Luna started barking and he kicked out at the dog, who thankfully dodged his foot. But that was enough for Tabby to see red.
“Don’t kick my dog,” she yelled at him. She swung at his throat with her free hand. Somehow, she got in a good hit and he staggered back, struggling for breath, his hands clawing at his throat. Not wanting to waste any time, she ran around the building, her breath sawing in and out of her lungs. She ignored the twinge in her ankle, it would hold up.
“Luna, come!” she yelled. As she raced past the workshop, she saw Razor standing there, staring around in concern. Sav was next to him.
Relief filled his face as he saw her. Sprinting over, she threw herself into his arms.
Immediately, his arms wrapped around her.
“What is it? What’s wrong? What happened?”
Luna was whining, nuzzling at her.
A feeling of safety infused her. Nothing would happen to her now.
“What’s going on?” Sav snapped.
“I don’t know. I sent her to find Dart, but when she didn’t come back, I came out here to find her. She came running around from out back. And now she’s trembling. Baby girl, tell me.”
“I . . . I . . . Tommy,” she whispered.
Razor stilled. “What do you mean, Tommy?”
“Out back?” Sav growled. “Tommy was just out there.”
Razor stared down at her for a long moment. “Did he touch you? Hurt you?”
She knew better than to pretend otherwise. Slowly, she nodded. What she wasn’t expecting was for Razor to pass her to Sav. “Watch her.”
And then he was gone.
Wow. He moved pretty fast for a big guy. Then she realized what was happening. She blamed it on shock that she was so slow. She took off after him.
Well, she attempted to.
In reality, she found herself hanging in the air with a solid arm around her waist.
“Let me go!” She pulled at Sav’s arm, but he wasn’t budging. The man was solid.
“No.”
“Damn it, Sav! Let me down. I’ve got to stop him.”
Sav shook her gently. “Stop it. You’ll hurt yourself.”
She wriggled around madly. “Do you think I care?”
“You might not. He will.”
“Put me down!”
By now, she was aware that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were gaping at her. She didn’t care.
“Go home,” Sav barked. They all hastily finished and moved to their vehicles.
“Put me down!”
“No. I put you down, it’s my ass on the line. Not happening.”
“God damn mother-fucking bastard!”
“Girl, you need your mouth washed out,” he growled.
“Fuck!”
“What’s wrong?” Dart asked. He didn’t look concerned, but he didn’t waste any time in moving over to them.
“Take her. Razor’s gone to deal with Tommy. He touched her.”
“Dart, make Sav let me go!” she demanded.
“Quiet,” Sav told her. “You’re going nowhere.”
“I’ll go. Both of you stay here,” Dart commanded and rushed off.
Suddenly, Sav picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.
“Hey! Let me down!” She slammed her fists against his back. Then she immediately felt bad. “Sorry.” She rubbed the spot she’d just hit. “Did I hurt you?”
Sav muttered something she couldn’t hear then carried her into the office. “Luna, come.”
Luna whined, obviously wanting to go to Razor. Tabby totally understood.
“Sav, I need to stop him.”
“Dart has it.”
He set her gently down on her feet. Immediately, she attempted to move around him, but he blocked her then leaned against the door. A big, unmovable wall in front of her.
“Grr.” She slammed her foot on the ground. Unfortunately, it was her still healing one and she couldn’t hide a wince.
Sav narrowed his gaze. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. Let me by.”
“No.”
“Fine, then you go check on him. Stop him from doing anything crazy.”
Sav just gave her a look. One that said he wasn’t buying her bullshit for a moment.
“Damn it, Sav!”
The door suddenly opened and Sav would have gone flying backward if he didn’t have great balance.
Then she didn’t care about Sav or his balance as Razor walked in the door. She couldn’t read anything from his face.
“Razor! What happened? Where’s Tommy? Dart? Are you all right?” She moved towards Razor and he held up a hand.
“Stay away from me.”
She froze. She felt ill. Oh my God. Did he blame her for what happened?
“Razor,” Sav warned. Suddenly, he moved in front of her. Was he blocking her from Razor? Or protecting her?
What was going on?
“What?” Razor snarled. “What are you doing?”
“You told me that you’d never push me away. That I could always touch you,” she whispered.
There was silence. Then a long breath of air left Razor. “Fuck.”
She waited. Not sure what was going on. What if he did blame her, though?
“Sav, move.”
“Not sure that’s a good idea,” Sav replied.
“Fucking move,” Razor demanded.
Sav slid to the side and Razor’s gaze pierced her, held her in place. “Baby girl, I’m not rejecting you. I promise. I just,” he put his hands on his head, letting out a breath, “I need to get myself back under control.”
