CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IT LOOKED LIKE wealth had thrown up costly shit everywhere.
“Nice place.” Rowdy tried to cover his awe, but what the hell? The entry alone was big enough to be a hotel.
“The sunroom is this way,” Avery said. Gripping Rowdy’s hand, she charged through the house at a fast-paced trot, showing no regard for the museum-like pieces inside.
Fleeing Fisher or anxious to see her mom?
Being around Avery in this setting left his perception blown, making it difficult to sort out overriding emotions, but he voted for the first.
Since her mother had remarried, he knew Avery hadn’t grown up here. But was this home much different from what she was used to? She sure seemed to take it in stride, going right past a sweeping staircase, columns and chandeliers, marble and cut glass and...all kinds of fancy crap.
Finally they entered an octagonal room at the back of the house. Walls of sparkling windows rose up to meet the twelve-foot vaulted ceiling. The view of a park-like backyard filled with massive trees drew his gaze to a fancy pool that looked like part of nature.
Rowdy was so enthralled with what he saw that he almost missed the petite woman who quickly rose from her seat.
His gaze locked on Avery’s mother.
Something a little sick and a lot needy twisted inside him when the woman rushed over and grabbed Avery up tight. She was petite like Avery, feminine in a clingy sweater dress and low-heeled shoes. Her features were like Avery’s, but instead of the rich red hair of her daughter, the mother had very fair hair half-hidden by a silk scarf. She was probably kicking sixty, but still looked soft and elegant and trim.
Easy to see where Avery got her good looks and that killer little body.
Rowdy felt like a lummox just standing there, an interloper without the right to smile as Meyer and Fisher both did.
Stepping back, he tried to remove himself a little from the personal scene.
Tears hung from the mother’s lashes, but she cupped Avery’s face and laughed. “I have missed you so much.”
Avery pressed in close for another hug. Arms entwined, heads together, both rocking gently side to side.
It was something to see. Really nice.
How a mother and her child should be, not that he had any firsthand knowledge on that.
Rowdy shoved his hands into his back pockets and willed himself to look away.
He couldn’t do it.
The women didn’t just embrace, they squeezed. Tight. So much sentiment filled the air he almost choked on it. He couldn’t swallow, could barely breathe.
Then suddenly Avery was free and back at his side, leaning on his shoulder in that familiar way, hugging one of his arms. Smiling, her own eyes red, she sniffled and said, “Rowdy, this is my mother, Sonya. Mom, this is Rowdy, my boss.”
Sonya’s smile faded. “I’m not sure that’s the proper hold for a mere boss, dear.”
Rowdy felt like a damned spectacle. He looked past Sonya to where Meyer and Fisher stood aligned, ripe with animosity, bunched up with caution.
Then Sonya extended her tiny, delicate hand. “Rowdy, thank you for bringing my daughter home.”
And it was a home, Rowdy realized. A home of love and protectiveness and all the wonderful things that home should mean. All the things Avery deserved.
Why had she left?
And what the hell was he doing here?
Sonya’s hand was so small. He held it gently. “She brought herself, ma’am. I’m only along for the ride.”
“Will you join us for lunch?” She indicated a table set with more dishes than he’d ever seen.
“Thank you.” He saw fruit, tiny sandwiches, pickles and some type of fancy chips on the table.
Fisher pulled out a chair. “Ave, here’s your seat.”
She gave him a dirty look and stayed glued to Rowdy’s side. With an arm around her, he ushered her forward and pulled out a chair, but Sonya said, “Thank you, Rowdy,” and seated herself.
She patted the chair next to her. “Please. I’d love to talk with you more.” She twisted around. “And, Avery, I want you on my other side. We have so much catching up to do.”
Well, hell. He’d just been outmaneuvered by Sonya, Rowdy realized as he watched Fisher take the seat beside Avery, leaving him caught between Sonya and Meyer.
Talk about uncomfortable... He tugged at his ear but said nothing as he took his seat.
The minimal food—light lunch—was served, and then Sonya and Avery started a quiet, private conversation. From what Rowdy could hear, they were at odds about something. Not an outright argument, but definitely some displeasure.
A second later, Sonya said, “Please don’t wait for us,” and she and Avery left the table.
Rowdy watched them step away to a set of windows on the other side of the room, where they both gestured and whispered and occasionally embraced again.
“So, Rowdy.” Fisher cut a goddamned strawberry like he would a steak.
He defiantly bit one of the little sandwiches in half. “What?”
