Page 4 of Dearest Protector
I was careful, even-tempered, and steady. I calculated every move I made, in business and in my personal life.
I was the guy who picked up the pieces when bad shit happened and tried to smooth things over until everything was back to normal again.
Ilikedeverything calm and sensible.
I wasn’t like my older brother, Ian, who had silently stalked our stepsister, Katie,for yearsjust to make sure that she was safe because he’d been completely obsessed with her.
Yeah, Ian had eventually ended up with the woman of his dreams, but he’d nearly lost his mind in the process.
That wasn’tme.
Iwasn’tthat kind of guy.
What in the fuck was wrong with me right now?
Okay. So I had some idea why I felt this way.
Ariel was the one woman who was almost impossible to forget.
I wanted to eviscerate the piece of shit who was abusing Ariel, regardless of the fact that there was a special birthday ball for my mother taking place inside this home right now.
That’s right, idiot. There is a special event for your mother happening within a stone’s throw of this incident. Pull your shit together, Blackwood! Much as you’d like to kill this son of a bitch right now, you can’t!
“Let go of me,” Ariel said angrily.
I could hear the fear in her voice, which almost made me forget that I couldn’t make a scene on my mother’s patio right at the moment.
The bastard scoffed, “You’re a tramp. An out of work ballet dancer. Who would invite you here?”
Oh, hell no!Birthday ball or not, I couldn’t stand in the shadows for another second.
My protective instincts toward Ariel overruled any other thoughts in my head as I stepped into the dim light.
“My family invited her,” I growled. “And if you don’t let go of her and back off, I’ll put your head into the cement so hard that nobody will recognize your face again.”
Every gut impulse I had insisted I act on those words.
Right. Fucking. Now.
Chapter 1
Ariel
The Present…
Fort Myers, Florida
Iwas in very big trouble, and I knew it.
I just didn’t know exactly what I was going to do about it.
After stepping out of the shower with a heavy sigh, I grabbed my towel and dried myself off hastily, trying to breathe slowly through my panic.
What in the hell am I going to do? How am I going to survive without a job?
All night, I’d laid awake in my bed, looking for a solution to my dilemma, but I’d failed miserably at producing any answers.
Puddles of moisture flooded my eyes. The large tears that dropped onto my cheeks were a result of the pain and stress I’d been through over the last ten months.