Page 71 of Never Fear (Whiskey Ridge)
My eyes narrowed on him. He was acting…strange. “I can help.”
“No,” he said quickly, barely letting me finish. “Go take care of her.” He looked back at McKenna, brows pulled together. “She’s bleeding.”
My focus snapped back to her, noting the blood dribbling down from her hairline. “Fuck.” Quickly, I shucked off my sweatshirt and pressed it to her head. She leaned into my touch, closing her eyes. She must be exhausted—if her absence of spewing insults Henley’s way was any indication—and here I was offering to help Henley clean up this mess. I couldn’t take care of all of them, and if I had to choose, it’d be her. Henley could wait.
My arm wound itself beneath her legs, then I stood with her in my hold and faced Henley. “If you need anything?—”
He cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Go take care of your girl.”
With a dip of my chin, I left the warehouse, only letting her out of my arms to set her in the passenger seat of my truck.
“Is anything broken?” I asked where I stood with her door open.
She shook her head, but the movement was slow, and she winced. “I don’t think so.”
I remembered the man’s body on her legs and, instinctively, my attention moved to her ankle. I was silent as I tried to put a cap on my rage. I wasn’t above beating deceased bodies if it was for the right cause.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around herself, the sleeves of my jacket gripped in her bloody fingers.
“Did she?”
“Besides what you saw, no.” As if remembering it, she rolled her lips together, and a sheen coated her eyes.
I swallowed, hard, and leaned forward to press a kiss to her temple.
“You saved me, Austin,” she murmured, and the admission shoved a knife through my heart.
“Yeah, well, I only wish you hadn’t been in a position where you needed to be saved.”
She formed a sad smile, but fuck, did it brighten my mood even the slightest. That. That right there was what would keep me from an eternity of damning thoughts.
Then she smacked my chest with much more strength than I thought she had in her right now.
Ow.
“And don’t you ever pretend you want me dead again, asshole.”
I rubbed at my chest, smiling down at her. “There are those claws I love.”
She rolled her eyes, and I was glad to see she wasn’t hurt enough to lose that spark of hers. “Get in the damn truck.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Then I shut the door and rounded the hood, smiling like a fucking idiot despite the rage still coursing through me.
McKenna was good for me. And despite the pain, maybe I was good for her, too.
Chapter 28
Austin
Water sloshed along the sides of the tub as I settled McKenna’s back to my chest in my private bathroom. Bubbles covered her breasts as she tipped her head back, closing her eyes with a soft hum. My thumbs rubbed circles on her neck and shoulders, doing my best to ease as much of the tension as I could.
We’d rinsed the blood and dirt off in the shower before filling the tub with steaming water, and now, with her in my arms, I was content to stay here all night.
I’d run soap over every inch of her body, refraining from punching the wall at the sight of her bruises. Then she’d insisted on doing the same to me, and I’d let her. Anything she wanted, and it was hers. Including my body, but especially my soul.