“Did Ave tell you why she’s been away?”
As if on cue, Meyer said, “Excuse me.” And he, too, left the table.
Alone with Fisher. Interesting. Rowdy had the distinct feeling he’d been set up in a big way.
“She didn’t go into details,” Rowdy told him.
“What did she tell you about me?”
“She didn’t.” Choke on that, you pompous ass. “In fact, she’s never mentioned you at all.” Which made Rowdy damned curious, given Fisher appeared to be a very accepted part of the family.
Fisher looked across the room at Avery, his gaze filled with tenderness. “We had a falling-out. When I wanted her to marry me and settle down, she said I was too controlling.”
Rowdy glanced at Avery. Her face stricken with worry, she held one of her mother’s hands and with the other she straightened the scarf. Her mother seemed to reassure her.
He remembered her talking about regrets, saying her folks had wanted her to marry. Obviously they approved of Fisher as the chosen one or he wouldn’t be here right now.
Rowdy said, “Win some, lose some, Fish.” See, he could do shortened names, too.
“I still love her,” Fisher said, all pretense at good manners long gone. “I want her back.”
Furious as it made him, Rowdy didn’t know if Fisher would have any luck with that or not. But he did know one thing. “It won’t be happening today, so I suggest you step back.”
Feigning amusement, Fisher gave a smarmy grin. “You think you have a chance, is that it?”
A chance to get his fill, yes. Beyond that? He was honest enough with himself to know the odds weren’t in his favor. That didn’t mean Avery would fall for an ass like Fisher. She was far too genuine, too sincere and real to fall for a guy in a gold chain.
“I know she came here with me, and she’s leaving with me. For now, that’s enough.” What a lie. It wasn’t even close to enough.
“I don’t know about that. As I told Avery, I’ve remained close with the family. I’ve consoled them in their grief over her behavior, her...abandonment. But she’s here now, and if her mother asks her to stay...” He left the words to hang in the air, the possibilities unspoken.
Shit. Rowdy hadn’t even thought of that. He glanced at Avery again and saw that both women were now smiling. They could be wrapping up that little chat real soon, so he might as well get it said. “I recognize the license plate, Fish. You’ve been hanging around, spying on her.”
For only a moment, Fisher looked surprised before he shrugged. “Watching over her, actually.”
Rowdy didn’t debate that possibility, because damn it, it made sense.
“Ave is not cut out for the seedy side of life. She’s rebellious right now, proving...something to her folks.” Fisher forked another strawberry with far too much precision. “When her father died, it devastated her. And then Sonya remarried, adding more changes to their lives, and Avery hasn’t been the same since.”
“How so?”
Fisher grinned. “Moving out. Working in a low-class bar.” He pointed the forked strawberry at Rowdy. “Bringing you home to flaunt her rebellion under their noses.”
Was that why Avery had wanted him along? He sure as hell couldn’t think of any other reason.
“I’m sorry,” Sonya said as she rejoined them at the table. Both Rowdy and Fisher stood, but it was Meyer who returned in time to hold her chair.
To Rowdy, Sonya said, “I’ve been away from Avery for some time and we had some catching up to do. I hope you’ll forgive the rudeness.”
Rowdy looked past her to Avery, who was far too solemn. “I understand.” It damn near killed him, but Rowdy said, “If you need the day off, Avery, we can work it out.”
“No.” She cut her tiny sandwich into two tinier pieces. “No, it’s fine. Mom and I already worked that out, and I promised to come back soon to visit again.”
“But if you change your mind...” Sonya offered tentatively.
“Sorry, Mom, but I can’t. I’ll visit often, but Rowdy needs me there during work hours. Since he’s taken over the bar, the crowd has quadrupled.”
Meyer asked, “What time does the bar open today?”
Rowdy had a mouthful, damn it. He swallowed down the food and used the snow-white linen napkin on his mouth. “We open at three-thirty. The kitchen closes at eleven, last call is at one and we close up the bar at two. That’s six days a week, but we’re closed on Sunday.”
Fisher sat back in his seat. “I understand the establishment used to be a hot spot to barter drugs and traffic women.”
“Yeah?” Rowdy wasn’t sure how much Avery wanted her mother and stepfather to know. “Where’d you hear that?”
“Relax, Rowdy,” Meyer said. “No one is trying to accuse you.”
Tag team, huh? He tipped his head and stared at Fisher long enough to let the worm know what he thought of him. “I’m plenty relaxed.”
Sonya touched his forearm. “You’re sitting like a nun in church.”
