Wrong Side of Town (17 page)

I slowly nodded, realizing that that’s what Conor had been talking about. He had said something about Vincent losing them money. “I don’t understand why he would come after me. I have nothing to do with this.”

Vincent’s jaw tensed. “I heard what he said. He saw us together and he thinks that you’re my girlfriend, that you mean something to me. He tried to use you to get to me.”

“But I don’t mean anything to you,” I choked out. “He’s got the wrong person.”

Vincent turned away from me, once again completely blocking me out. He had this way of showing his vulnerable side, but then just as quickly he would put his shield back up again.

Just then, Three ran back in, locking eyes with me. “Your sister’s here, but she refuses to come inside with me. She almost ran me over!”

Darting a glance at Vincent’s back, I slowly approached Three. “Sorry about that. She can get a little sassy.”

“I think she thought I was going to steal her car,” Three said as he began to follow me outside into the cold air. I immediately wished I was back inside the warmth of the auto shop and close to Vincent.

“I thought something similar when I first saw you.” My tone was light, but inside I felt heavy, like a weight was crushing my organs.

Savannah was parked on the side of the road several feet away. She was peering at us suspiciously over the steering wheel as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

When I turned to look behind me, Vincent wasn’t there.

I tried not to let it get to me that he hadn’t bothered to come out and see me. It just proved my assumption was correct; I meant nothing to Vincent.

Giving Three a small smile, I ducked into the car, trying to ignore the gnawing in my chest.

Chapter Twenty

Vincent

Last night I’d let Estella walk away from me without telling her how I really felt. Again.

I really needed to stop acting like such an asshole to her all the time.

The feeling had never hit me at such full force until the moment I’d heard Conor threaten her. And then my entire world had spun out of control and fear had gripped me by the throat and squeezed and squeezed until I thought I was never going to recover ever again.

If Estella wasn’t in my life, I knew I would never recover. It had just taken me a while to realize what she meant to me.

At first there’d been resistance on my part. I hadn’t wanted to let a woman into my life because women were manipulative and they screwed everything up. But Estella wasn’t like that. She was something entirely different. She was made up of something that I’d never had in my life before. And now it was impossible for me to let go of her.

She’d imprinted herself into my life; she was a constant and I needed her.

I needed her more than she could ever understand and I should’ve fucking told her that.

But I would tell her. I was going to tell her everything. I’d tell her how I felt and what she did to me, and maybe we could make sense of this craziness together. Because a lot of it wasn’t even making sense to me—how I could fall for a girl from another world.

But I had. That’s what was happening here. I had never felt such a strong desire to protect anyone, except for Dylan, but now I felt that way about Estella, and I was sure as hell going to make sure that no one came near her again.

“Are you sure you wanna do this, man?” Goat’s voice broke into my thoughts, and I looked around to find him staring at me. He actually looked worried. Hell, maybe I should be more worried about this, but I wasn’t.

We stood outside
The
Demon Rest
which seemed like a fitting name for the shit ass, run-down bar that we were about to enter. I mean, Allbrook was a shithole by any standards, but
The
Demon Rest
was definitely one of the worst places around these parts.

It was also where the Allbrook Gang hung out and a little birdie had told me that I’d find Conor here right now with only a couple of other guys with him. This was the perfect time to send him a clear message: don’t mess with the people I cared about.

But I knew why Goat was so worried. If I went in there and roughed Conor up, I’d be starting shit with the Allbrook Gang, and I was doing this without Ryder’s knowledge.

If Ryder found out this had something to do with Estella then he would lose it. It wasn’t just about her though—Dylan also had to be protected and the only way I could be sure that he’d be safe was to target the cause of the problem.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said, nodding at the other guys that’d come with me. “Let’s go and show them what it means to mess with a Madden.”

There was no more hesitation; there were no more questions. I had made up my mind and the guys would follow me regardless of how this played out.

I led the way, pushing open the door to the bar and letting the smell of despair hit me—cigarettes, booze, and sweat—this is where the lowest scumbags hung out, so it was pretty fitting for the Allbrook gang.

The bar was almost empty; there were the usual tables and stools scattered around, but the interior was pretty shitty. The scantily dressed girl wiping down tables eyed us up as we strode inside, but I barely glanced at her—my focus was simply on kicking Conor’s ass.

A dart board had been hoisted against the wall close to the entrance as though it was going to improve the depressing surroundings somehow. Nope, no chance in hell of that happening. There was a single pool table on the far end of the room, and my eyes immediately singled out Conor with three other guys as they hovered around the table, in the middle of a game.

Rage filtered through me when I saw how at ease he was; he didn’t have a single care for the fear he’d inflicted on Estella. This asshole was going to pay.

“Fancy seeing you down here,” I said, keeping my tone light as we flanked the four Allbrooks.

Conor flinched and their conversation died down as they all turned to face us. Fear darted across Conor’s face, but he quickly replaced it with an easy smile as though he was greeting old friends.

“Glad you could take time out from your busy schedule of
hand holding
to pay us a visit, Vincent. I’m touched.” Conor placed a hand to his chest, mocking me.

“Well, Conor,” I said, taking three steps forward so I was in his face, “the thing is, I don’t like it when the people close to me get hurt. It makes me real mad, ya know?”

The corner of Conor’s mouth lifted in a smirk. The son of a bitch was pleased with himself for getting to me through Estella. What a spineless, weak asshole.

“I was just trying to get to know the people in your life, Vincent. I mean, man, I’d love to get to know that piece of ass you’re screwing right now. Estella, right?”

As soon as her name came from his disgusting mouth, a white hot rage snaked its way through my body and coiled around my chest.

