Page 98 of Tore Up

“Uh-uh-uh,” Grissele said. “Don’t try that. He doesn’t know what I overheard and witnessed. He won’t be coming to your rescue. He might break your damn neck.”

Bane tensed up, his hand gripping my hip. “What did she do?” he asked, his voice lowering.

“Let’s see. Where to start? She accused Halo of being lazy, taking advantage of you, being in the way here, then ordered her to get outside and put up Slingshot. I was going to fire her in a less dramatic way at that moment, but then the crazy bitch pushed Halo. When Halo caught herself, I eased my hand off the gun just barely because she shoved her again, and this time, Halo fell to the ground.”

Bane shot over to Adalee so fast that I gasped, stepping back.

His hands went to her throat. “YOU FUCKING BITCH!” he roared.

“It’s okay, son. Halo landed on her hands and knees. She’s fine. No need to kill this one. But she does need to get off the property within ten minutes. Now, let go of her throat before she chokes to death and we have an unwanted mess to clean up.” Grissele’s tone was so calm that I almost laughed in horror.

Bane shook Adalee, then released her neck. She was trying tosuck in air but was struggling. Grissele took the gun and opened her purse to slide it inside. Her gaze met mine then, and her face softened.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently.

I managed a nod.

“I am sorry about all this,” she said.

Bane was stalking back to me, his glare on Adalee. He pointed at the stables. “Get your shit! The clock is ticking.”

Then, his arms wrapped around me, and he pulled me to his chest, kissing the top of my head.

“You take care of our girl. I’ll make sure this one clears out quickly,” Grissele told him.

My face was buried in Bane’s chest, and I couldn’t see the other two as they left, but I heard both sets of their heels as they walked away.

“Fucking hell, baby. What happened?” he asked, running his hands over my arms and stepping back to see if he could find anything on me that was harmed.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “She’d never been physical before. Today, things just escalated.”

He was studying my dirty, scraped hands and dusting them off when his eyes shot back up to my face. “Escalated? Meaning she did something to you before today?”

“Just verbally. She’s not very fond of me.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by verbally?”

I sighed, figuring she’d been fired now so this wasn’t me telling on her because I couldn’t handle it myself. “She would say nasty, hurtful things, make me shovel out stalls when you were gone, get her coffee, other chores.”

He lowered my hands. “Make you?”

I shrugged. “Well, I mean, she told me to. I did it. I was trying to win her over. She’s a tough nut to crack. Clearly, I failed.”

Bane turned and started stalking toward the stables. Then, hishand reached back, and he pulled a gun from beneath his shirt.

What the heck?! What was with these people and their guns?

“Bane!” I shouted and started running after him.

He didn’t slow down; in fact, his long strides got more determined.

“Where is the bitch?!” he roared as he walked into the stables.

“Oh, are we not through yet?” Grissele asked calmly.

Holy crap! They were all deranged. Nothing about what I had just told him warranted being shot.

“BANE, PLEASE!” I cried out loudly.

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