Adored (Masters and Mercenaries #8.5)(53)

She cried pretty freely in that moment because the minute he’d given her the scenario, she’d known what she would do. “I would feed him. I would put out a dish and then wait. I wouldn’t push him the first couple of times. I would put the dish out and then walk away. After he got used to that, I would stand in the door until he learned it was all right for me to watch him.”

“You sound like you’ve done this before.”

She nodded. “We had this dog when I was a kid. He was the bane of the trailer park. He was quick though. Believe me, some of the residents tried to shoot him because they said he was too far gone. He’d been abused and they told me once a dog got mean, he couldn’t come back.”

One side of his mouth tugged up and he smiled at her. “You didn’t think so, though, did you?”

“I don’t know why, but he spent a lot of time outside our trailer. I guess there was a warm place or something. He would scare the crap out of us when we would go to school. I was afraid Will was going to do something to him. Not because my brother’s mean or anything. He just took his responsibilities very seriously. So I saved some of my dinner one night and I brought it out to the dog. I did it the night after and so on. He stopped growling at us. He wouldn’t come in the house, but he didn’t bark at us anymore. And then one day I opened the door to go to school and he was waiting for me. We had that dog until he died of old age.”

“Mitch is growling and barking at you because it’s the only thing he knows to do. I promise you that man is telling himself it’s all for the best because you would have kicked him in the end. No one will think less of you for moving on to an easier man, chère. But he’ll be alone because I think you’re his one shot at finding something good. You walk away and he won’t ever try again. That’s something for you to think about.”

She watched the streets go by and wondered if she would think about anything else.





Chapter Ten



“Wow. You are really bad at that.”

Mitch stared at the spot where he’d last seen Laurel and only vaguely thought about punching his brother in his movie star, good-looking face. But that would require him to turn around, and he might never be able to do that again. He might spend the rest of his life watching this spot and praying for her to show up again.

Guidry nodded his way as though letting Mitch know he would handle things from now on and then he, too, disappeared into the building where Laurel worked.

She was gone.

Suck it up. You knew it would happen eventually. It’s better that it happen now before you got too deep.

He was already too deep. God, she was gone and he felt something open deep inside him. A wound that was never f*cking going to heal.

“Aren’t you going after her?”

Flynn. Laurel was gone, but Flynn was still here. His younger brother. The one dear old dad wanted. It was so f*cking good to have a place to throw his hate. He turned and was slightly pleased that Flynn took a step back. He would bet Flynn had never had to defend himself because no one was around to help him. Flynn would have been given the best of everything while Mitch hadn’t even gotten f*cking scraps. “I would rather deal with you, Adler. You want to explain why you’re here f*cking around with my submissive?”

Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “Submissive?”

Oh this was going to be fun. He was sure Flynn was perfectly vanilla and would be so horrified at big brother’s perversions. “Yes. You were flirting with my sub, Adler. When I talked about punishing her I meant pulling her skirt up and smacking her ass because it makes her hot. I’ve tied her up six ways to Sunday and I didn’t leave her untouched, if you know what I mean. You couldn’t handle her even if I allowed it, which I won’t. Go back to California, you little prick.”

Flynn’s face went red, but he took a step forward, his fists clenched at his sides. “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t surprise me to find out you’re an abusive piece of shit.”

Like he hadn’t heard that before. He turned and started walking to his SUV. He had work to do. He would find a way to get her back. Oh, he’d do it in a nasty way, but she was going to be back in his home, in his bed before she could play around with someone else.

“Mitch.” Flynn was suddenly beside him, jogging to keep up. “Mitch, I said that in anger. I’m sorry. I’m not a complete idiot. I watch TV and stuff. I know some people have relationships like that. Hell, I even knew you went to clubs. It was just surprising to hear you say it like that. Which I’m sure was why you did it. You seem to want me to think the worst of you.”

Mitch turned. Flynn didn’t seem to understand him at all. “I don’t care what you think. That’s why I avoid you. I don’t care about you or Dad or anyone at all, so get the f*ck out of my state. Why do you think I left California? It damn sure wasn’t to get closer to you. Go back to your cushy life and leave me alone.”

Flynn had cost him everything. If the jackass had stayed away, Laurel would have been sitting at her desk and he would be the one taking her to the police station. He would be the one holding her hand and promising her everything would be fine. He would be the one she turned to.

He crossed the street and stalked toward his car, all the while thinking about how he was going to keep her. He was stupid. He knew he’d been a major *, but she was in the wrong, too. She knew he didn’t talk about his past unless he specifically brought it up, and she’d sat right down with one of the biggest pieces of his past and had lunch. She’d known damn well he wouldn’t have approved and she’d done it anyway.