Page 80 of Little Bird
I kick him again and again until I register another voice shouting at me, a hand on my arm.
“Gabe, stop!” Taryn shouts. “It’s enough, Gabe! Enough!”
I stop immediately at her words, breathing hard and looking down at the guy. He’s in a crumpled heap, bent into fetal position as he tries to protect himself, and she’s right. It’s enough. God, I lost track of what I was doing and could have gone too far.
If she wasn’t here to stop me.
I grab her and tug her to me, the emotions suddenly far too big for me to hold. And then I swing right back to anger.
“What the fuck are you doing out here alone at night?” I ask, pushing her back and staring down at her. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Do you have everything? I’m taking you home.”
Some part of my mind knows that I sound even more insane now than I did when I slammed through the door of the bar screaming her name, but I don’t care. I don’t actually need an answer to the questions I’m slingshotting at her because the answers don’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I have her back; she’s whole and alive, and back in my hands. And that I’m taking her home.
I take her arm and guide her quickly through the bar, emotions still racing through my nervous system like they’re all trying to get to my brain first. As we pass Benny, I tell him sharply that there’s a guy in the hall who was attacking Taryn and that he’s in bad shape. I add a quick side note that Benny should keep better control of his patrons and that I’ll be talking to him tomorrow about the fact that this was happening while he was casually cleaning the bar, and leave that to brew in his brain until tomorrow.
He’s in trouble, and he needs to know it.
The moment we’re outside I pick Taryn up and throw her over my shoulder so I can get to the truck more quickly. It’s cold out here and as usual, she didn’t wear enough clothes for the weather.
That’s fine. It just gives me one more thing to lecture her about on the ten-minute drive back to the house.
She gives me almost nothing on the drive home, barely responding to my repeated questions and statements, and by the time I pull into the driveway I’m nearly foaming at the mouth with anger.
Or desire.
Honestly, I can’t tell which is stronger. The thought that I could have lost her tonight, while probably an exaggeration, is so heavy in my mind that I can hardly stand it. I want to take her upstairs and tie her to my bed then post a guard outside my door so she can’t escape.
And then I want to lay claim to her. Spread her open and fuck her deep and hard until she says she’ll never run again.
Somewhere in there, I’m sure there’s some note of having been abandoned by two mothers and needing someone to promise to stay with me. Somewhere, there’s damage I’ve never even considered.
But I’m not considering it right now. My cock is hard and aching and I’m too busy thinking about what I want to do to Taryn.
She’s already out of the truck when I get to her side but I’m not going to let her walk on her own. I throw her over my shoulder again, gratified when she doesn’t even fight me this time, and start walking toward the house.
“My God, girl, what am I going to do with you? The last time I saw you, you were underneath me and I had my cock buried in you. I got you back to the house and thought you’d go to your room and go to sleep. Be a good girl for once in your life.”
Now she does start squirming, and I take a knee to the sternum on the way up the stairs. I grunt in pain but don’t put her down–—despite the curses she’s hurling my way–—and throw the door open.
“How the fuck did you get into the back hallway at Penny’s, fighting off a guy twice as big as you? Do you have any idea what could have happened if I didn’t come get you?”
“I know exactly what would have happened, you asshole. Why the fuck do you think I called you?” she grunts.
She’s now poking her fingers into my back, aiming right for the ticklish spots between my ribs, the little minx.
I hike her up further, hoping to decrease her reach, and start climbing the stairs toward the second floor. It’s the middle of the night, thank God, and my father is already in his room asleep. That won’t last if she keeps shouting, though, so I shake her a bit.
“Enough, Little Bird. Shut your mouth unless you want a lecture from my father as well,” I murmur.
She shuts up like I knew she would, and I take the stairs two at a time in my hurry to get upstairs. Neither of us wants my father awake right now. She doesn’t want another lecture, and I...
I don’t want him getting up and ruining anything else. The old man is so cranky lately I can hardly stand to be around him, and I’ve seen how he treats Taryn. He looks at her like she has no right to be here and acts like he doesn’t even know who she is anymore. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he wants her to leave.
Which makes no sense, considering he’s the one who brought her up here.
Still, I don’t want to have to deal with him tonight. For all I know, he’ll blame me for letting Taryn out of the house and spend the next four years taking it out on me. That would fit in nicely with what he’s done whenever anyone else has left us.
The thought makes me even angrier than I already am and I increase my pace. Fucking Dad, screwing everything up. Fucking Taryn, disappearing in the middle of the night, getting herself into a bad situation, and only then managing to call me.
