Protected by a Hero

by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne

  “What the motherfuck?” Parker’s fists were balled, his muscles ready.

  Matt leaned back, not a care on his face. “It was nothing. Forget it.”

  “Are you out of your damn—”

  Matt raised his beer. “Have a drink or get out.”

  “Dude, you had your hands around her neck.”

  “It wasn’t what it looked like.”

  “Are you fuckin’ on crack?”

  His head tilted. “You got a thing for my fiancée?”

  “Jesus fuckin’ Christ. I’ve got a thing for common decency.”

  “I’m not gonna fight you over her. She’ll come back. Tell her one simple word: Bacon.”

  “What?”

  “Tell her I’ve got Bacon.”

  Screw it. Parker didn’t care. He slammed out the front door and headed back for Lexi. His muscles shook from wanting to crush Matt. Parker’s mind ping-ponged over a million memories. What had he seen before, what had he missed, why had Matt changed—really changed—for the worse? Growling, Parker jumped into his seat after Lexi unlocked the doors then he threw the SUV into reverse and peeled out of the driveway without looking at her. He couldn’t, because shit, if he did, there was no telling what would come out of his mouth.

  They slowed through stop signs. He didn’t know where he was going, but they were working through the maze of suburbia hell.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “He’s your friend. I didn’t mean to put you in the middle of that.”

  “No friend of mine would ever hurt a woman.” Parker’s grip strangled the steering wheel as though he was trying to force himself not to turn back. His knuckles went pinkish white, and he still hadn’t stopped jamming his molars together.

  “Just sorry,” she said again, even quieter than a whisper. Her voice broke his goddamn heart.

  “Tell me that hasn’t happened before, Lex.”

  Again with the silence.

  He heard her sniffle, then he looked over. Fuck him—fresh tears. He was so far out of his league with the last fifteen minutes that he didn’t know the right move. “Has that happened before?”

  Silence.

  “Jesus. Fuck.” He slapped the steering wheel. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Snapping at me won’t make a difference,” she mumbled.

  He’d never felt his heart before, but at that second, he did, and it was shredding. Matt had laid hands on her more than once, and Parker hated coming to terms with knowledge he should’ve already had.

  Finally, she shrugged. “I’m not me with him anymore. Maybe I never was. I shouldn’t have put up with it. It’s on me.”

  Parker yanked the steering wheel over and shifted to park. Everything he did with Titan, everything he’d done in his life hadn’t prepared him for the anger and helplessness churning deep inside. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothing to say.” She shifted her gaze out the window.

  “Why not?”

  She looked back, obviously believing whatever she was about to say. “What’s the point?”

  “So—”

  “Can we stop this?” Lexi’s face pinched. “It’s humiliating, and I just want to—I wish you hadn’t seen that.”

  “Why?”

  Her head hung lower, her eyes closed. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Does to me.”

  “It’s done. I’m not going back, and he doesn’t want me back. End of story. Nothing left to talk about.”

  The air around them felt thick. The winter sunlight shone through the window, highlighting her softness, making her vulnerabilities stand out. He put the SUV back into drive and maneuvered onto the road. Tension hung between them, and his chest ached. Parker cracked the window, letting a slip of cold air rush against him.

  He still had no idea where they were headed, and he wasn’t ready to admit that out loud. The thing about Lexi was she was always the one he liked to be around. Yeah, Matt had been his boy since they were kids, but Lex was the fun one. The one with the smile, the one who made him laugh, even if it had been a while.

  “Hungry?”

  “Kinda.” She picked at her nails when he made a turn.

  His mind ran the gamut of options. His place wasn’t too far. “I’ll swing by somewhere, grab some takeout, then you can figure out whatever you want to do along the way.”

  Parker let off the brake and headed down the street. For being in suburbia, there wasn’t a single drive-through. What the hell?

  A pizza place’s sign caught his attention, and he pulled in. “Pizza?”

  “Sure.”

