Page 31 of Danger Close

“It was left on the windshield.” She knew that. She’d seen me take it.

I parked near the farmhouse, and cut the engine.

“Did you write this?” Her voice was panicked.

I undid my seatbelt, and twirled the key around my index finger.

“Did you write this?!” Her question was an accusation.

“Writewhat?” I asked. The pamphlet looked like a takeout menu for a pizza place. What the hell was so terrible about that? Even in her heroin chic days, she wasn’t the kind of woman who got mad at carbs.

“This!” She waved the paper in front of me.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snatched the paper from her hand.

What the hell was so scary about this thing? I was about to read it when her door opened. GregfuckingVedder took one look at her face and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt. In a single movement, he pulled her out of the car, pushing her behind him.

I tossed the pamphlet on the car floor, and got out of the driver’s seat.

“What the hell did I say about getting near her?” I roared, coming around to confront him. “Get your hands off of her, boy.”

He wasprotectingher from me? Was he fucking kidding?

I grabbed him by the collar and shook him. He put his hands on mine, his eyes fiery and angry as he wrestled to keep me from lifting him by the fucking scruff like a dog.

“Fuck off, Cobra!” he said through clenched teeth.

“Get away from her before I snap you like a twig!”

Chapter 14

Ex-Wives

Teri

“Joe!” I yelled, coming between them. “Don’t hurt him!”

I pried Cobra’s hands from the boy, putting my palm on his chest. “Please! Cobra, don’t!”

Panicked, I shoved Cobra away with all of my strength. He looked at me with a vicious, threatening heat in his eyes. That look—that glare!—made me recoil, my arms up, defending my head, my breast, my heart.

“Look at her, you fucking asshole!” Greg shouted, stepping in front of me, his arm on my elbow to steady me. “She’s terrified of you!”

Cobra stilled. I could feel his eyes on me, the heat of them against my skin. I didn’t need to see it to know. It was a look that declared to everyone that Ibelongedto him. He could do anything to me that he wanted without repercussions, and I believed it. I’d pay for my defiance later, when there was no one to protect me.

I hid behind Greg like a coward. For all my strength, all my training… I was still scared, and small. I was falling apart, grasping for anything or anyone to hold onto.

“Son,” Mack McClanahan’s voice called from the bottom of the porch steps. “I think this might not be our business. Let’s let the Guerros talk it out.”

Please… please… please…my voice screamed, even though my lips stayed shut.Please don’t leave me flailing in the dark, alone.

“No.” Greg shook his head. “Did you know that he kidnapped her? Took her out here without her say-so? That she doesn’t even have her phone? Or wallet?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me. I felt their gaze which was a mix of pity, surprise, and confusion.

I couldn’t look at any of them. I just stared at Greg’s back, my hands around my torso, pulling in the leather jacket, trying to draw some kind of comfort from its scent. His scent. Drawing comfort from the affection of the man who would hurt me.

I let the boy be my champion because I had no one else.