“I’ll see you back at the shop, Denny. You going to be able to make it after that mess you just put in you?”
“Best mess in town, Hunter. You should try eating something yourself next time.” Denny spoke with his mouth full and I stole a last glance at Kelly while she watched him.
“Yeah, it doesn’t look like you leave much for the rest of us, pal. See you at the shop.”
I slapped him on the back and made my way to the door just as two guys came through. Neither of them looked like they belonged in the place. Dressed more for a big city than a mountain town like Stone Peak. They were in their mid-thirties, but dressed like a couple of frat boys. Acted like it too. One of them was laughing into his cell phone about some broad and walked right into me. He shot me a look like it was my fucking fault as he passed.
I will face fuck you and shove that phone up your ass, pal.
I got a hold of myself and figured if the girls here were offended by my small talk, they would surely take issue with me making murder in their restaurant. I took a deep breath and let it go.
“See you around, ladies,” I said as I swallowed my pride and took off down the street.
Fucking wannabe tough guy, putting on a show for his other wannabe tough guy friend.
I wanted to go back and show them what a real man looked like. As I stood outside the shop waiting for Denny, I realized I had let my cigarette burn to the end without taking a single drag. Why was I letting those punks get to me? I let them walk, but who gave a fuck? I wasn’t there to cause trouble, I was there to lay low for a few weeks. No sense in fucking things up and having to start this whole godawful process again.
I tried to think of Kelly and her sweet tits to distract me, but all I could picture were those two jerk-offs in her diner, giving her a hard time. So help me, if I found out they gave her or Grace a hard time, I would fucking break them.
I shook my head.
Fuck do you care, Hunter? She’s just some broad you hassled fifteen minutes ago. Fuck do you care if someone else does it?
The crazy thing was, I did care. I don’t know why, but the thought of those two fucks in there with her drove me insane. I’d only just met her, but already I knew something about her, and Grace, and even Denny, wolfing down his breakfast. They were on my side. They didn’t know it. They didn’t know me. But they were my people now. At least here in this place they were.
My people.
I let out a little laugh at myself. Maybe it’s something to do with the way I was brought into the world, but I’ve always been ferociously loyal. If you’re my people, then no one, No Fucking One, can mess with you without messing with me too. It’s in my genetics. I swear I must have been a wolf in a pack in a previous life.
I protected my people. It’s what I was brought up to do. And Kelly didn’t know it yet, but her sweet little ass was my people now, and those two jerk-offs weren’t allowed to mess with her.
I lit another cigarette and made my way back to the diner.
If you get back there and everything is fine, you’re putting this cigarette out in your own fucking eye. Got it?
I rounded the corner feeling like an idiot and glanced in the window of the diner. I put my cigarette out, but not in my eye. Everything was not fine. Kelly was not fine. And I was going to make fucking murder. To hell with the consequences.
Chapter 4
Kelly
AS SOON AS HUNTER LEFT the diner, I felt a strange sense of both relief and regret. The scent of him was still hanging in the air, swallowing me and making my mind blurry to what and who had just walked in and out of my life. I felt like I was in a dream and hadn’t gotten up to start my day yet. He was just like every other work-a-day guy I’d ever met, with all his cheap small talk and bravado. Except for one thing. The bravado and arrogance in his voice seemed forced. Like he was pretending to be something he was not. The man whose eyes I looked into knew who he was and what he could do to me. Or to anyone else. He wouldn’t talk about it, he would just do it. He didn’t need to talk shit. He didn’t need to talk at all, and he knew it.
I wanted him. Or did I? It was more complicated than simply lusting for him. It wasn’t a want I felt inside me, it was a need. I needed to know who he was and what he was capable of. Why was I so drawn to him? Why couldn’t I shake the image of him holding me in his strong, muscular arms? He could be any old wrench monkey with a hard body and harder head, but I knew he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. Not the way he made my head spin. I hated myself for giving him so much thought and luckily Grace snapped me back to reality.
“Kelly, guests,” she whispered forcefully motioning to the two men who had just sat down at a table by the door.