Black Dawn (9 page)

“Fuck you too.” Then Parker slammed his fists onto the steering wheel because he didn’t know what to do as they drove away.

CHAPTER NINE

All the threats Lexi had ever heard about Bacon played through her head until she was dizzy with the certainty that her poor pup would be dead on the couch when they arrived home. Matt was mean and growing meaner by the day. He’d even tried to burn Bacon that morning. Where had her mind been when she’d left without the dog? Well, she hadn’t been thinking. Breathing had been her problem. Her throat felt as if it had been crushed, and her mind hadn’t gone to her dog. What it had gone to was the protection Parker had offered. His arms had surrounded her with a manly scent tinged with the smell of outdoors and gunpowder, like some superhero aphrodisiac.

Yet there she was, without Parker and back with Matt. But she really hadn’t
been with
Parker. He had been a ride. A good man who wouldn’t stand by when she was crumbled on herself. Parker likely thought she was stupid, and maybe she was. But the idea of leaving her dog alone with her fiancé, when Matt had clearly issued that last warning, was too much. Plus if she really was going to leave, she couldn’t just have her savior carry her out the door. She needed her computer and notebooks. They were her livelihood and her evidence—selfies after a rough night or her notes jotted down about what he did and said—if she did ever confront Matt.

Lexi bit her tongue when Matt jumped the curb. They headed home at breakneck speed. She needed to survive until she could get her dog, her stuff, and leave. Her mind slammed into overdrive. What should she do? Say? Matt needed to think she’d been stupid or scared. Something. It was best to start simple. It also needed to start now, in the truck, where they were semi in public. If his hands were on the steering wheel, they wouldn’t be on her.

“I’m sorry, Matt.”

“Bet you are.” Lines furrowed across his forehead and anger tinged his skin red.

“I really am. That got out of control. It was all my fault. I’m sorry.”

He glared at her. “I saw your co-worker outside the house, driving away.”

What? That was what had started it? She’d had no idea. He had simply had stormed the house and thrown her against the wall. “I promise you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He was there.”

A cold chill ran up her spine. “I never saw him.”

“Then I’m pissed you begged Parker to pick you up. Fuckin’ slut.”

“No.” She swallowed her disgust and put her palm on his thigh. “It all happened so fast. I never want to fight with you again.”

His hand slapped down on hers, his fingers crushing her bones.

She winced, leaning forward. “Ow, Matt—”

He smashed her fingers together. “You comin’ home for me or that mutt?”

“You!”

“You’re really sorry?”

Wincing into his hold, she nodded. “Yes, that—ow—that hurts.”

“You know how bad it can really hurt. Don’t pull that shit again.” Then he flung her hand back. “I forgive you, peaches. But your ass will make it up to me.”

Her head dropped. “I know.”

“Be thinking how.”

She ducked her head further, not wanting to think of how he’d expect that kind of repayment. “Okay.”

“And, peaches?”

“Yes, baby?” she mumbled.

“You leave me again, no warnings about the mutt. I’ll find you and drag your ass home.”

CHAPTER TEN

If there was one thing Parker enjoyed about walking into the Winters’s house, it was the food. Mia Winters loved to cook, and Parker loved to eat. So did everyone else on the team. But they had wives and kids and babies on the way, so more often than not, the rest of Titan was well fed when they were home. Parker relied more than he should on Muscle Milk and Power Bars in place of meals. Mia knew that and fed him well. She mama-beared the shit out of him sometimes, and that was a perk of being best buds with Winters.

Judging by the lack of other vehicles outside, he was first there, and that was planned. He needed Mia’s opinion on yesterday because he was furious—and worried. After Lexi had gone back with Matt, Parker had headed back to GUNS, then hit his gym and worked out to the point of delirium. Neither activity cleared his mind. So his next step was to talk to Mia, the woman who knew how everything emo worked, because he was choking on a ton of it.

He pushed through the front door that had been left open for the incoming crowd. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Kitchen,” Mia called.

“We’re in the kitchen,” squeaked a high-pitched, girly voice.

Parker smiled at Clara’s repeated words. He rounded the hall and saw the kids before Mia. “Hey, short stack. How’s it going?”

“The baby’s not listening.” Clara’s little nose crinkled in annoyance. “He’s stealing all my snacks.”

Mia popped up from behind the island counter with a pile of platters and set them down. “Don’t let Ace have
any
of those cookies.”

The evidence was all over Ace’s face. He’d had at least one cookie, by evidence of the chocolate smeared from his chin to forehead, and his smile was huge as he reached for more. Parker scooped up the boy before they all got into trouble and headed for the kitchen table.

Mia scowled, grabbing a wet cloth. “Clara. Do not feed your brother any more sugar.”

“Sorry, Mama.” She set the cookies down and abandoned the adults and her brother in the kitchen.

“Mama Mia, smells good in here.” He gave Mia a kiss on her cheek. “You’re too good to us.”

“I know it.” With expert finesse, she wiped all of the smudges off Ace before the kid could think to scream, then she headed to what smelled like a giant vat of chili and a couple other pots. “Speaking of which, you want a beer?”

“Sounds good.” He popped up and headed to the fridge to get it before Mia could move. “Where’s Winters?”

“Out in the garage. You’re here earlier than I expected—” She stopped stirring whatever. “Nothing you do is ever accidental.”

His muscles went tight as he thought about yesterday’s shit storm. “Nope.”

She put her hands on her hips. The woman was petite, but she didn’t mess around. “And you’re not heading to the garage.”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Alright. Spit it out before the troops storm the spread.”

Still holding Ace, Parker walked over to eye the food. “You know Matt Pindon?”

