Walker (Bowen Boys, #1)(10)

Khan turned his back to her and opened the door. He could see his mother coming up the stairs toward them when he turned back to the girl. He glared at her. “You’d better be nice to my mother or, so help me, you won’t be able to hide deep enough where I won’t—”

She cut him off, her voice low and threatening. “You mother-f*cking *. You think you can come in here and treat me like some piece of shit then threaten me with being nice to your mother? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” She sat up in the bed and he noticed that she was pale and her shoulder was bleeding. “Get the f*ck out of here. And don’t bother coming back. If I have to, I will rip this f*cker out to get up and tear you a new ass. Get out.”

He moved out of the way, let his mom move past him. She had to have heard them arguing, but she only smiled at the girl as she put the tray over her lap. She turned back to him and crossed her arms over her chest. “You heard her. She would very much like it if you left. I’m thinking it might be best if you did.” He nodded, but before he could make good his escape, she spoke again. “Khan Bowen, don’t think you’re off the hook. You and I will be having a conversation about threats to a guest in my house. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am. I understand.” He looked back at her and dropped his head. “I’m sorry for being rude to someone in your home.”

“And?”

He looked up and knew what she wanted, but she wasn’t going to get it. Nor was the girl. He would not apologize to a human, especially a female one.

He left the room without another word. His mom would be pissed, more than a little too, but he wasn’t going to bow down to anyone like the human again. And he was not impressed with her. He was appalled at her behavior, not impressed at all.

He was out the door when he remembered his dad. He’d asked to speak to him before he left, but Khan wasn’t in the mood now. He tore off his shirt and shifted even as his pants were settling on the ground.

Roseann had been like the girl in the bedroom upstairs. Conniving and vicious, she had made him fall in love with her then she’d not only betrayed him, but his family as well. He would never trust another human as long as he lived.

Khan had known she wasn’t his mate, hell they all had, but she was everything he had wanted in one. Except for being a panther. And when he’d told her what he was, even going so far as to show her, she’d seemed just fine about it. But he’d been wrong, nearly dead wrong.

She’d had him over one night and had told him she was having a few friends over as well. He’d asked her to marry him the week before and she’d said yes. The big wedding had been planned for June, June nearly seven years ago.

He shuddered when he thought of the events that had followed and cringed when he thought of how he’d handled it. Her family, wealthy and prestigious, had made it difficult for him to return to a normal life and even more difficult to return to the job he’d loved so much.

Khan stopped when he saw Dylan at Walker’s house. He’d been going there to talk his brother into releasing the girl to where she belonged. When they went into Walker’s house Khan nearly went back to his own home, but decided to get this over with. The girl needed to be gone.

There were things for each of them at all their houses, including his. There were places that hid each of their clothes in the forest beyond as well. Khan went there now. He pulled on his jeans and was unfolding his shirt when he knocked on the door. Walker didn’t look surprised to see him and invited him in.

“We’re having pizza and beer. If you can remain civil then you can stay, otherwise, you can leave now.”

Khan wanted to snap he was always civil, but remembered how uncivilized he been to the girl.

“I mean it, Khan. I’m not in the mood for your shit tonight.”

He nodded and walked in. Whatever had happened to his brother must have been bad. Walker was usually the least tempered of them all. Khan was in the kitchen when his cell phone went off and he turned it off when he saw who it was. He would take his punishment later from his mom. Right now, he wanted to speak to his brother.

“When will that girl be gone?” He’d managed to make it until the pizza was delivered before saying what he really came there for. Walker didn’t answer at first, but Dylan had plenty to say.

“What do you care? She’s not hurting you and she certainly isn’t sponging off you either. And as far as I could see the other day, Mom and Dad seem to like her.” Dylan snorted. “‘Course they don’t hate every person they come in contact with like you do.”

He wanted to hit him, but was in enough trouble with doing things in other people’s houses already. He looked over at Walker, ignoring Dylan. He decided to ignore him and get to the problem at hand.

“She’ll leave when I say so. You can f*ck off for all I care.” Dylan started to say something, but Walker stopped him with a look. “You don’t like that then you can leave now. I’m not releasing her until she’s healthy.”

“What’s going on?” He looked at Dylan then at Walker. “You know something about this girl that you don’t want me to know. She’s a f*cking reporter, isn’t she? Mother f*ck, Walker, do we want to go through that again?”

“As a matter of fact, I don’t know what she does for a living. She didn’t even tell me her name, so Dad told me.” He noticed that he didn’t answer him about what he knew. Before he could ask again, Dylan spoke.