Page 33 of Cruel Debts (Killers of Port Wylde #4)

The ride to the Guild was silent. Just like my ride with Asher to the damn club.

The walk up the damn stairs was humiliating, though, because not only was I still wearing my outfit, but I was flanked by three men who looked very much like they were ready to kill if anyone so much as said a single word.

The second the door closed on my little prison, though, I snapped.

"I don't know who the hell raised you beasts, but this is unacceptable!

" I whirled on them, one by one, venom in my words, claws out, fangs ready to bite.

"Asher took me to work. There is no reason I should be dragged from my job because you three can't handle a little bit of attention in my direction?—"

"I'm out of this one," Hawke said with a grin. "This isn't my battle. I wasn't even in the room."

Liar, I wanted to say, because I clearly saw him standing on the wall all night, watching while one of the club girls hung on his every word and move.

But I didn't. I let him go. If Hawke wanted to be a coward, I'd let him. He wasn't the one who threatened to kill two men for looking at me and making a sexual pass.

A reasonable pass, mind you, all things considered.

Liam, though, wasn't getting off so easily.

"You," I say with a strangled stream, like some she-beast who's finally coming out to hunt.

"You and your attitude really piss me off.

First, you locked me in a communal gym room and abandoned me, then you locked me up and told me I'm not going out without permission, and you lied to me like I'm incapable of handling the truth?—"

I was still so pissed at that, I had to stop and take a breath. And then I threw my finger right back into his chest and snarled. "You think that I should just do as you say and behave, until you finish whatever it is you're doing, so that you can send me home and forget I ever existed."

"Couldn't forget you existed if I tried," Liam mumbled, but I heard him loud and clear.

"You don't get to act like you give a damn now, Sentry.

" I didn't care about the way he flinched when I refused to use his real name.

I didn't. Not even a little bit. Because he didn't care about my feelings when he hid the truth from me.

"You're only doing this because my parents begged you to.

And for some not-so-secret-anymore reason, you felt guilty enough to do it. "

Guilty because he'd already failed one of their kids.

Guilty because he should have done more.

Guilty because instead of sticking around, instead of coming to the funeral they held for him, when they buried an empty coffin, Liam sent flowers and a sympathy card.

Even Hawke showed up, and he hated my parents.

He looked guilty now, too.

"What's the matter, Sentry? Are you so ashamed of what you did that you can't bring yourself to speak up now?" I shoved him in the chest, and he stepped back, regret in his eyes mingling with anger and something else. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm out of here," he said, grabbing his workout bag on the way through the living room. When the door closed on him, it was just me and Asher, and I had no idea what to make of his display of venom tonight.

"You're usually the smart, restrained one." I frowned as he stepped closer, his hands clenching and unclenching as he watched me, looking me over in a predatory manner. "What happened?"

"I couldn't watch them put their hands on you, Pretty Bird, that's what happened." He stepped forward, and now he had me backing up, though I don't like the fear and excitement that traveled together through my veins. "They could have been dangerous."

"They weren't." Step, step. "They were clients. I had it handled." My ass hit the counter, and there was nowhere left to go.

My breathing quickens. Time stops. Asher stops, and he's only a few feet away from me, but the way his stare pins me in place is almost enough to make me moan.

"Even if they were safe, I wasn't about to let them put their filthy hands all over you.

" His eyes seared my skin as he trailed them over me again, seeing me shiver.

It wasn't from the cold, but he took his coat off, anyhow, and stepped forward, draping it over my shoulders with a gentle hand.

"I'm supposed to protect you, but I can't anymore. "

"You . . . can't?" To say I was confused would have been an understatement. "What do you mean?"

"We warned you that we were monsters when you first came to us. And we told you that you needed protecting from us, just as much as you needed our protection."

I nodded like he was making sense. "You did."

"I told you I wouldn't touch you while you were in my care, because of your brother." He leaned in, and my heart slammed against the inside of my ribcage, threatening to break free of its confines and slap him in the face.

"You did," I growled, remembering how much it pissed me off that he'd fight what was clearly there.

He put two fingers on my chin and tipped it up to meet his penetrating, intense stare. "I lied."

And then, his lips were on mine, claiming me, possessing me, and I couldn't breathe.