Page 25 of Shadow’s Protection (Hurricane Heat MC #1)

She’s standing with Cammy and Stella at the counter.

All three of them are dicing veggies for a salad.

When I walk in, Violet’s eyes flick up, and a huge smile takes over her face.

But she keeps chatting away with the girls like she’s known them forever.

I come up behind her and lace my arms around her waist.

“Ladies,” I say, greeting Jackie, Penny, and the rest of them. I plant a kiss on the top of Violet’s hair and breathe her in. God, she smells fucking outstanding. Clean and sweet and delicious. “What’s for dinner?”

Stella’s eyes are wide as she stares at me, my arms still locked around Violet’s waist. “Uh, salad. Phantom said we could pull chicken out of the deep freezer, so we’ve got wings in the oven.”

I kiss Violet’s head again and then steal a carrot she’s chopping from the cutting board. “Sounds good.”

As I leave the kitchen, I hear Jackie’s jealous whoop.

“Girl, what the fuck is that pussy made of? Shadow’s got it bad.”

I shake my head, relieved when the rest of the women—Violet included—break into laughter.

She fits here. She fits me. In fact, now that I have her, I can’t stand the thought that she’s only got a few more days before the roads free up and she’ll be clear to go on to whatever’s next. Another job, back home to Tallahassee.

I don’t have time to give it a lot of thought, though, because suddenly, a security alert blares through the compound. I’m on my phone, swiping to the security app to check the footage.

“Driveway.” Phantom is steps ahead of me. He points silently to Savage and Viper. “It’s go time.”

“How many?” Viper asks.

I peer down at my phone. A skinny, deranged-looking motherfucker is pointing a baseball bat at the front door of the compound. He’s screaming so hard, I can see the spittle flying from his mouth, but I have the app silenced so I can’t hear what he’s saying.

“Keep Violet in the kitchen.” I point to Jizzy. “She gets out of here, and I’ll separate your dick from your balls so fast, they’ll start calling you Jizz Queen . You got me?”

His eyes wide, the prospect nods, looking terrified. “Yeah, yeah, Veep. I got you. I’ll keep her inside.”

“In the kitchen,” I stress. I don’t want her seeing or hearing what’s about to go down.

I slide my phone back into my pocket and point to Savage. “Make the call.”

Then I open the door and head outside.

The second I hit daylight, I can see the guy doesn’t just have a baseball bat. The bat’s got nails hammered around it. I hold up my hands in front of me, intentionally trying to look like I’m reasoning with him. I don’t take my eyes off the man.

“Hey, man. You’re on private property, and I don’t know you. What’s the problem here?” I ask, keeping my voice calm, hands visibly raised so he can see I don’t have a weapon.

The guy is raging, seething, and ready to burst. He points the end of the bat at me like a pointer.

“You’re fucking hiding her. Is she here against her will?

A captive?” He searches the surroundings with his eyes, as if he’s going to spot Violet handcuffed to a tree. “ Violet! ” he screams. “ Violet! ”

Fucking Clive.

I shake my head and keep my hands in plain sight. “You need to take your janky-ass weapon and get the fuck outta here before I start to think you’re planning on using it.”

“ Violet! Violet James, you fucking whore! Come out here and talk to me! ”

Clive starts dancing around, pointing the tip of the nail-studded bat at me like it’s a wand, and screaming into the air.

I keep my hands visible, but fury sears through my chest, and it takes all my self-control not to rip the bat from his hands and tear his shoulder from his socket in the process.

“Get the fuck out of here, Clive!” I shout.

“Fuck you! Fuck off! Violet!” Clive continues his screaming rampage, bobbing back and forth from one foot to the other.

I realize now that he’s dressed like some punk wannabe burglar.

Nasty-looking gray jeans, a dark gray hoodie, and combat boots make the skinny, furious guy look comical.

Pathetic. This is the man Violet was manipulated by.

I can’t let myself think for a second this is a man she could have loved.

He’s tall and wiry, with lean muscles and a bony face.

He’ll put up a fight, but I won’t have to break a sweat to take him down.

I just have to keep control of my temper so this fight is the asshole’s last.

I want to finish him for good. Make sure he’ll never get close to Violet again.

I cross my arms over my chest so there can never be any question where my hands were and what I was doing with them. “You’re the loser who Violet dumped, right? The skinny needledick who lost his home and had to shack up with a librarian so you weren’t on the streets. Is that right?”

“She never said that. Fuck you. You’re the needledick.”

