Better when He's Bold (Welcome to the Point #2)(19)
She gave me her good hand and I pulled her to her feet. We were chest to chest, her eyes glimmered so enticingly, and it was all I could do not to bend down and pull that gnawed-on lower lip into my own mouth. She was hurt, she was scared, and she was pretending really hard that she didn’t like me at all. None of that stopped my dick from going hard and my nostrils from flaring at her alluring scent.
“Let’s go get the rocks out of your knee and arm before they cause you more problems than you already have.”
She nodded jerkily and took my hand so I could guide her up to the loft. I could feel her palm quiver against my own.
“By the way, did you save my laptop?”
With all the drama of almost watching her get run over, I had forgotten all about the reason I was waiting for her in the parking lot in the first place.
“No. It was DOA, but I did get most of your Math Theory shit onto a new hard drive. You’re right; it’s an easy class and you shouldn’t be failing it.”
She made a light noise behind me and I didn’t bother trying to give her a tour of the place since everything was really in one room and she could see everything I owned in one glance. I took her right to the tiny bathroom and pushed open the door.
“Great. And the good news keeps on coming.” She sounded so sad, so defeated, it twisted something hard at the center of my chest.
“I got you a new one.” I gave her a little nudge so I could reach around her to crank on the water in the shower. “I think you should try and rinse out as much of the gravel as you can in the shower first. The water is either the temperature of the sun or of the Antarctic, so you’ll have to pick whichever one hurts less.”
I leaned back and paused because she was staring up at me with huge blue eyes the color of the summer sky. I could float away and get lost in them with very little effort.
“You bought me a new computer?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Yeah, and you’re gonna take it and tell me why someone really might have it in for you, and then I’m going to find whoever it is and make them think twice about their current life decisions.”
She opened her mouth to argue, or to say thank you, but she didn’t get the chance to do either because I got a text from Aldo saying he was out front and needed a way to get the BMW inside the gates. I also decided he had much more to do for me before his debt was going to be wiped clean.
“Take a shower, Bry. Clean up, and when I get back I’ll help you get the rest of the grit out, wrap you up, and send you home.”
I was halfway out the bathroom door when she put a hand on my arm and drew me to a stop. I looked down at her tiny, shaking hand and then into her lovely, sad eyes. I was going to strangle whoever was responsible for putting that look there.
“Race . . .” She trailed off and all I wanted to do was scoop her up and put her somewhere flat and climb all over her. She was hurt, and it was totally inappropriate, but my libido didn’t care. “Why are you doing this? I’m friends with your sister, not you. I’ve never even been very nice to you. Why are you being so helpful?”
My motivations seemed to be in question to anyone and everyone. It was starting to get old. I reached out a finger and moved the longer, front part of her hair off of her face so I could hook it around the delicate shell of her ear. The action made her shiver.
“I take care of my own, Brysen. Like it or not, that includes you.”
I stepped away from her as her pretty mouth fell into a little O of surprise. I was getting to the bottom of what was going on with Brysen Carter, and while I was at it, I was kicking down that stupid wall she had erected between us. Like Nassir had said earlier—there was only one way to do things, and that was my way. Whatever she was dealing with, whatever control she was missing in her life, she was about to have all kinds of the worst sort of help getting it back. I just hoped she was ready to give a little so I didn’t destroy both of us in the process of pounding ruthlessly against those shields she was constantly throwing up.
Chapter 5
Brysen
THE WATER BURNED EVERY place on my body where the skin had ripped off. The runoff swirled pink and dingy with leftover parking-lot goo, blood, and grime as it ran over my feet. Race hadn’t been lying, the shower was inferno hot, but it felt nice because I was ice cold on the inside.
I had no clue what was going on, why anyone would want to hurt me, but there was no trying to explain away the fact that I had almost been run down tonight. Along the way of giving up my life, of trying to take care of my family, it appeared I had managed to upset someone enough that they wanted to hurt me. I never went anywhere, kept my nose clean, and never wandered out of the basic suburban box my life had always existed in, so it didn’t make any sense. It was scary, and I didn’t even know where to start with trying to figure it out. For right now I was going to let the superhot water wash away as much of the blood and aching in my bones as it could, and try not to jump on Race in all his protective and glowering hotness. No one had claimed me as their own in a very long time. Add in the fact he was even more sexy and alluring when he was being threatening and up in arms on my behalf, and my resolve was flickering out like a low-burning wick on a candle.
He left me a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants Dovie had left behind when she was staying here with him, but I left both of them sitting on the counter next to the cracked sink and just wrapped myself up in a threadbare towel he had tossed haphazardly on the closed toilet. I still needed his help fishing a nice-size rock out of my elbow, and the outside of my knee looked like someone had attacked it with a cheese grater. Cleaning it was going to hurt like a bitch and I was going to be bummed out if I ended up with a gnarly scar. Right now I didn’t feel like I had very much going for me, and it would suck if the one thing I had always been able to fall back on—my looks—was suddenly compromised as well. I stuck my tongue out at my reflection in the mirror and twisted my hands through my hair to wring out some of the water. I looked like hell, but it fit since I felt like hell.