I grabbed Conor by the collar of his jacket, lifting him slightly off his feet. “Say her name one more time, asshole. I fucking dare you to.”

The fear was clear in Conor’s eyes as he stared back at me, but he was a ballsy son of a bitch; he had something to prove to the other Allbrooks and the only way he could do that was by standing up to me.

His bottom lip curled. “The more I think about it, the more I want to fuck
Estella
.”

My vision went blurry and the rage inside my chest exploded. He was going to pay for threatening Estella. He was going to pay for talking about her like that. I didn’t see reason, I didn’t think of the consequences; I wanted to show him what happened when he messed with the people I cared about.

I shoved Conor so hard that his back hit the pool table with a loud thud. The other Allbrooks reacted and rushed at us, but all I could see was Conor. His bravado was gone now—I could see it from the way his eyes darted left and right—but that didn’t mean I was going to let him off easy.

Someone’s fist connected with the side of my face, and I turned just in time to see Todd take on the Allbrook guy that’d punched me. My attention went back to Conor who suddenly leapt out at me and threw a couple of punches at me.

Only one punch connected with the side of my nose before I grabbed his fist, twisted it, and then punched him three times in the gut. Conor immediately doubled over, and I hit him in the face with my knee. My knee connected with his face and blood spurted everywhere.

Conor stumbled back, yelling out as he covered his face with both hands, trying to stop the blood from flowing. But it wouldn’t help. I’d gotten in a good hit.

My boys had easily overpowered the other three guys who were now sporting swollen faces. Todd had the guy who’d hit me in a headlock, and pushed him hard against the pool table before releasing him.

“Let’s call this a friendly warning,” I said, wiping a small trickle of blood from the side of my mouth. “Next time we won’t go so easy on you. Let’s get one thing clear; y
ou touch her, you so much as look at her the wrong way, and I will destroy you. Tell that to Troy and the rest of your Allbrook pussies.”

From the way Conor and the other guys stared at us in silence, I was pretty sure my message had been received loud and clear.

***

I knew Estella would be at the house this afternoon. I’d told Three to pick her up and take her there for Dylan’s lesson. What had actually slipped my mind was the fact that I’d been punched in the face and probably looked like shit.

All I’d wanted to do was go home to Estella. I wanted to eat one of her meals and watch her dance and bring her warmth into my home.

I hadn’t expected Three and Estella to be waiting out on the porch with me as I rode up with Goat. As soon as I’d removed my helmet and gotten off the bike, Estella hurried down the steps and ran to me.

"What happened to your face?" She let out a gasp and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Even though I’d done this for her, I couldn’t look her in the eye because I knew she would hate me for it. Instead, I shook my head to discourage her from asking any questions.

I reached out for her. "Hold me, Stelle, just hold me. Hold me like it's our last day together, and tomorrow might not be."

Estella didn’t resist at first—she stepped into my arms and let me rest my head on her shoulder. She even ran a hand through my hair which made me grasp her by the waist a little tighter. But it didn’t last long, because just as quickly as she’d held me, she pushed me away.

Her eyes were fierce, the amber in them dancing like the glows cast from candlelight. It kind of scared me a little the way she was staring me down.

“What happened to you, Vincent?” she asked again—her tone was firmer this time and I knew she wasn’t messing around.

Hesitating, I ran my fingers over the skin of her hand before grasping it in mine. “It doesn’t matter, Stelle. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Instead of meeting her gaze, I focused on Three who had approached us and was now standing just behind Estella. For some reason, he didn’t look as happy as he should to see me.

“Well, I do.” Estella’s words were commanding, but I heard the slight quiver in her tone, as though she was afraid to know the truth. “I need to know that you haven’t done anything bad; that no one is hurt.”

“Well, that depends on your definition of
hurt
.”

“Vincent, this isn’t funny. I’m being serious; did you hurt someone?”

“He deserved it,” I say, pointedly looking away from her. “He had no right to put his hands on you.”

“Conor did this to you?” Her eyes searched mine, large and concerned.

“Yeah, but you should see what I did to him.”

From behind me, Goat let out a gruff “hmm” of approval.

Tears were forming in Estella’s eyes, and I couldn’t hide the wall of emotion that hit me at seeing her reaction.

“Vincent, this needs to stop. If you love and care about Dylan the way you say you do, you need to stop doing this. You can’t keep putting him in danger.” Her hand tightened around mine.

“I’m not putting him in danger.” My voice came out like a low growl. “I’m protecting him. I’m doing the best I can for him. I’m making sure I win these fights so he can go to a good school and have a future.”

“Don’t you understand? It’s not about sending him to private school or college. It’s about teaching him to be the best that he can be. And that starts with you.” She jabbed the center of my chest with a finger. “You need to set the example for him to become a better person. He’s had nothing but disappointment in his life. Don’t do this to him.”

I wanted to say that she was wrong; that I was setting a good example for him, but a part of me was telling me that Estella was right. Everything she was saying was making a scary amount of sense.

“I know you’re better than this. Don’t let your circumstances dictate the kind of person you turn out to be. You can make your own choices, Vincent. You can walk away from this.” There was desperation in her eyes as she spoke.

Each word she said lashed at me like a whip, leaving a mark, leaving an imprint. No one had ever gotten through to me the way Estella had. Ever.

Feeling winded, I pulled my hands away from her and turned to Goat, feeling light headed. “Take her home. Now.”

I couldn’t think straight. Why did Estella make me question every decision I made in my life? Why did I let her get to me?

Estella let out a cry of protest, but I ignored her and headed towards the creek, far away from Estella and the truth of her words.