I laugh, a loud, mocking laugh that visibly infuriates Clive. “She didn’t say anything while I had my dick in her mouth. Maybe it was after, when I fucked her in the ass.”

I’m making shit up now. Baiting him. I need this asshole to make the first move. I don’t have much more time.

“Stupid fucking bitch.” He meets my eyes as if we’re about to agree on something. “She’s shit in bed. Send her out here, and I’ll take her off your hands.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” I tell him. “I did some looking into you. You know, when I wasn’t fucking Violet. And let me tell you, she was very, very good, so I didn’t have a lot of time to dig up dirt on a shithead like you. But I did learn some interesting things about you, Clive.”

I uncross my arms again and hold up my hands.

“You can leave right now, and I won’t bother telling you about the deal the rich lady up in Valdosta was offered by the DA.

You know the one? Your client whose little fire you helped set with your intentionally faulty electrical wiring.

I’m sure you thought the scheme to get a cut of the insurance money would help you win Violet back, but…

” I shrug. “I don’t think the district attorney believes you didn’t know that rich husband of hers was asleep in bed when the fire started. ”

“You don’t know shit about shit!” he screams, breathing so hard, I can literally see spit flying from his bared teeth again. “I’m just an electrician, man. Sometimes mistakes get made. That’s what insurance is for.”

“Yeah, and sometimes husbands just die in bed when a bedroom closet remodel sends the house up in flames. I get it. But I don’t think Violet’s interested in a guy so stupid he made a wiring error that killed a man.

” I lace my fingers together and hold my hands where Clive can see them.

“Looks like, no matter what you do, you’re on the losing side there, buddy. ”

My voice is mocking and cruel, and I get a zip of pleasure at the momentary lapse in the asshole’s anger.

He looks like it’s all hitting him now. How there’s no way out.

His little insurance fraud scheme is going to send him to prison.

Tack on a bunch of years for the suspicious death of the man in that house that went up in flames, and maybe—maybe—he won’t get manslaughter or murder as an accessory.

No matter how he looks at it, he’s fucked. I can only hope he realizes it and acts soon.

“Send Violet out, or I will fuck you up, man. Send Violet out now.” Clive, out of options, apparently chooses to resort to Plan A—be a douchebag who somehow still thinks he’s getting the girl.

I shake my head. “I’m doing you a favor. You want the last memory she has of you to be like this?” I pause to let that sink in. “You showing up here because you tracked her to a place she feels safe? And, I should add, very, very satisfied?—”

At that, Clive lunges at me, bat swinging. I’ve been ready, waiting, so I duck out of the way. Clive rushes past me, narrowly missing me, and slips on the rough gravel of the unpaved road.

I give him one more chance. “Put the bat down,” I demand. “Or I’m gonna have to hurt you.”

He charges me again, swinging his bat toward my knee. I move just far enough out of the way to avoid being hit, then grab his hands, crushing his wrists together with such force, he drops the bat.

Just then, the door to the compound opens, and Viper yells, “Hey, asshole!”

Clive throws a terrified look behind him while I have his wrists pinned. I release him and throw it as far as I can. Then I grab the front of Clive’s shirt, pull him toward me, and punch him in the face so hard I hear his nose crack.

He falls to the gravel, his nose painting the rocks with blood, and screams like a fucking bitch.

Viper and Phantom stroll from the door toward the scene just as a cop car, its lights off, creeps up the drive. Nobody moves, except that asshole Clive. He literally turns on his hands and knees and tries to crawl toward his bat.

Phantom, Viper, and I stand there, our hands up so the cops can see them. Clive starts screaming like a baby, yelling at the officers for help.

Two cops get out of the car, looking pissed off. They point to Phantom.

“Somebody wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“Not sure what to tell you, Officer. My brothers and I were inside making dinner when our security system went off.” Phantom jerks a thumb toward Clive.

“This asshole was in our driveway, waving around that bat. Seems like he wanted to see Shadow’s lady friend, but the lady wasn’t interested in talking to him. ”

The second cop walks up to Clive and asks him to stop moving, but the idiot doesn’t. He keeps screaming and crawling toward his bat. The woman cop orders him to stop moving and put his hands where she can see them, but he is in a frenzy, bleeding, crying, crawling.

The next few minutes are a blur as the cops tell us not to move while they subdue Clive. By the time the bat has been bagged for evidence and Clive’s in handcuffs and in the back of the squad car, Phantom and the responding officer are shaking hands.