He couldn’t rest back in his seat, not with his stitches, and he knew just enough not to prop his elbows on the table.
“Rowdy is always relaxed and confident and comfortable.” Avery leaned forward to see around her mother. “He was injured in a fight so he can’t rest back,” she said with a glare at Fisher. “And no one would have any reason to accuse Rowdy of anything.”
Grinning, Fisher held up his hands. “Isn’t that what we just said?”
“Injured how?” Sonya wanted to know.
Looked like he wouldn’t be eating anything more. Rowdy pushed back his plate. “It’s nothing.”
“He got cut with a big knife.”
Shit. Rowdy wondered what Sonya would think if he stuffed one of the fancy cloth napkins in Avery’s mouth.
Hand to her throat, Sonya stared at him. “A knife fight?”
“It wasn’t that dramatic, and it wasn’t that much of a fight.”
“Did this happen at the bar?” Meyer demanded to know.
Rowdy shook his head. “It happened outside the bar—”
“Only because Rowdy took it outside,” Avery said. “And even after he got cut, he still kicked their butts.”
“Good Lord,” Sonya said.
“He was defending a little boy!”
“You let kids in the bar?” Fisher asked.
Bombarded by their accusing stares and Avery’s enthusiastic retelling of things, Rowdy felt his strain amplify. “No.” If Avery wanted to air it all, then by God, he’d do some airing. “As you said, the bar had previously been used for trading drugs, and yeah, there was a link to human trafficking that got shut down.”
Sonya looked ready to faint.
With relish, Avery said, “It was pretty bad there before Rowdy cleaned it up.”
Her mother jerked around. “You worked there when that was going on?”
She shrugged. “I was a waitress, yeah.”
Egging them on? Rowdy had no idea what Avery was up to, but he didn’t like it. “I bought the place, Avery stayed on and for the most part we kicked out the—” assholes “—criminal element.”
“But guys showed up wanting to finish a deal they’d made with the previous owner,” Avery explained. “One of the buffoons brought his son along.”
Sonya and Meyer shared a horrified glance. Fisher barely kept his satisfaction to himself.
“Thanks to Rowdy,” Avery said with glee, “the man is in jail now, and the little boy is staying with one of Rowdy’s friends, who just happens to be a detective.”
Sonya swallowed audibly. “You mentioned a knife fight?”
Rowdy opened his mouth—but Avery beat him to the punch.
“The guy Rowdy pulverized had a cohort. That guy pulled a knife. Even after he cut Rowdy, though, Rowdy still took him apart.”
Great. Way to be discreet, Avery. Rowdy scratched his chin, waiting for the inevitable questions.
Fisher got things started. “So do you do a lot of street fighting?”
“I avoid it when I can.” Not entirely true, since he sometimes took great relish in pounding on the right people. “Sometimes I can’t.”
“Because of where you live and work?”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
Avery gasped. “That’s not true. It’s because he defends people when necessary.” Here she glared at Fisher. “Often when no one else will step up to do it.”
Sonya shifted uncomfortably; Fisher narrowed his eyes. Meyer made a sound of disgust.
“And when those occasions arise, you’re...equipped to handle it?” Meyer wanted to know.
“I can hold my own.”
“He’s incredible,” Avery countered. “Very fast and strong. I was amazed at how good he is.”
Meyer threw down his napkin. “You were there?”
“Watching through a window, yes, since Rowdy insisted that I stay inside.”
“Thank God for small favors,” Fisher muttered.
“Oh, Avery,” her mother whispered. “I don’t want you to go back there.”
Great, Rowdy thought. If Avery kept it up, they’d tie her down before letting her leave with him.
“It was a little scary,” Avery admitted, “especially when the guy sliced up Rowdy’s back.”
Sliced up? It was one damn cut. Rowdy picked up his tea. “I don’t think you need to embellish things, honey.”
“I’m not! You know you handled them both with ease. Those thugs didn’t stand a chance.”
“Well.” Fisher taunted Avery with a narrow stare. “Apparently he wasn’t fast enough to avoid that knife, now was he?”
Going pale, Avery started to argue, but wasn’t given a chance.
“And what if he’d been killed?” Meyer demanded. “What would have stopped those goons from coming in after you?”
Sonya gasped at the possibility.
Avery waved off their concern. “Meyer, really, give me some credit. I had the door locked. Besides, I’d already called the cops. They got there just as Rowdy wrapped things up.”
