I nodded once and headed back to the car. We certainly agreed on that.
The desert was only a short ride away, but, in that time, I let myself retreat into the darkness that begged for a chance to take over. It felt good to let the need for a kill fill me with that welcome surge of adrenaline. When we stopped, I waved to Shore to leave Kurt in the trunk. Trigger, Brick, Rail, and Morgan were sitting on their bikes, and Minnie and Kenna were in conversation. When Shore opened my door, I saw the relief on Kenna’s face. I knew she must have wondered what was going on.
“I didn’t share anything,” Jesse told me as he joined my side. The dogs jumped out and sat down by the trunk.
“Grim?” Kenna carefully walked in her high heels over the unforgiving desert floor. I reached out and slid my hand over her bottom and drew her to me. She looked up and made a face. “Iknow that look.” Her lips pressed together. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I ran my fingers through her hair then swooped down to catch her startled lips. Normally, when I let the darkness in, I pushed her away, but this time it was different. I wanted to feed on her.
She let me have my way. She pressed her tight body to mine and matched my intensity for a moment but then pulled back and studied my face. “Tell me or I’m leaving.”
I smirked. Like I’d ever let that happen. She glared at my reaction. “Grim?” she demanded, and I nodded at Shore, and he opened the trunk.
“An unexpected person led me to your stalker.”
“Oh, my God,” she covered her mouth, “I know this guy!”
“You do?” That was news to me.
She bent down and eyed him. “Well, I mean, I’ve seen him around. He talked to Simon a few times.” She gasped. “Shit, was Simon involved in this?”
“No, he’s the one who told me about him. Apparently, his name’s Kurt.” I really didn’t think Simon had anything to do with it, although he puzzled me at times. I couldn’t quite figure the guy out.
“Thank God.”
“If he did, he knows what I’d do to him,” I growled. Kurt groaned, and I waved at Jesse to help me lift him out of the trunk. We dropped him down in the dirt, and I threw a look at Trigger and the others. They all moved forward to surround him.
“Nice to have a break in the fuckin’ heat.” Trigger scratched his chin. “Shapin’ up to be a good day.” He grinned.
Kurt lifted his dusty head off the ground and took in his surroundings. Then he broke into a chuckle as he rolled onto his back. “I wondered when this day would come.” He turned and spotted Kenna and sat up with a deep groan. “She’s gorgeous,yeah?” I squeezed my hand into a fist as Kenna made her way over to me. She was careful to keep out of his reach. “I bet she’s great in the sack.” Kenna ran her hand up my chest and made me look at her.
“He’ll never know.” She gave me a hungry expression, and I smirked because she was right. He never would, not with any woman ever again.
She dropped her hand and turned to look at him. “Why attack me?” She screwed up her mouth. “Was it because of Matt Myers?”
He spat on the ground and felt his broken jaw. “That was just the cherry on top.” He grimaced. “No, it was just to piss him off.”
“Who? Grim?” She bent down and caught herself as she balanced carefully on the tiny sticks for heels on her shoes.
“No, please,” he laughed and glared at me, “though he shouldn’t have touched something that should have been mine. I saw you first, way back when those tits of yours were only just starting. It was long before he laid eyes on you.”
“You’re disgusting, and I belong to no one,” Kenna spat back, and I caught Trigger’s expression and held up a hand. He could read my mind, but I wanted to give Kurt a little more rope. “Then who did you want to piss off?” Kenna asked.
He slowly got to his feet and leaned toward her, and the boys instantly jumped to either side of Kenna. “Your father, of course.”
“I see.” She stood, and Leal whined. He anxiously awaited my command to rip this guy’s face off. “Did you hurt the dogs because of my father, too?”
“No, I wanted them dead because you never hesitated to put your hands all over them. The two of them practically drool when they see you.” He dove at Kenna, but in that same second, I swung her by the waist into me, Leal launched himself at Kurt’s throat, and Trigger and the others had their weapons out readyto fire. Kurt screamed as Leal hung on tight, and I gave him a command to let go. He immediately did as I said. I held up a hand to Trigger and the guys, but they never lowered their guns.
“You’re okay.” I brushed her hair off her face and saw her wild expression. “I got you.”
“Okay.” She had a death grip on my forearms. I could see that had really rattled her. She wasn’t prepared for him to go for her like that. I’d been ready because I’d read his body language. Kenna was feisty and could hold her own, but she was different from the other girls in that she wasn’t physical. Minus that one time with Kelly, but that was just a good, old-fashioned catfight. “He’s not walking away from here, right?”
“Not in one piece.” I gave her a quick kiss and waved for Minnie to come over. “Go with Minnie and let me deal with him.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I turned and faced him as she walked toward Minnie. Slowly, I walked over as I thought about how much I was going to enjoy this.