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“What the hell, Ford?” I shrieked.

Though, his ass was not a bad view…

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and slammed a fist against his back. “What are you doing?” I cried out again.

He marched down the sidewalk, tightening his hold around me. “Your mom went inside so we’re gonna fucking talk in private,” he replied.

With large, bounding footsteps that seemed way too quiet for his size, he weaved through the clueless, sparse crowd and shot down the alleyway I could’ve sworn I’d just walked up a few minutes ago.

His massive palm smacked against my butt.

“Stop, Ford. What are you doing?” I asked with a crack in my voice. I wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be a giggle or some sort of involuntary jolt of shock expressed through some fucking noise in my throat, but some strange sound came out as he proceeded to pat my other ass cheek.

Then fingers dug into the pocket where I’d stuffed my car keys, and he pulled them out. Still not a word left his lips as I heard a click, and then lights flashed on my vehicle.

Now, his chest rumbled with a chuckle. “A Honda CR-V?”

“Don’t judge, asshole. It’s a very practical vehicle, okay?” I pursed my lips and attempted to cross my arms, even though I knew he couldn’t see it.

“Fair. Just not what I pictured for you as a grown adult is all.”

“And what vehicle did you picture for me?”

He shrugged, which shifted me tighter against his neck. “Not really sure, just something more… forceful. No.” He shook his head and finally stopped walking. I peered around his back and found he’d paused in front of my gray car. “More assertive. Wait.” He paused speaking again and reached forward with a hand.

“More hostile. Yeah, that’s the right word,” he said, and a click sounded. The world blurred around me once more as I was flung from his shoulder. My back slammed against a seat, and the gray interior roof of my car came into focus just in time to watch him climb in after me and shove me the rest of the way across the back, forcing me up against the far door.

Chapter 12

COLETTE

“Hostile? What the hell do you mean with that?” I snapped, choking back a slight giggle as Ford somehow folded himself into the cramped space. Damn, his size alone was intimidating enough to deter violence.

My stomach fluttered at the thought that I wouldn’t be solely responsible for Azelie’s well-being anymore.

Hold on, absolutelynot.

With his head tipped to the side and his knees facing the front seat so he was able to fit, he slunk down onto the seat and looked to the side, directly at me. “Hostile,” he simply said with a raised brow.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms and legs, tucking them up against my body.

A smirk cracked his hardened exterior, which had barely shown any emotion until now. “Like how you slapped the fuck out of me for no damn reason,”he finally added.

I sighed and relaxed my body back against the window. “That was just for show ’cause my mom was watching, and she’s the one that sent me over. She blames you for my attack, and since I kind of avoided coming into town all day yesterday, that was really the first time my parents have had a chance to turn that blame onto you. I am kinda dreading all of the questions that they’re going to ask once I return because the couple minutes we spoke last night hadn’t left a lot of time to relay…everything.” I glanced away from his intense, inquisitive stare. How the hell was I supposed to explain how I’d been saved without sounding like I was insane to them? Including explaining it to Ford.

I snapped my eyes back to his gaze. Time to change the subject. “Anyway, why were you with a cop?”

He raised his brows and looked away from me, staring at the back of the headrest in front of him. “My pops said that he thought he’d forgotten to turn the light off in the kitchen at the restaurant last night. So, I went back late. A whole bunch of O’Connor’s cronies were there. They’d broken in and had begun trashing the place. They clearly weren’t taking a break from us like he’d told you. That was just a decoy.”

“So, you reported it to the police, who are in bed with O’Connor? Like, you do know that they take bribes and hush money from him, so what good does that do?” I asked, as his jaw tightened and knotted. My heart jumped to my throat as something warm and hot wormed low in my belly. My gaze lingered on his jawline with a hint of stubble neatly trimmed across skin that seemed hardened by whatever he’d experienced in the past fifteen years.

“It’s on record. Even though they’ll push it to the bottom of the stack and ignore it, whenever shit comes to a head, at least there’s some record of it. Besides,” he turned his head back my way, and his different-colored eyes met mine. “Gotta play like I don’t know as much as I do.”

“Oh, you dumb ass,” I muttered with a grin. And then his words really sunk in. “Wait, you said a whole bunch? How many men was a whole bunch?”

“How many men attacked you?” he countered, and I glanced at his hands that sat almost too still in his lap. I wasn’t sure if I was upset that he didn’t seem even more worried about me, or if I was upset that I cared about how concerned he was for my well-being.

“Ten plus O’Connor. Though he threatened Azelie more than me, other than taking my knives. And having one of his men shoot another one of his guys,” I grumbled.