking hand on you?”

“No.” Holly started crying again.

“Dammit.” He reached over, lifting her over the console until she lay across lap. “Stop crying. There’s no reason to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I might have wanted to kill you a time or two, but I’m not afraid of you.”

Greer’s lips quirked at her threat. Holly couldn’t hurt a fly. Any other woman would have killed him within two weeks of living with him.

“Did you see anyone leave King’s when you did?”

“No, but I wasn’t paying attention, either.”

Treepoint was so small, everyone knew each other. He couldn’t think of anyone who would have attempted to hurt Holly. He and his brothers had their share of enemies, but he had grown up with all of them, and those people knew there would be repercussions for anyone trying to hurt a hair on her head.

Greer rolled the window down when he saw Knox and Diamond come out of the building.

“Find anything?” Greer asked Knox as he stepped to the door of the truck.

“Nothing but a bunch of glass and broken doors. Diamond called a locksmith. He’s on his way to fix the doors until tomorrow when we can buy a couple new ones. I watched the security footage from the hallway and Diamond’s office. Whoever it was, was wearing a hoodie, so we couldn’t make out his face. He’s about six-feet-two and around two hundred and fifty pounds. Other than that, there’s no way of knowing who it was until we luck out and get a fingerprint.”

Greer and Knox’s eyes met. Whoever had done the damage had done their damnedest to catch Holly. She was going to have to be watched closely to make sure they didn’t succeed next time.

Greer silently nodded his head over Holly’s, not wanting her frightened any more tonight.

“If you think of anything you haven’t already told me, call me immediately,” Knox told her. “If I find out anything, I’ll call.”

“All right. If that’s all that can be done, I’ll get her home now.”

He helped her back over the console after Holly told them good night. Then he turned the heat on higher as they left the lighted town behind.

“From now on, don’t go anywhere unless me, Tate, or Dustin are with you.”

“I’m sure it was just someone who wanted to scare anyone walking through the playground. Everyone takes that as a shortcut.”

“You’re probably right, but there’s no need to take chances. Do you think it could have been your ex? He’s on parole.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t Mitch. The man who chased me was taller and heavier.”

“Just thought I’d mention him as a possibility.”

“He’s not,” she said firmly. “And let’s not say anything to Dustin until morning. You can go back to Diane’s, and I’ll talk to Dustin in the morning.”

“Hell, no. I’ll wait until Logan’s in bed, but I’m telling him tonight. I can see Diane tomorrow. I had already decided to stay in after taking you home. Logan wasn’t feeling well tonight.” Greer let her know he wasn’t staying home because of her, but because he was concerned about Logan.

“What’s wrong with Logan? Why didn’t Dustin call me? I could have come home after work.”

“He wanted you to have a good time. I told him to call you when I picked him up from school. The kid didn’t even want to go to the ice cream store.”

“You should have called me. I could have called the doctor’s office.”

“He just had an upset stomach. If he’s not better by tomorrow, you can take him to the doctor’s. You don’t have to run him to the doctor over every bellyache. You would make a sissy out of that boy if I let you.”

“You couldn’t be nice for ten minutes, could you?”

Her stark whisper had him feeling guilty.

“I’m sorry.” He hadn’t even meant to tell her that Logan wasn’t feeling well tonight. For some reason, Holly always brought out the worst in him.

“I’m so tired of always arguing with you, Greer. I know you can’t stand me, but I keep hoping that you’ll realize how much Logan means to me and give me a break, but you’re not going to. It’s just getting worse.”

Greer made the turn onto his property as he heard the defeat in her voice.

“Let’s not talk about this tonight.”

“Why? You have no problem hitting a dog when it’s down.”

It took everything in him not to snap at her, waiting until he parked in front of his house before turning toward her furiously. “Accusing a man of hitting his dog is fighting words in this town. Your first thought when you saw me tonight was to accuse me of trying to attack you, and now you’re accusing me of beating my dog? You’ve never seen me lay a hand on my dog,” he snarled.

Holly grabbed the door handle, opening the door, and Greer winced when he saw her miserable expression.

“Welcome to my world, Greer. How does it feel when someone misjudges you? You’re upset and angry because I said something you know isn’t true. Ever since the moment I met you, I’ve dealt with one accusation after another thrown in my face. You think you’re ready to be a husband and a father? Nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. You may have never hit a woman or a dog, but I’ve never seen you care about one, either.

“You can stop your worrying about Logan growing into a sissy. He’ll grow up to be a loving and affectionate man. Dustin and Tate are teaching him that, which is more than I can say about you! When you’re old and lonely, and Logan doesn’t want to come visit you at a nursing home, you won’t have me to blame, then.” Holly jumped out of the truck, making sure she was out of his reach before giving her final jibe. “And you can wrap that in one of your rolling papers and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine!”