Page 13 of Rage's Heart

I bristled, crossing my arms. “I was fine.”

“You were lucky,” he shot back, shaking his head. “Women have been going missing left and right and you get out of your car in the dark for a stranger? Jesus, what the fuck were you thinking?”

Chelsea winced. “Jack?—”

“No, let’s hear it,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “What should I have done, Mr. Perfect?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Called the cops? Called animal control?” he snapped.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause they would’ve gotten there so fast.”

Jack inhaled slowly before exhaling even slower, obviously trying to rein in his temper. “It’s not just pulling over that worries me.” He took a sip of his beer, narrowed eyes locked on mine. “Who was the man?”

I hesitated.

His gaze darkened. “McKenzie?”

No point in lying.

Gritting my teeth, I met his stare. “He was a biker.”

That thin layer of control he’d manage to wrangle vanished into thin air. Instantly his shoulders stiffened and I started to count down to the explosion that I knew was coming.

Three.

Two.

One.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

“Are you—” Jack slammed his beer onto the counter. “Are you out of your damn mind? A biker? Tell me you’re kidding.”

My jaw tightened. He was always so damn judgmental. “You don’t even know him.”

“I don’t need to know him,“ he shot back, voice full of warning. “Jesus!“

I clenched my fists. “I don’t need the lecture.”

“Clearly you do since you thought cozying up with a fucking biker was a bright idea.”

“I wasn’t ‘cozying up’ with anyone,” I snapped, my temper flaring now. “I was helping. If you’d shut up and listen for half a second, you’d realize not everything is some huge damn crisis.”

His expression darkened dangerously. “You think this isn’t a crisis? You have no idea what you’re dealing with. If you knew what these women who go missing?—”

“Enough.”

Mom’s voice cut through our argument like a sharp knife, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Both Jack and I snapped our mouths shut, though I could still feel the anger rolling off him like a thunderstorm.

“Both of you,” Mom sighed, giving us her best ‘I’m tired of your shit’ mom look. “Knock it off. It’s dinnertime, and I refuse to let the two of you bicker all night.”

Jack sat back in his chair, muttering something under his breath, but he didn’t argue further. I kept my mouth shut too. I didn’t like upsetting my mother.

Mom turned away, wiping her hands on a towel before calling out, “Girls! Dinner!”

Brooklyn and Emma came barreling back down the stairs like a herd of buffalo, their earlier argument apparently forgotten in favor of food.

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