  He shifted into park. “What do you like on it?”

  “Whatever.” She studied her fingers knotting and re-knotting.

  “Lexi, toppings. What do you want on your pizza?”

  She looked up. Her innocent, blood-speckled eyes seemed so surprised that he cared. “I’m not the girl this happens to.”

  Except she was… and he wanted to rain hell. “But you are hungry, sweetheart.”

  Her forgotten smile came out for a second then disappeared. “Sausage and banana peppers.” Then her cheeks heated, and her eyes dropped. “But cheese is totally fine.”

  “Sausage and banana peppers?” It was a sliver of the girl he had known before, full of personality and unexpected answers. “Alright then.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Hey, does ‘bacon’ mean anything to you?”

  Her color faded. “Oh, crap.”

  “What?” Maybe he should’ve kept that to himself. What was it, a code for him finding her, hurting her? “Never mind. Just ignore that.”

  “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this, Parker. I’m really sorry.”

  Parker cupped a hand over her fidgeting, nervous fingers. The simple touch made electricity shoot up his arms. “If you recall, I carried you out.” She blushed, bringing some of her color back, and that surprised him, adding warmth in his chest to go with the shock of electricity. “Be back in a minute. Okay?”

  “Okay.” She nodded, and her shoulders shivered before she tried to hide it.

  “Warm up.” He’d been so fired up from wanting to pummel Matt. It had to be forty degrees outside, and he had the window cracked open. Parker pulled a jacket from the backseat for her, cranked the heat to full blast, then jumped out into the cold.

  Sausage and banana peppers. As though she was too lost to realize it was okay to order what she wanted. Maybe he should call Matt and tell him to get his ass off the couch, whether he wanted a fight or not. Parker pushed into the pizza place and bounced on the balls of his shoes as he waited in line to order and pay. Bacon, bacon, bacon. What the fuck did bacon mean?

  “Ten minutes.” The cashier handed him the receipt and change. “They’ll call your number when it’s ready.”

  “Thanks.” Parker dropped the change into a jar then headed to his Rover to wait.

  It was empty. No Lexi.

  Concern hit him hard in the gut. Matt? No… right? He pivoted, looking for her. Nothing. Just the sprawl of a shopping center on both sides of the street. Maybe she needed something from the grocery store? Had to hit the bathroom? But she didn’t have a purse and would’ve gone into the pizza place. This didn’t make sense.

  He walked by a few storefronts. Nothing she would likely go into. A blinds store, a pet food store. Where was she? Parker circled back to his vehicle, and still she was nowhere to be seen. He saw his jacket abandoned on the passenger seat. Finally succumbing to the dread that prickled at him, Parker pulled out his phone and dialed Matt.

  “Hey,” Matt answered.

  “Where is she?”

  “Lexi?”

  Rage made Parker’s muscles bunch. “Yeah, you dickhead.”

  Matt chuckled. “You told her about Bacon. Nice job. She called from a convenience store. I’m on my way to pick her up.”

  “Pick her up?” What the fuck had just happened? Parker hustled to his still-running SUV and gunned the engine, pulling out and lea
ving tracks. “Where?”

  “Good looking out for my girl. Thanks, buddy.” The call ended.

  His girl? Parker stared at the blinking screen then looked up and saw the sign for a convenience store. Matt’s truck was ahead with Lexi, head down, shoulders slumped, making her way toward it from the wall full of lotto and phone card advertisements.

  Parker honked, and her head snapped up. She saw him, had to have, but she didn’t give him any more acknowledgment as she dragged herself toward Matt’s truck and got in the passenger seat. Matt had to have heard him too. The asshole barely waited for her door to shut before he took off. As he passed Parker, Matt stayed facing forward, but his left hand went up, shooting him the bird.

  “Fuck you too.” Then Parker slammed his fists onto the steering wheel because he didn’t know what to do as they drove away.

