Page 157 of Hold Me Until Morning

Honestly, I didn’t want the company. I wanted to stew in the outrage. In the wrath that was coming.

“Alright. Just holler if you change your mind.”

“Will do,” I told him.

Matthew strode down the pathway in the direction of where the rest of our guys were working, and I turned back to the task at hand, praying by the time I finished I’d have come to some sort of solution.

A resolution.

It was damned hard when I had no idea how to handle a scumbag like Pruitt.

He struck me as a weaselly prick, and I was ninety-nine percent sure the actual person who attacked me wasn’t him but rather someone who’d been sent to do his bidding.

Nothing but a twisted fuck who had so much control and power that he could send someone to commit a crime without much of a worry.

Hailey and I had talked this morning on the way to work about going to the police, what our options were.

She’d asked for a little time. Needing to figure out how she was going to handle this.

I turned back to spear out another shovelful when I felt a shadow cover me from behind, blocking out the rays of light though it did nothing to blot out the heat.

My stomach clutched, and I slowly shifted around, fighting the way my ribs wanted to cave in when I saw the man standing over me.

Douglas Wagner.

Surprise scuffed from his mouth when he saw my busted to shit face, and he shook his head, though it wasn’t quite in disbelief. “Trouble follows you wherever you go, doesn’t it?”

I scoffed and went back to shoveling like my stomach wasn’t sick at the sight of him.

“And I wasn’t even asking for it this time.” I injected as much irony into it as I could, even though the statement wasn’t necessarily true.

I had asked for it.

Had asked to stand for Hailey.

No doubt, this asshole was going to be none too happy if I claimed it.

“It’s a lifestyle that breeds those things.” His tone was the same as it’d been all those years ago.

Condescending.

Disgusted.

“I’m not that same kid any longer.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re a different person.”

I drove the shovel straight into the ground and rested my arm on the top of the handle. Agitation clamored through my nerves, though I forced myself to remain calm as I stared up at Hailey’s father. “And what exactly are you implying?”

He didn’t hesitate. “The same thing I was saying then. Stay the hell away from my daughter. She has enough going on in her life without you making it worse.”

Scorned disbelief rattled in my chest. “Your daughter is a big girl. She can make those decisions for herself.”

“My daughter is grieving. Looking for something…anything…to make her feel good.”

I bit down on my tongue to keep from spouting off just how good I actually made her feel.

“I’d suggest you don’t prey on that,” he added.