Rowdy could feel Fisher, Meyer and Sonya staring at him with the same type of horror reserved for a train wreck. Hell, he could even hear their thoughts.
They were wondering what someone like him was doing with someone like Avery. They were blaming him for Avery’s new bloodthirsty tendencies.
They wanted him away from her, pronto. And to be honest, he couldn’t blame them one bit. Put Pepper in a similar scenario and he’d feel the same.
No way did Avery miss it. She was too astute for that.
So she...what? Wanted them to know what he was capable of? But why?
To rub it in, as Fisher had said? To show them just how far she’d gone in her rebellion? He hated that thought, but nothing else fit.
As if she hadn’t already done enough, Avery added, “I’ve seen Rowdy fight a couple of times now. He can be lethal.”
Fine, if that’s what she wanted, then he’d share it all. Rowdy forgot about his back as he relaxed in the chair. “Learning to defend myself came with the upbringing.”
“What does that mean?” Meyer wanted to know.
“My sister and I were raised in a rusted trailer on the riverbank. At five, I was fighting off hungry rats, and I guess I never stopped.” Avoiding Avery’s gaze, he lifted his tea in a toast. “If you don’t learn to fight, you get your ass beat on a regular basis. So yeah, I can handle one idiot with a knife.”
Everything, everyone, fell silent.
Screw them all, Rowdy decided. He reached across the table to snag up another of the puny sandwiches, tossed it in his mouth and pushed back his chair. “Time for us to hit the road.” Standing there, feeling all their eyes on him, he tipped up his tea glass and finished it off, too.
And without waiting for Avery, he started out of the room. He heard Fisher snicker and thought about going back to beat the shit out of him, but he had never taken his bad temper out on anyone who didn’t deserve it.
Fisher might be annoying, but that didn’t earn him a coat of bruises.
Right now, Rowdy was the only one who deserved to have his ass kicked. He’d been a blind idiot, a complete fool.
As Meyer and Sonya tried to convince Avery to stay, he heard the rise of voices. Let her, Rowdy thought.
But he knew deep down he wasn’t going anywhere without her.
Furious, mostly at himself, Rowdy stopped outside the sunroom and, hands on his hips, waited.
A second later Avery came hustling out with Fisher at her side. She shook off the other man, spotted Rowdy and slowed with...relief.
Bull. He wouldn’t let her draw him in again.
“Sorry,” she told him brightly, as if their visit hadn’t gone completely off the rails. “I had to say my goodbyes.”
Sonya and Meyer were right behind her, still spewing arguments for her to stay. When they saw Rowdy, they clammed up.
Good breeding could be a hindrance, huh? Rowdy almost laughed.
“If you want to take a minute to make plans for another visit,” Rowdy offered, “I can wait outside.”
“No, that’s—”
Fisher interrupted her. “Meyer and I can wait with him, Ave. Take your time.”
“No!” She started forward. “I—”
“Yeah, Ave,” Rowdy mimicked, stopping her in midstep. “Take your time. Can’t claim to be a gentleman, but I’m not crude enough to leave you behind.” His own bad disposition took him out the door and as far as the driveway. Having Fisher at his back didn’t feel any more reassuring now than it had earlier, but this time Rowdy hoped the creep would do something, anything, deserving a beat down.
Instead, his hands in his pockets, his tone nonthreatening, Fisher said, “Sorry, man. I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to come here.”
“Yeah?” Arms crossed over his chest, Rowdy leaned back on the fender of the bastard’s car. “Why’s that?”
Meyer shook his head. “Now you see that Avery is...well, she’s confused about some things. But she needs to return home. Her mother needs her here.”
“Got nothing to do with me.”
Fisher shared a look with Meyer. “You could fire her.”
The hell he would. Rowdy showed his teeth in mock humor. “I’ll let her know you suggested it, Fish.”
Fisher sighed. “If you want to make this more difficult, I can’t stop you. But for her sake, I hope you reconsider.”
For her sake. Yeah, for Avery, Rowdy would do just about anything.
Sucked that he was only just now realizing it.
She stuck her head out the door, saw him and again her blue eyes went soft with relief. She and her mother came out.
Sonya looked distressed, but Avery said, “I’ll be back soon, Mom. I promise. If you need me, I’m only a phone call away.”
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
Avery smiled. “You could never be that.”
Sonya shivered in the cold breeze, so Meyer went to her, his arm around her shoulders.
“Go on in,” Avery told them, holding her own jacket close around her. “It’s too cold out here.”