  CHAPTER NINE

  All the threats Lexi had ever heard about Bacon played through her head until she was dizzy with the certainty that her poor pup would be dead on the couch when they arrived home. Matt was mean and growing meaner by the day. He’d even tried to burn Bacon that morning. Where had her mind been when she’d left without the dog? Well, she hadn’t been thinking. Breathing had been her problem. Her throat felt as if it had been crushed, and her mind hadn’t gone to her dog. What it had gone to was the protection Parker had offered. His arms had surrounded her with a manly scent tinged with the smell of outdoors and gunpowder, like some superhero aphrodisiac.

  Yet there she was, without Parker and back with Matt. But she really hadn’t been with Parker. He had been a ride. A good man who wouldn’t stand by when she was crumbled on herself. Parker likely thought she was stupid, and maybe she was. But the idea of leaving her dog alone with her fiancé, when Matt had clearly issued that last warning, was too much. Plus if she really was going to leave, she couldn’t just have her savior carry her out the door. She needed her computer and notebooks. They were her livelihood and her evidence—selfies after a rough night or her notes jotted down about what he did and said—if she did ever confront Matt.

  Lexi bit her tongue when Matt jumped the curb. They headed home at breakneck speed. She needed to survive until she could get her dog, her stuff, and leave. Her mind slammed into overdrive. What should she do? Say? Matt needed to think she’d been stupid or scared. Something. It was best to start simple. It also needed to start now, in the truck, where they were semi in public. If his hands were on the steering wheel, they wouldn’t be on her.

  “I’m sorry, Matt.”

  “Bet you are.” Lines furrowed across his forehead and anger tinged his skin red.

  “I really am. That got out of control. It was all my fault. I’m sorry.”

  He glared at her. “I saw your co-worker outside the house, driving away.”

  What? That was what had started it? She’d had no idea. He had simply had stormed the house and thrown her against the wall. “I promise you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “He was there.”

  A cold chill ran up her spine. “I never saw him.”

  “Then I’m pissed you begged Parker to pick you up. Fuckin’ slut.”

  “No.” She swallowed her disgust and put her palm on his thigh. “It all happened so fast. I never want to fight with you again.”

  His hand slapped down on hers, his fingers crushing her bones.

  She winced, leaning forward. “Ow, Matt—”

  He smashed her fingers together. “You comin’ home for me or that mutt?”

  “You!”

  “You’re really sorry?”

  Wincing into his hold, she nodded. “Yes, that—ow—that hurts.”

  “You know how bad it can really hurt. Don’t pull that shit again.” Then he flung her hand back. “I forgive you, peaches. But your ass will make it up to me.”

  Her head dropped. “I know.”

  “Be thinking how.”

  She ducked her head further, not wanting to think of how he’d expect that kind of repayment. “Okay.”

  “And, peaches?”

  “Yes, baby?” she mumbled.

  “You leave me again, no warnings about the mutt. I’ll find you and drag your ass home.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  If there was one thing Parker enjoyed about walking into the Winters’s house, it was the food. Mia Winters loved to cook, and Parker loved to eat. So did everyone else on the team. But they had wives and kids and babies on the way, so more often than not, the rest of Titan was well fed when they were home. Parker relied more than he should on Muscle Milk and Power Bars in place of meals. Mia knew that and fed him well. She mama-beared the shit out of him sometimes, and that was a perk of being best buds with Winters.

  Judging by the lack of other vehicles outside, he was first there, and that was planned. He needed Mia’s opinion on yesterday because he was furious—and worried. After Lexi had gone back with Matt, Parker had headed back to GUNS, then hit his gym and worked out to the point of delirium. Neither activity cleared his mind. So his next step was to talk to Mia, the woman who knew how everything emo worked, because he was choking on a ton of it.

  He pushed through the front door that had been left open for the incoming crowd. “Hello? Anyone home?”

  “Kitchen,” Mia called.

  “We’re in the kitchen,” squeaked a high-pitched, girly voice.

