Page 30 of Tangled Hearts

“What kind of things?”

“Things that make me think he’s watching me.” I glance up and down the busy sidewalk.

“How far are you from Hot Spot?”

"It's just a few blocks away," I tell him.

“Go straight there and do not leave any public setting. I’ll be there shortly.” I smile. “You hear me, Natalie?”

“Yes, I hear you,” I tell him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. I’ll be right there.”

When we end the call, I make the short trek over to Hot Spot. Frankie is already there and got us a table. “What’s wrong?” she says the second she sees me.

“Am I that easy to read?” I sit back, putting my bag down.

“Not always, but you’re a bit pale.” There aren’t many things that scare me, but the look that was in Morris' eyes has me frightened.

“It’s Morris.” Frankie’s eyes widen.

“As in Daniel Morris?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s here.” My stomach drops. Frankie keeps a straight face, only moving her eyes in the direction of the bar. Slowly, I turn my head to see him standing there, staring right at me.

Chapter Twenty-Three

DYLAN

Iarrive at Hot Spot ten minutes later with Kaden on my heels. He refused to let me leave without him.

“You can’t get in any trouble. Your contract isn’t guaranteed.” That means that the team could let him go without him playing even a single down.

“I’m just here to watch.” He signals that he plans to stay hands-off, but I have my doubts. Kaden’s a hothead who has gotten warned more than once for his on-field trash-talking.

Morris is standing nearly on top of Nat’s chair, bellowing about how she’s a terrible lawyer. “No one hire this broad unless you want to end up paying for bad legal advice.”

Nat’s cheeks are burning, and it’s not from excitement. The only time she should have color on her face is when I put it there. I grab Morris by the neck and drag him toward the door.

“What the hell are you doing? Get your hands off me.” He bats at my arm, but my grip is like glue. “Someone call the police. I’m being assaulted here!”

A couple walks into the bar just as I reach the door. The guy takes one look at my face and steps out of the way, pullinghis girlfriend with him. Kaden holds the door open while I frogmarch Morris outside.

On the sidewalk, I let him go. “I’m going to give you two choices. You can either stay outside and I’m going to pound you into the asphalt or you can go inside and apologize to Nat, tell everyone she’s a great lawyer, and then pay the bar tab of every single person in that room.”

“I’m the victim here!” he yells, punching his chest. “She conned me into a fuckass settlement that drained my bank account. I did nothing wrong, and she couldn’t fix it. I bet she was colluding with that other bitch. This one’s nothing but a two-bit cunt who probably slept?—”

He doesn’t get any more out because my fist is in his teeth. He stumbles backward. I grab the front of his shirt and haul him upright. His face is almost purple with rage. He swings, and I let him make contact.

“Ouch,” Kaden says.

I can’t feel it. I’m too angry. I block the next punch from Morris and then another. Three attempts to my one. I feel like that’s enough to trigger my right to self-defense, although, technically I did hit him first, but if I have to sit a night or two in jail for the pleasure of beating the shit out of this asswipe, I’ll do so with pleasure.

I tighten my grip around his shirt until the fabric is choking him. He brings his hands up to my fist and tries to claw loose. I take the opportunity to slap him once and then another time. He opens his mouth, probably to say that only girls slap people, but this time my fist makes contact with his cheek and then his nose. He sags in my hold, his head hanging. I let him go, and he drops to one knee.

“She got you a better deal than you deserve.” I can’t believe my Nat had to work with this worm. No wonder she came to my place tense and tired.

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