Rowdy wanted to snuggle her closer, too, to share his warmth, but he didn’t. He ignored Fisher and said to Avery’s parents, “Thank you for the lunch.”
Meyer replied, “Drive carefully.”
Indecision held Sonya for a second before she stepped forward. “Thank you, Rowdy. I hope we see you again.”
Not likely. He got one side of his mouth to smile, nodded and turned to go. Avery hustled to keep up with him.
Full of confidence, Fisher called out, “We’ll see you again soon, Ave.”
Mouth pinched tight, she ignored him and stared straight ahead. For Rowdy it was a little harder. He wanted to level the smug bastard.
At the end of the driveway, Avery stepped closer, her shoulder bumping his arm. Rowdy moved away from her on the pretense of circling the car.
She stopped and stared at him a moment before going on to open her own door.
If she thought he was a gentleman, then it was past time for Avery Mullins to accept the truth. She’d laid it out for her folks, and he’d be happy to drive it home for her.
He was a street rat, through and through. Immoral when it suited him, driven by his own rules and to hell with what society thought. He and his little bartender had nothing but sexual chemistry in common.
Much as he might wish it otherwise, Rowdy knew that could never be enough.
* * *
AVERY TOOK THE silence for as long as she could, but she grew more stressed with each minute that passed. Finally she felt as if she’d jump out of her own skin if she didn’t say something.
“My mom says she’s in overall good spirits. They got all the cancer and her prognosis is good. She’s recovering quickly.”
Nothing.
“Cancer is always serious, of course. But Mom assured me that she’ll be fine, that much of the treatment is just precautionary. She said Meyer exaggerated things.”
“He wanted you home, where you belong.”
But she didn’t belong there. Not anymore. She needed Rowdy to understand that. “Mom apologized for Fisher being there. I guess Meyer invited him, and he showed up last minute.”
It crushed her that even now her mother didn’t see what a creep Fisher was. She claimed he had been so helpful to them, that Fisher was every bit as heartbroken by her long absence.
If her mother hadn’t been ailing, Avery would have walked out again.
“She wanted me to take some of my old clothes with me. She disapproves of my jeans, but I’ve really enjoyed being so comfortable.”
Rowdy’s face tightened, but he didn’t reply.
“I think she’s accepting that I made my own way. Especially now that we’ve sort of reconciled. I told her I’d come back more to visit.” When Fisher wasn’t around—that was one stipulation she’d given, and her mother had agreed. “She’ll call to talk, to keep me updated on what’s happening.”
No reaction at all.
“She said she’d really like to get to know you better, too.”
Other than Rowdy’s eyes narrowing more, he didn’t acknowledge her in any way.
Avery knew he’d disapproved of her bragging. He couldn’t possibly understand why she’d done it, and Avery couldn’t tell him.
Better than most, she knew how deceptive Fisher could be. Despite appearances, he wasn’t a principled man, and he didn’t fight fair. As long as Fisher believed that Rowdy was a complete and total badass—which wasn’t a stretch—then he just might leave Rowdy alone.
But if Rowdy knew the truth, no way would he let Fisher off that easy. He thought himself invincible, and in some circumstances, it might be true. In a fair fight, one-on-one, face-to-face, Rowdy would destroy Fisher.
Unfortunately, Fisher wasn’t a dummy, but he was the worst kind of coward. If he ever attacked Rowdy, it wouldn’t be in any honorable way where Rowdy would have a chance to defend himself.
If only she’d known Fisher was going to be there... Damn Meyer for his meddling.
As Rowdy continued to ignore her, her heart grew heavy in her chest. “Rowdy?”
“What is it, Ave?”
She winced at the bite in his tone. “Please don’t call me that. It’s some ridiculous thing that Fisher picked up. I don’t like it.”
He turned down a road toward the bar.
They only had a few more minutes. “I’m sorry if that was uncomfortable for you.”
He laughed without humor. “Funny, but Fisher said the same thing to me.”
“Fisher is an ass.” What else had he said to Rowdy? Her heart punched hard at the possibilities.
“Hate to point out the obvious, honey, but he shared your sentiments.”
“No. Fisher and I share nothing.” She reached out to touch him, but without moving, Rowdy somehow made it clear that he didn’t want her to. Crestfallen, she withdrew her hand. “I meant that with Fisher being so hostile... I didn’t know he’d be there.”
“He wasn’t hostile at all,” Rowdy denied. “He cares for you.”