  Parker smiled at Clara’s repeated words. He rounded the hall and saw the kids before Mia. “Hey, short stack. How’s it going?”

  “The baby’s not listening.” Clara’s little nose crinkled in annoyance. “He’s stealing all my snacks.”

  Mia popped up from behind the island counter with a pile of platters and set them down. “Don’t let Ace have any of those cookies.”

  The evidence was all over Ace’s face. He’d had at least one cookie, by evidence of the chocolate smeared from his chin to forehead, and his smile was huge as he reached for more. Parker scooped up the boy before they all got into trouble and headed for the kitchen table.

  Mia scowled, grabbing a wet cloth. “Clara. Do not feed your brother any more sugar.”

  “Sorry, Mama.” She set the cookies down and abandoned the adults and her brother in the kitchen.

  “Mama Mia, smells good in here.” He gave Mia a kiss on her cheek. “You’re too good to us.”

  “I know it.” With expert finesse, she wiped all of the smudges off Ace before the kid could think to scream, then she headed to what smelled like a giant vat of chili and a couple other pots. “Speaking of which, you want a beer?”

  “Sounds good.” He popped up and headed to the fridge to get it before Mia could move. “Where’s Winters?”

  “Out in the garage. You’re here earlier than I expected—” She stopped stirring whatever. “Nothing you do is ever accidental.”

  His muscles went tight as he thought about yesterday’s shit storm. “Nope.”

  She put her hands on her hips. The woman was petite, but she didn’t mess around. “And you’re not heading to the garage.”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Alright. Spit it out before the troops storm the spread.”

  Still holding Ace, Parker walked over to eye the food. “You know Matt Pindon?”

  “You’ve brought him around before. Isn’t he going to be here today?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Why?”

  “I saw him wrap his hands around his woman’s throat.”

  Mia turned off the burner. “Sit down.”

  He smiled because when Mia got all bossy-therapist, good usually came of it. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She wiped her hands and sat across from him before taking Ace into her lap. “Start over. What are you talking about?”

  “I walked in on them fighting yesterday. No joke, he was choking her. I pulled them apart. She left with me but went back home to him.”

  “She went back to him?”

  He nodded. His fury at Lexi for pulling that stunt just kille
d him. He’d had every intention of bringing her and a sausage-and-banana-pepper pizza home with him. Then what, who knew. But damn it, he liked her being in his arms, amplifying how much he’d liked her from afar.

  “Is she safe?” Mia asked.

  “I don’t know.” The doubt made him sick. Not knowing the answer to a question wasn’t something Parker was familiar with. He always knew what he wanted to know or knew a way to determine it. He could assign a value to a situation, do a risk assessment. But this Lexi situation—he didn’t know what she thought or if she was safe. It made him feel as though he were bursting out of his skin. He wanted to call her, yell at her for being stupid and question her so it made sense.

  Mia’s eyes focused on him, and Parker swore she could read his soul. “Who is she to you?”

  “Matt’s fiancée.”

  “To you, Parker. A friend?” Her eyebrows raised.

  “I don’t think I know her well enough that I’d say friend.” But somehow he’d had eyes on her since she first walked into Matt’s life.

  “But?”

  His thoughts had been semi-easy to ignore until yesterday, and now he couldn’t stop replaying every stolen look, every questionable action, the way she’d gone from the wild woman Matt brought out on occasion to a toned-down version of a Stepford wife. Parker jumped out of his chair. “I don’t get this.”

  “Get what?”

  “It’s—” His chest twisted. “Personal.”

  “I can see that. So why?”

  “She’s a good person and doesn’t deserve that shit.”

  “No one deserves that, Parker.”

  “I know. It’s—I just like her.” He shrugged. “She deserves better than that.”

  “You have feelings for her.”

  “Come on, Mia. I’m not here to talk about what I feel or whatever. I’m worried about a girl who—” A girl he’d been feeling deeply, who always made him curious, who even made him feel guilty. He dropped back into the chair. “I care about what happens to her. What do I do?”