Page 48 of Fastlander Fighter

“I got bored. I made mistakes, and I took you for granted,” he said low. “I can fix it. We could do it better this time.”

He had lost his damn mind. “Yeah? And what about Naomi? Huh? You didn’t just cheat on me, Ryan. You cheated for three years, and destroyed my favorite parts of me, and then you fucking married her. Two months after the divorce! Your family is out there. Ruger and I are better off without you here.”

“You don’t mean that, babe.”

“Captain will be here any minute.”

“Nah. I made sure to stop by Moosey’s. He’s still working his shift. Come on, Sloane. We can put our family back together.”

“No! We aren’t a family, Ryan. I honestly don’t think we ever were, because if you had loved me…if you had truly loved me, you physically wouldn’t have been able to destroy me!” She jammed her finger toward his car. “Get the fuck out of here. If you show up here again—”

“You’ll what? Call the police? Come on, Sloane. We share fifty-fifty parenting time, and it’s a drop-off day. The police won’t do shit and you know it. I’m within my rights.”

“Mmm. If you come to my home, I won’t call police. I’ll call Captain.”

“Whoooo, so scary. He can’t do jack shit. The world has a microscope on every move he and his Crew make. It just takes one person to go to the media and expose the person he is away from the cameras. Don’t threaten me. I came here out of the goodness of my heart. You don’t have to drive out for a drop-off now. You’re welcome. See? I can still take care of you.”

“Fuck. Off,” she said with a dark laugh. “You never took care of me. You took care of you.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” he yelled.

Sloane flinched hard at the turn in his mood.

“Is that what you tell your little fuck-boy? Huh?” Ryan stepped into her apartment, his eyes flashing with anger. “Is that what you tell him in bed? Liar. I did take care of you. For two years, you didn’t have to work!”

“You wouldn’t let me!”

For every step she took backward, he advanced. In a low voice, he gritted out, “I can’t fucking stand the thought of his hands on you—Ack!”

Sloane didn’t understand what happened because it happened in a blur. One moment Ryan was advancing on her, and the next he went flying forward and crashed into her kitchen table, and something enormous was on top of him, crushing his throat with his huge hand.

Captain?

The legs of the table buckled and they crashed to the ground. Captain lifted Ryan up and then slammed him down. “What was it you said?” Captain asked. “I can’t do anything to you?” He inhaled sharply. “Wrong!” he roared.

He shoved Ryan’s face to the side, angling it at Ruger, who was standing against the wall, holding Sloane’s phone. His eyes were wide as saucers.

“It’s okay, buddy,” she said, rushing to him.

“My dad shouldn’t be here,” Ruger said, holding the phone out to her.

She frowned as she saw the screen. It was on speakerphone on a call connected to Captain. What the hell?

“I got scared and called Cap,” Ruger said.

Captain stood and took Ryan with him. Gripping his shirt, he shoved him straight through the room to the open front door and set him outside. “This is the territory line,” Captain growled, drawing an imaginary line across the threshold. “Inside this line, this is mine. You fumbled it. Outside of here, you can spin your stories and charm your friends, but here? That shit won’t work. She said no. Go back to your wife.”

Captain shoved Ryan hard. It looked like it took zero effort from Captain, and Ryan went flying into the grassy yard in front of her apartment door.

“No more scaring your boy’s mom, and no more scaring the boy. You keep your manipulation shit out there. It has no place here.” Captain stepped out of the apartment and canted his head. “Leave before I lose myself.”

Ryan scrambled up and bolted for his car. He got in and peeled out of his parking spot, nearly hitting Captain’s truck that was parked in the middle—still turned on, door hanging open.

Heart pounding, Sloane fell to her knees and hugged Ruger up. “You shouldn’t have seen that.”

Captain shut the door softly and then righted one of the chairs that had fallen over on its side.

“Come here, boy,” he said softly.

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