Page 83 of Rectify

Suddenly, Blondie was pulled off her, and Natalya coughed, gasping for breath. Miller kneeled beside her. Placing an arm around her shoulders, she helped Natalya sit up. Miller rubbed her back as Natalya tried to calm her racing heartbeat.

Looking over, she saw Caden had the screeching blonde pinned to the wall, her arms held behind her back. He pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and expertly cuffed her.

Turning, he covered Blondie’s mouth with his hand to muffle her screams.

“Fair warning, you bite me, and I will bite back,” he growled at her.

Another woman walked through the bathroom door, took one look at the four of them, then took a hasty retreat.

“Shit,” Caden said. “Cops will be here soon.”

“Good,” Natalya said hoarsely, lightly rubbing her neck with a shaking hand. “She tried to kill me.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d have let me come in here with you,” Caden scolded.

“No one likes to hear I told you so,” Natalya told him.

“Besides, Natalya had it under control,” Miller said with admiration. “She nearly had that bitch beat.”

Natalya was grateful for the endorsement, even if she didn’t quite share Miller’s confidence.

“For someone that looks like they shit sunshine, you sure can fight dirty,” Miller told her. She gestured over to Blondie, who had thin rivets of blood running down her face from where Natalya had scratched her.

“Do you always carry handcuffs?” Miller asked Caden curiously. They all ignored Blondie as she started to cry.

“Of course,” Caden replied matter-of-factly.

“Man after my own heart.” Miller looked up at him admiringly.

“Shit sunshine? Really?” Natalya asked.

“Yeah, you know. You’re so sweet and quiet; I didn’t think you had it in you. Was this your first real fight? Cause if it was, you did really well.”

Sweet and quiet? Seriously? Natalya laughed, wincing as it hurt her throat. “I’m not as sweet as I look, and yes, I guess this was my first fight. Are you saying you regularly get into fights?”

“Not anymore,” Miller replied before turning to Caden again. “Do you think I can ask the whacko a question?”

Caden shook his head. “I’ll ask the questions.”

“Okay. Can you ask her who her trainer is? That bitch is strong.”

“You’re crazy,” Natalya told her.

Miller just grinned.

13

“Iwasn’t going insane. Someone reallywaswatching me this whole time.” A huge weight lifted from her shoulders as she realized she wasn’t completely paranoid. Blondie had admitted to watching her for the past couple of months, ever since she’d moved in with Aedan.

Aedan raised her chin, staring at her neck.

“They’re just faint bruises, Aedan. She didn’t do any real damage.”

He growled, his face looking like a thundercloud. “She could have. What if she’d had a knife or a gun? I could have lost you.”

He hadn’t left her side since he’d received Caden’s call and rushed to the mall. She didn’t know when Caden had gotten a chance to call him. He’d been busy watching over her while dealing with the cops and keeping Miller under control.

The man was a serious multitasker.

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