She wanted to scream, No, he doesn’t. Instead she tried a deep breath. “We were never together. Fisher likes to remember it otherwise.” Fisher likes to lie. “But I never cared for him that way.” Not how I care for you. “I guess you could tell that Meyer and my mom wish things were different. They like him and approve of him—”
Rowdy gave another grim laugh.
“Stop that!”
He didn’t even glance her way. “Stop what?”
He’d frozen her out and it hurt. So damn much. “Stop being so condescending, so...cold.”
Rowdy pulled onto the street for his apartment. “You used me, Ave.”
God, how she hated that butchering of her name. But she couldn’t deny what he said. She had used him.
To show Fisher that she wasn’t without resources of her own.
She wasn’t alone, vulnerable.
To show him that Rowdy was not a slouch, and wouldn’t be an easy target. He wasn’t a person who would turn tail and flee the danger.
And that’s what scared her so badly. Fisher didn’t lose. If he couldn’t run Rowdy off the easy way, he just might get rid of him for good.
Rowdy pulled into the bar, then around to where her car was parked.
She stared at him, confused. “What are you doing? We don’t open for two more hours.”
“I figured you’d want to run home to shower or change or whatever.”
“But—” She wanted to talk to him, to reach him. To repair whatever damage had been done...
“I need to go see Marcus.” He reached past her and pushed the passenger door open, a blatant order to get out. “Have to hurry it up if I’m going to get back in time.”
Wow, talk about rejection. Hurt had a death grip on her heart right now. “Rowdy, if you’d let me explain...”
His gaze met hers, and the volcanic emotion there stunned her. “Go ahead, babe. Lie to me. Tell me you didn’t use me.”
Words wouldn’t come. She shook her head, feeling so damned helpless. “I don’t lie.” More than anything, she needed Rowdy to believe that—because no one else had, not even her mother.
Rowdy smirked. “Shoving me under their noses really taught Mommy and Stepdaddy something, didn’t it? Too bad you didn’t clue me in beforehand. I could have unearthed some of my best stories. Like the time I stuffed a human trafficker in my trunk, took him to an abandoned warehouse and taught him the error of his ways with my fists.”
Her lungs compressed, leaving her breathless.
“Or the time I dared a mob boss to shoot me so that Logan could sneak up behind him and get the upper hand.”
She covered her mouth, unable to bear the thought of it. “Stop it,” she whispered.
“Why? You wanted your folks to hear the nitty-gritty. I have some real shit stories we could have passed around the table over fancy finger food. Course, that might not have given you enough time to talk to your mother about her cancer.” He put an arm along the back of the seat and toyed with her hair. “Did you manage to squeeze in any concern, honey? Or were you too busy sticking it to them?”
Chased by heartache, hurt and anger, Avery launched out of the car. It crushed her to know he had such a low opinion of her, making her hands shake as she fumbled in her purse for the keys to her own car, then fumbled some more trying to get the damn door unlocked using the clicker. Tears burned her eyes and blurred her vision.
Once inside, she fired up the engine, then, unable to stop herself, she glanced back at Rowdy. He sat in his car, the engine idling, his cell phone to his ear.
And she knew. He was calling someone to keep an eye on her, to ensure she got home safely.
She deflated with that realization. He was hurting, too; that’s why he’d been so cruel.
But that didn’t make it any easier. Somehow she’d have to make him understand her motives without telling him too much. Regardless of the malicious way he’d just used to get her out of his car, she didn’t have a single doubt what Rowdy would do if he knew the truth about Fisher. Right now he was a disgruntled, wounded bear, but deep down, he was still a protector. He’d been born to it, and for every day of his entire life he’d been fulfilling that duty.
She could have been a stranger on the street, and still she knew he would react on her behalf. It was in his nature, the biggest part of his psyche. God love the man, he was a hero, no matter how nasty he acted right now.
Avery kept staring at him until he’d finished the call and tucked the phone away. He put his car in gear and, with sudden determination, she smiled at him.
That threw him. He paused, his gaze narrowing on her.
She wiped her eyes, lifted her chin and pushed back her hair. Then just to let him know he hadn’t chased her off for good, she saluted him.
His expression turned to stone. Avery didn’t wait to see what he’d do. She drove out of the lot, her thoughts rioting. She’d go to her apartment all right. But she wouldn’t give up on Rowdy.
She wouldn’t let him forget that he’d promised her tonight, and all day tomorrow. Whatever it took, damn him, he would make good on that promise.
Before he left her for good, he’d give her that memory, one that would last her for the rest of her life.