Page 100 of Loving Wild

“Fuck off, Wild. Your sister’s a slut, could’ve had her any time I fucking liked.”

“As if,” Dani shouts from next to me. “Heard you’ve got a rancid pencil dick. Who the fuck would want that anywhere near them?”

This time, Zac moves as quick as a flash, and unfortunately for Jarrod, the officers aren’t as quick to react as Cooper, and Zac clocks him right on the jaw.

The good-looking bouncer—Matthew—drags Zac away, bringing him over to sit on the wall next to me and Dani, as Jarrod’s put into the back of a police van.

“Chill, bro. You’re like a whole family of Tassie devils, ay.”

Zac doesn’t say a word, just scowls at the cop walking towards us.

“Right, ladies, everything you told us looks to be true. You’re free to go right now, but we will need you to be available if we wish to speak to you further. Can you confirm for me the addresses you’ve given are where we’ll be able to find you?”

“Don’t worry about being able to contact them, our lawyers will be contacting you. We’ll be pressing charges against that fucker,” Cooper states. The copper nods.

“Fair enough. He’ll be with us, at least until lunchtime tomorrow, so you know where to find him.”

“Thanks,” Coop says, then claps his hands together. “Right, ladies, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Chapter 21

Gabe.

Jess,Lauren, and Dani are silent as we drive back to my place in Cooper’s truck. Zac has Sam, Louise, and Jemma in his, and will be dropping Lou and Jemma at home before coming back to mine.

I’ve not calmed myself down enough to be able to talk to Lauren yet, so I’m also keeping my mouth shut.

I promised Lauren I’d do better, so when we pull up at my front door, I tell Coop to go up and take Dani and Jess with him.

I open the back door next to where Lauren is sitting and look up at her as I wait for the others to go inside.

“This is one of those moments where I’m so fucking angry, I want to walk away, or at the very least, punch or throw something.”

“I thought we were working on that,” she says quietly, adding a quick smile, which I don’t return.

“Okay, no smiling then,” she whispers.

“Get out,” I order but hold my hand out to help her.

She takes it and gives me another quick smile before correcting it. When she swings her legs out of the cab, I slide my hands to her hips and help her down.

She smells different. Her usual perfume has been here all week—I may have sprayed it once or a thousand times—so I’m assuming she’s wearing something she borrowed from Jo. It’s okay, but it’s not her.

Moving her to the side, I close the door, then move my body against hers. Pressing her into the truck, I bury my face in the curve of her neck and just hold her. I’ve missed her so fucking much, so take a moment before I launch in with what needs to be said and probably piss her off.

“I’m so fucking angry with you right now,” I say into her ear.

“Me?” She pushes against me as she speaks, her voice sounding high with indignation.

I take a step back so I can look down at her.

“Yeah, you. I watched the fucking security footage. You dived right in. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“Heswungat your sister.”

“I don’t care. You should’ve pulled her out the way, then both got out of there, the bouncers were on their way to sort him out, that’stheirjob, whatthey’repaid to do.”

“So, he can grab me, insult me, throw a punch at your sister, but I’m not allowed to retaliate? No, just . . . no, that’s not gonna happen.” She paces as she talks, arms rising and falling at her sides.