Page 92 of Wrath
For a moment, her giant brother blinked, shocked that she had the audacity to insult him—or rather compliment him. For serious, those locks were swoony model territory according to all the women he dated. Made no sense to her.
She could virtually see thoughts colliding behind his eyes as he took in her limp hair, fluffy slippers and pajamas.Don’t give a shit. I do what I want.To shove it to him, she grabbed her pigtail and popped the crusty end into her mouth and then dared him with her eyes, pretending not to be grossed out by what she’d just done. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Parker checked his Rolex. “You’re twenty minutes late.”
Standoff over, she spat out her hair and moved down the room to a vacant seat between Liza and Wyatt.
“Who does a breakfast meeting, anyway?” She plopped down and reached for a croissant. “Most normal people aren’t even up at eight in the morning.”
“I, for one, am glad the security firm we’ve hired are so diligent,” Griffin added from his spot directly opposite her.
His life-mate, Lilo, was next to him. She poked her tongue at him. “Of course you would say that. You think five a.m. is a perfectly respectable time to wake up.”
“That’s what I was going to say,” Sloan said, laughing. She liked Lilo. The woman was growing on her. Another woman growing on her was Misha and her fun-times attitude. Sloan needed more of that in her life right now.
“Where’s Misha?” she asked Wyatt.
“She’s not well,” was all Wyatt said, and then left it at that.
The sooner this meeting was over, the better.
A knock came at the door, and in walked a tall, well-built man dressed in army fatigues and a black Henley stretched over an impressive body made for violence. Tanned, square jaw covered in scruff, sandy blond beach hair—brown familiar eyes staring right back at her. Sloan choked on her croissant and coughed it up.
Parker stood up. “Everyone, this is Maximillian Johnson from Nightingale Security. He’ll be heading up our private protection. Some of you may remember serving in the Aussie SAS with him.”
Tony yipped loudly and jumped to his feet, clearly over the moon as he went to his longtime friend. Parker proceeded to point around the table making introductions, but Sloan had spaced out. All she could see was a blur. All she could hear was his name turn over in her head.
Maximillian. Max.
Max.
Max.
What the fuck?
Rage, like none she’d ever known before, surged to the surface of every blood vessel in her body and the croissant crumbled to mush in her fist.
Wyatt’s gaze whipped her way. “Sloan?”
She couldn’t speak. Could barely think. As the rest of her traitorous family shook hands with the Australian bastard, she found she could barely breathe. And then Liza—thank the stars for Liza—snorted out a laugh.
“Max Johnson?” Another irreverent laugh. “Is that a joke?”
Relief sagged Sloan’s shoulders. At least one member of her family had the sense to remember this dickwad-filled-scrotum-tasting… Argh! She couldn’t even get expletives out right. Asshole. He was an asshole.I hate you!
“His name means big dick.” Liza elbowed Sloan in the arm. “Can you believe it? Get it, Max for maximum, Johnson for dick?”
Sloan looked aghast at her sister and the reality dawned on her.
No one gave a shit.
This man they were hailing a hero to come and protect their public identities had chewed up her heart, and spat it out. And now he was there to gloat.
And no one gave a shit.
Suddenly, all the anger drained from her body to leave her cold and shivering. Then slowly, keeping her eyes on the spot just in front of her, she pushed her chair out, stood, and walked out of the room.
“Sloan.”
