Black Dawn

by Cristin Harber

  Matt gasped on the ground. “The fuck”—cough—“you will.”

  Parker’s eyes popped in disbelief. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”

  Matt reared up and lunged, but Parker caught him by the shirt as if he was pulling off a K-9. Lexi didn’t move from her spot on the carpet.

  “Out of my house, man,” Matt snarled, acting like nothing Parker would leave alone with Lexi.

  Parker angled toward her, holding back her fiancé. “Lex—”

  “Don’t talk to that whore.” Matt’s hands clapped down on Parker’s biceps. “She’s mine to deal with.”

  “What are you even talking about? God,” she whispered hoarsely. Tears ran down her cheeks.

  He struggled toward her. “I saw that guy again. Slut!”

  Parker had a code, same as most men, and there was no way Matt, acting like a ’roided-up motherfucker, was getting out of his hold. “You’ve got three goddamn seconds to power your ass down.”

  Matt twisted toward Lexi. “Walk out the door, peaches, and I will kill you.”

  Parker narrowed his eyes at the sharpness of the words. He pushed Matt back, hard, then pushed him again and put himself between the couple. Matt rolled his shoulders and paced two feet either way, prowling and ready to attack. Lexi didn’t move. Clearly tonight wasn’t the first time she’d heard him like this.

  “Lex, sweetheart.” He kept Matt an arm’s length away. “Speak up. What do you need?”

  Silence.

  “You want me to go?” Parker tried again. But no matter her response, he wasn’t leaving. Not like this.

  “This is between me and her.” Matt stepped closer. The ice in his voice sent chills down Parker’s spine. “Stupid, smart-ass motherfucker, think you’re so goddamn clever. Think you know everything. Not everything is about computers and shit, Parker. Get out of my damn house.”

  It wasn’t the first time Parker had heard the smart-guy lines. When Matt was drunk, he got his shit in a tailspin and hated on everyone. That was Matt. A first-class asshole. But this, what Parker just saw, was past the line.

  “God, man, shut up. You move an inch toward her, we’re going to blows.” Parker had height and weight on Matt, and his senses were in hyper-overdrive, ready to protect her, to care for her… carefully, he crouched without turning his back on Matt. “Lexi…” He put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his. “Tell me what you want.”

  Her eyes locked on his, and he could’ve sworn her lips formed to say you. But she flinched as her gaze jumped. Parker spun up, countering the attack he saw coming in his peripheral, and he slammed Matt to the floor with a swift right hook. He enjoyed the impact that knocked out the guy.

  “Fuck,” Parker growled and jumped up. He turned to her. The woman before him, lips rolled together, eyes squeezed shut, broke his heart. “Lex?”

  Seconds ticked by until she gave him the most honest look he’d ever seen. The most scared one too.

  “There was no one here. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Please don’t leave me with him,” she whispered.

  Those last words were all Parker needed. He slipped his arms around her slender frame and carried her out the door. Right before they crossed the threshold, Parker snagged Matt’s keys to gain access to his own. Behind them, Matt rolled on the floor, waking and moaning. It took practiced restraint to keep from kicking Matt’s ass again.

  “Don’t”—Matt pushed up to hands and knees—“you dare leave.”

  Parker held her to his chest and glared with the open front door at his back. “I don’t know what’s been happening here, but fuck you.” Then he walked out the door with Lexi in his arms.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Parker held Lexi against his chest. The ease with which he lofted her against him and the moment when her tense body relaxed against his was trouble. Her hair tickled his neck, and there was something too intimate about the hold. She smelled like sweet citrus. Like sugar and lemons. His mouth watered. Couple his visceral reactions with the plain fact that he did not want to let go, and the situation was complicated. That was problematic because he wasn’t familiar with complicated.

  Keeping her soft curves against him, Parker opened Matt’s truck, got his own keys, then opened his Range Rover.

  As soon as he set her down, he regretted the loss of her weight in his arms. Instead of backing away, he leaned across her body and shoved his keys into the ignition. She needed a warm place to sit, but mostly he wanted to feel her close again. As he pulled back, blocking the door to keep out the cold, he studied her red neck and sad eyes that wouldn’t look at him.

  Parker ground his molars, trying to contain the explosive energy that pooled in his fists. “Tell me not to go back in there and kill him.” Despite the growl in his words, he shook loose one fist and touched her chin, angling her face for a better look at her neck.

  But her hands batted him away. “It’s nothing.”

  “God, Lex.” He took his hand back, wanting to put it on her thigh but instead shoving it into his pocket. “We’ve got problems if you believe that.”

  One slender shoulder shrugged. “I’m fine.”

  The hell she was. She wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t say more than two hoarse words at a time, and his guess was her throat was bruised. Fuck that dude. “Don’t move. Lock the door. Just stay here.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Lexi?”

  Her near-vacant stare jumped to his, and surrounding her icy blue irises were tiny exploded blood vessels in the whites of her eye.

  “Stay, sweetheart.” He locked then shut the door and charged back inside.

  Parker knocked the door open, ready to go to blows with the asshole he’d known for years in the house that he’d been to a number of times. Matt was leaned back on the couch, beer in one hand, remote in the other hand, surfing the television as though what had just happened hadn’t. He didn’t look up as Parker crossed the room.

  “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 f
ifteen 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 leaving 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?”