Throttled (Wild Riders #1)(63)

“Yeah well, we can’t all be Reid Travers.” The disdain he had for Reid was clear, but the way he was looking at me like he couldn’t have cared less that we’d actually been in a relationship at one point or that I’d all but condemned him to hell moments earlier was sickening. My sister and Reid had been right about him all along.

“No you can’t.” I knew that he was never going to confess, but I was certain that he’d had something to do with it. Call it woman’s intuition. “Don’t think you’re going to get away with this,” I warned.

“Like I said,” he said with a smug smile. “You can’t prove anything.”

“She might not be able to,” I heard Reid’s voice coming from behind me and turned just as he walked through the door. “But, I sure as f*ck can.” He walked over to stand beside me. “And, believe me if,” he paused, “no, when I find out that you touched that bike I will ruin you.”

“Are you threatening me?” Beau said.

“That is not a f*cking threat, it’s a god damned promise,” Reid said sternly. “I have the best mechanics in the country already and lined up to look at the bike. And, I’ll get the entire thing fingerprinted before they tear into it. One way or another I will prove that you were behind this.”

“I... you can’t.”

“I can do whatever the f*ck I want,” Reid seethed. “You f*cked with my bike. You hurt my best friend. You’re lucky I don’t rip you out from behind that desk and settle this right here.”

“I wish you would,” Beau said, provoking Reid by stepping out from behind his desk. He stepped up to where we were standing. I had to give it to him. He had balls. I was scared of Reid’s words, not to mention he was standing there with his chest puffed out like he was getting ready to go into battle. Beau really was an arrogant son of a bitch.

“Oh believe me, I want to,” Reid said, slipping his hand into mine. “But I’ve got too much to lose to touch you. You’ll get what you’ve got coming.” He squeezed my hand as he turned to walk out the door. I followed, but not before Beau opened his mouth once more.

“Take your stupid bitch and get the hell out of my store,” he said.

Reid looked over at me, his hand loosening in mine. I wasn’t sure if he was giving me a warning with his eyes or asking for approval, but I knew there was no stopping what he was about to do. He turned, gently pushing me behind him as he connected his fist to Beau’s nose. The crack of bone and cartilage was followed by the sound of Beau’s yelping and a gush of blood. He dropped to his knees, his hands covering the damage.

“Go f*ck yourself, Gregurich,” Reid said before he laced his fingers back through mine and led us out the door.



*



I could tell that Reid had a thousand questions for me—namely why he found me confronting my ex when I said I was going home—but we decided to head back to the hospital before the police showed up to arrest Reid for assault. He’d followed me in Georgia’s car back to the hospital, which meant I had a few questions for him also.

“I thought you were going home?” Reid asked once we were in the parking lot of Memorial Hospital.

“I thought you were waiting for Brett to wake up?” I said back. “And how did you get Georgia’s car?”

“You shouldn’t have gone there by yourself,” he argued. “Especially after what happened at the bar.”

“Probably not. But, you shouldn’t have been there either.”

“Your sister was working and stopped in to check on Brett, so I asked if I could borrow—”

“She did? I knew she liked Brett,” I said as we walked toward the entrance. I knew there was something going on between them. When I called her and told her what had happened at the track I could tell that she was upset, but I didn’t think she’d show up at the hospital.

“We both knew that was the case,” he replied. “She said she knew some of the nurses and wanted to help him with his recovery if I needed it. I’m thinking it had a little more to do with Brett than she was letting on,” he explained. “Now answer the question, Nora. Why did you go there without me?”

“I had to know the truth,” I confessed. “I wanted to look him the eye and ask him if he had anything to do with it.”

Reid sighed heavily and took my hand as he pulled me to a stop. “You’re going to be the death of me, Nora Bennett. You should have waited for me.” He closed his eyes and shook his head before looking me in the eye once more. “Do you know what I wanted to do to him when I found you in his office? When I saw him staring you down like he wanted to put his hands on you again?”

“Punch him in the nose?” I said coyly, hoping that he wasn’t angry with me. I know I shouldn’t have gone alone, but I was glad I was there when Reid showed up. I knew that he had a lot of self-control, but if things would have escalated, I would have been there to at least attempt to break it up.

“That was just the tip of the iceberg.” He wrapped his arms around me as we stood on the sidewalk. “I would have killed him if he’d laid a finger on you. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself if he hurt you.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. Grabbing on to his arms, I steadied myself. His kisses still made me feel weak in the knees and the events of the day hadn’t helped my stability at all. The firmness and urgency of his mouth against mine left no doubt in my mind that he loved and wanted to protect me. I felt the same way about him.