“You’ve brought him around before. Isn’t he going to be here today?”

“I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“I saw him wrap his hands around his woman’s throat.”

Mia turned off the burner. “Sit down.”

He smiled because when Mia got all bossy-therapist, good usually came of it. “Yes, ma’am.”

She wiped her hands and sat across from him before taking Ace into her lap. “Start over. What are you talking about?”

“I walked in on them fighting yesterday. No joke, he was choking her. I pulled them apart. She left with me but went back home to him.”

“She went back to him?”

He nodded. His fury at Lexi for pulling that stunt just killed him. He’d had every intention of bringing her and a sausage-and-banana-pepper pizza home with
him
. Then what, who knew. But damn it, he liked her being in his arms, amplifying how much he’d liked her from afar.

“Is she safe?” Mia asked.

“I don’t know.” The doubt made him sick. Not knowing the answer to a question wasn’t something Parker was familiar with. He always knew what he wanted to know or knew a way to determine it. He could assign a value to a situation, do a risk assessment. But this Lexi situation—he didn’t know what she thought or if she was safe. It made him feel as though he were bursting out of his skin. He wanted to call her, yell at her for being stupid and question her so it made sense.

Mia’s eyes focused on him, and Parker swore she could read his soul. “Who is she to you?”

“Matt’s fiancée.”

“
To you
, Parker. A friend?” Her eyebrows raised.

“I don’t think I know her well enough that I’d say friend.” But somehow he’d had eyes on her since she first walked into Matt’s life.

“But?”

His thoughts had been semi-easy to ignore until yesterday, and now he couldn’t stop replaying every stolen look, every questionable action, the way she’d gone from the wild woman Matt brought out on occasion to a toned-down version of a Stepford wife. Parker jumped out of his chair. “I don’t get this.”

“Get what?”

“It’s—” His chest twisted. “Personal.”

“I can see that. So why?”

“She’s a good person and doesn’t deserve that shit.”

“No one deserves that, Parker.”

“I know. It’s—I just like her.” He shrugged. “She deserves better than that.”

“You have feelings for her.”

“Come on, Mia. I’m not here to talk about what
I
feel or whatever. I’m worried about a girl who—” A girl he’d been feeling deeply, who always made him curious, who even made him feel guilty. He dropped back into the chair. “I care about what happens to her. What do I do?”

“You have a conversation with her. You make sure she gets to a safe place, and you ask her if she values her safety. If she knows her self-worth. Then you hold her hand—”

His eyes shot open. “Whoa now.” Even though he vividly remembered placing his hands over hers in his car and the sense of calm that had washed over her sweet face.

“
Figuratively
, and help her realize that she is worth more than that.”

Parker leaned his elbows on the table and buried his head in his hands. Behind him, Winters’s boots came down the hall.

His hand slapped Parker’s back. “What’s up, boy genius?”

Parker rubbed his eyes and pushed back. “Matt’s
persona non grata
for anything Titan.”

Winters held his eye. “Alright. Won’t be allowed in this house.”

“Alright.”

“Want to let me in on what’s going on?”

Parker was closer to Winters than anyone else in or out of Titan. Winters had spent his share of time with Matt and never liked the guy, but he didn’t say much. Old friends were old friends. That was the way things went. Winters and Parker had a much different relationship. They saw eye to eye on most jobs and were a tactical yin and yang. Winters would blow things up and could escape almost any situation, given enough brute force. Parker preferred the analytical, strategic planning side of operations. Either way, they trained together, tested together, stayed in shape and sharp on weapons together. But letting anyone besides Mia the psychologist in on Lexi’s issues was too personal.

“Later,” Parker said.

Winters looked at Mia then back at Parker before picking up Ace. “Alright, later.”

Clara ran back into the kitchen. “Cash is here.”

Which meant a very pregnant Nicola would be inside in a minute. Soon she would be followed by Roman and a pregnant Beth, then Jared and a pregnant Sugar. So many pregnant women, it was almost scary. Parker had never had anything like that—babies, uncles, aunts, all that family stuff. They were like a living, breathing security blanket.

Mia, maybe thinking the same thing, moved back to the stove. “We’ll talk more later. Okay?”

“Yup. Appreciate it.”

She nodded. “Not sure you know this, honey, but you’re allowed to color outside the lines if you want.”

He chuckled because that was something he’d never do, and the statement, much like every Lexi-focused thought, didn’t make sense. “I don’t know what that means, Mia.”

“One day, it might make sense.”

“Maybe.” Parker sat back in his chair and watched everyone come in.

So much had changed since Mia Winters started having big meals after Titan came home from jobs. The guys used to all get together, have a bonfire, and barbecue whatever was around. They still did that, though maybe not in forty-degree rainy weather. But now serious love was put into the food. That was a difference.

Another knock sounded on the door before it opened down the hall. “We’re here.”

Rocco walked in with Caterina tucked under his arm. Squeezed between them was a bundle of blankets. Parker watched the room ooh and ahh over the new baby. None of the Delta guys were there yet—no guests outside of Titan had arrived—so he was literally the only single guy in the room. It was just their core group, and while he wanted to be there, he suddenly couldn’t stop wondering what in the world Lexi Dare was up to and if she was okay.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lexi trembled as Matt guided her into the house with his hand on the small of her back. She didn’t know what to expect, but whatever his punishment for her was, it would be the worst yet. But as soon as her feet hit the carpet, nothing.

She wanted to run and find Bacon, but she also didn’t want to remind Matt how much she loved her dog. So she sat on the couch and watched him go about normal everyday life. Still nothing in terms of her punishment happened.