Page 49

PATRICK

I watched her all day, refusing to go to work when my mother insisted they’d just be cooking all day.

Something was off with Piper. I saw it in her eyes when I hovered outside the bathroom, waiting to pounce.

Tears had brimmed her eyes, but I wasn’t sure if it was me or something else. Had I hurt her?

All I wanted to do was kiss away those tears and make it better, but what fucking right did I have to do anything?

Was she upset that she was here with me instead of her fiancé?

I really doubted that based on the way she left his ass behind, but still, doubt crept in, telling me she didn’t really want to be here.

It was like any other day. She laughed with my mother as they cooked, but her eyes kept darting to me, sending me heated looks that shot straight to my cock, making it impossible not to drag her upstairs and take her again.

I’d been like a madman this morning, desperate to feel her pussy wrapped around me as her breath fanned over my skin, making every inch of me tingle with need.

I was a fucking pussy, and I knew it, but I was beyond caring.

All that mattered was having her, in any way I could get her.

I was even beginning to wonder if I was ready to give up my bachelor ways to keep her by my side.

Was I really ready to offer her more? And would she accept if I told her I wanted her to stay?

“Are you going to stare at us all day?” Mom asked, laughing as Piper whispered something to her.

“Just watching my ladies enjoy themselves.”

“Your ladies?” Piper smirked. “My, my. Someone is awfully full of himself.”

My cock grew two inches at the look in her eyes. That playful look on her face nearly had me storming over to her—well, hobbling—and pulling her into my arms.

A swift knock at the door had me stopping in my tracks, though. Down, boy. I took a moment to get my body under control before heading over to the door. Opening it, I was surprised to find Edu standing on my doorstep.

“What’s up, man?”

“I uh…wanted to say thank you for what you did.”

I stepped outside, shutting the door behind me. “Everything going okay?”

He shrugged, but I saw the worry in his eyes. “She’s adjusting slowly. It’s gonna be a long road, but you know Harper.”

“Yeah, she’s like a dog with a bone,” I chuckled.

“Anyway, I made a call,” he said, pulling a card out of his pocket. “She’s the best physical therapist in the area, and when you get that cast off, she said she’ll fit you into her schedule.”

“Wow. You didn’t have to do that.”

“You saved my sister’s life,” he said, his voice taking on a gravelly tone. “I can’t ever repay that.”

“You don’t have to.”

He held out his hand, shaking mine just as Brock pulled in next door, calling out to us. “Yo! Edu, I just let your old man in!”

His whole body stilled. “What did you say?”

Brock strolled toward us, sliding that comb through his hair. “Yeah, he stopped by and asked for you, so I let him in and?—”

Edu took off down the steps faster than I could keep up on my crutches. As he flew out of the drive, I went as fast as I could to Brock’s truck, shouting for him to get in.

I pulled out my phone as soon as I was inside, calling Lock. “Put the whole place on lockdown! We need men at Edu’s!”

He didn’t bother to ask why, and seconds later, sirens went off around the compound. The tires kicked up gravel as Brock flew down the road toward Edu’s house.

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Edu’s old man killed his mom when he was seventeen. Staged it as a break-in. Then he remarried and nearly killed his ten-year-old daughter.”

“The girl Edu brought to live with him?”

“Christ, he didn’t tell anyone anything,” I muttered, pissed that I hadn’t insisted he do it from the start.

Edu’s truck was parked crooked in the drive, and the driver’s side door was left open.

Brock made it to the house quicker than me, pulling his weapon.

I had nothing on me, no form of protection other than the damn crutches.

I’d grown lax over the last couple of weeks, and now I was kicking myself for that.

“Put it down!” Edu shouted.

I hurried up the steps, cursing when I stepped through the door and saw Edu’s old man gripping his daughter around the throat as he held her to him. Brock had a clean shot to his head, but the knife pressed to her throat made it an uneasy kill.

“You don’t want to do this,” Edu snapped, his eyes flicking to the little girl.

“Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve done?” his father snarled. “I have cops looking for me everywhere! My wife fucking left me!”

“You were holding her in a fucking hole!” Edu shouted.

“Easy,” Brock hissed as the blade nicked her skin.

My eyes scanned the room, taking in Harper standing just ten feet behind the old man with her daughter in her arms. She had no fucking clue when she let him in that he was a monster. And now, there was no way out for her.

Lock pulled up seconds later with half of OPS on his tail. I moved back outside to fill him in, but the look on his face said he’d seen it all. He must have hacked into the video feed.

“Scottie and Max, go around back and lock this place down!” he ordered. “Sit-rep,” he snapped as he climbed the steps.

“The target has a knife to the girl’s neck. Harper and the baby are just behind him. Lock,” I said, stopping him from going in. “Whatever you do, do it fast before Edu loses his shit.”

He nodded, then stormed past me into the house. I was fucking useless out here with no way to help and no weapon to take anyone out.