Page 60 of Cowboy Devil's Embrace

Now, Burt was claiming he was entitled to half the earnings from Penelope’s bakery.

As if I was going to let that happen.

Burt the Dirtbag was a real piece of shit, and I was about two seconds from permanently rearranging his face.

As if he could read the turn of my thoughts, he visibly paled and swallowed. That ridiculously large Adam’s apple of his bobbed up and down and back again.

It was dizzying. And a little grotesque.

“L-look, I don’t know what Pigpen told you,” Burt said, and my anger rose to untold heights.

This motherfucker.

“That’s not her name, dickhead, and you won’t use it anymore, understand?” I snarled.

“W-what?”

“Your ex-wife’s name is Penelope. Not that you need the reminder, because after today you aren’t going to contact her anymore. Not ever,” I snarled.

“That’s really none of your business,” he stuttered, pushing against the hand I now had wrapped around his collar.

Hell. I didn’t even realize I’d grabbed him again.

We were garnering attention. I felt Emmet, Dante, Kian, and even Zeke surrounding us. Their animals were hyped, ready to defend me, and I was touched. But I had this.

Using my magic, I sent a suggestion to the folks watching to ignore us. A smallnothing to see herekind of cast.

Then I lifted Burt off the floor and allowed my Devil to bleed into my gaze. My snarl was animalistic. Demonic, even.

As for Burt, well, he might have peed a little.

I growled angrily at the thought of the man’s urine getting on me. I held him further away.

“Penelope is my business,” I corrected his earlier statement.

“B-but?—”

“This is your final warning. Don’t come looking for her anymore,” I said before tossing him away from me.

Burt fell backwards, landing on his ass on the hard gravel. People were staring at him now, including the ingrate’s new wife.

My Crew shuffled their feet, and I could almost hear them questioning what was going to happen next through our Crew bond. It was still too new for that kind of thing, but the possibility of it filled my soul.

No, I couldn’t exact the revenge I really wanted to on Penelope’s ex. But the facts that my Crew was here to back me up and that I’d been able to deliver a warning were both enough for now.

No bloodshed here. Not now.

“Burt! Are you okay?” His wife asked.

My Devil was barely content to let me walk away, but I had one more thing to add.

“Don’t come after her bakery. As a matter of fact, don’t touch anything that is hers ever again, or you will deal with me.”

I left him sitting there, whining. I didn’t have a lot of experience with belonging to a Crew or defending someone important to me, and having felt both at the same time, well, it was hard to express.

I glanced at Emmet, nodding at him before I forced my feet to move. The second my Devil understood where we were going, well, I moved in faster, heading towards where Penelope was chatting with the woman at the concession stand.

“Here, let me take that,” I said, reaching for the tray that held our sodas and snacks.

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