She noticed a patch of something wet on his black T-shirt. Blood? Hard to know. His knuckles on his right hand looked scraped and swollen, though.
Moving from foot to foot, she tried to give him that time. But damn, it was hard.
“I’ll just go outside for a moment, wait here.”
He disappeared before she could say anything. Sav turned to look at her. “You gonna let him do that?”
“What?”
“Shut you out.”
Oh.
“No.”
“Then go to him now.”
She nodded numbly. Then she moved out of the office, looking around. There was Razor, leaning against the wall of the workshop. His legs were bent, his hands on his knees.
“Razor.”
“Tabby-baby. Just a bit longer. Then I’ll take care of you.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t the one who needed taking care of right then. Moving closer, she placed a shaky hand on his shoulder.
Please don’t reject me. Please don’t.
He was her safe place, and she couldn’t stand it if he pushed her away.
But all he did was shudder then lift his head. “Baby girl . . .”
“No, don’t tell me you need a bit longer. You don’t need to be on your own. You need me.” She used a firm tone, as though she believed in what she said. In truth, she wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe she was the last thing he needed.
All he did was look at her, though. Then he drew up his hands and she was shocked to see they shook.
“I don’t want to touch you with these hands. I need to wash them. To be clean before I touch you. I need . . . to find my control again. I won’t risk harming you.”
“Bull-pucky.”
“What?”
“I call bull-pucky. You’d never harm me.”
“I lost control. I haven’t done that in years.”
“Because of me,” she whispered.
His gaze met hers. “Because of him. That bastard. I should never have hired him. It was only as a favor. Fuck, he’s been nothing but a pain in my ass from day one.”
“Where is he?”
“Dart’s taking care of him.”
“Does he need help?” she asked.
Razor raised an eyebrow.
“You know, to dig the hole,” she half-joked. “I could call Jared, he probably knows of a hundred ways to
dispose of a body.”
“He’s not dead. And we definitely won’t be calling your cousin.”
“Okay, that’s good. So you didn’t lose control that badly.”
“I would’ve killed him if Dart hadn’t stopped me. He touched you.” Suddenly, he stood. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you? Fuck, I should be taking you to the hospital.”
“No, no, I’m fine. Really.” He ran his hands down her arms and sides, as though checking to ensure she was telling the truth. “Daddy, I’m fine.”
He held out his arms for a hug. Then seemed to think better of it. “Wait.”
She paused. Please don’t tell her he was going to give her more bullshit about not being in control. But he whipped off his T-shirt instead. “It had his blood on it.”
She eyed the T-shirt he’d chucked on the ground. “We should get rid of that.”
“My little detective in the making.”
Actually, she thought that had more to do with being the cousin of a crime boss than her love of a good mystery. But she pushed that worry to one side as he took her into his arms and held her tight.
“What if he decides to press charges?” she asked.
His hand cupped the back of her head, drawing her close. The heat of his skin warmed her. She hadn’t realized how chilled she’d become.
“He won’t. Don’t concern yourself.”
How could he say that? Of course she would concern herself.
“We should clean you up, just in case. Get that shirt in the wash. Are there any cameras? What about Dart, can he be trusted?”
He drew back, putting a finger over her lips. “Will you just let me worry about all that?”
“But I don’t want to lose you.”
“You will never lose me. Come on, I need to talk to Sav, then we’re going home.” He grasped hold of the T-shirt and she made a mental note to get it into the washing machine as quickly as possible.
Razor went to grasp hold of her hand then paused. She barely refrained from rolling her eyes, grabbing his hand with hers.
“You’re really not upset by the idea that I hit Tommy?”
“You did it for me. How could I be?”
With a nod of his head, he entered the office. Sav was tapping on his phone as he leaned against her desk. Luna was sitting at his feet. The dog jumped up and practically pounced on them both. Razor bent down and gave her some pats and Tabby crouched, hugging the dog who licked her face.
“Poor Luna nearly got kicked by that asshole,” she told him.
“What?” Razor asked.
“She was barking at Tommy when he had me pinned to the wall. He tried to kick her. She dodged in time, but then I got mad and punched him in the throat.”
Both men were gaping at her.
“What?” she asked. “You would have done the same. He nearly hit her.”
“Fuck, baby girl. That’s how you got away?”
“Yeah, I went out back looking for Dart. Tommy was there. He said Dart had gone around the building. But I didn’t want to walk past him, so I told him to tell Dart to come see you. But when I tried to leave, he grabbed my arm and said a few nasty things.”
“Like what?” Razor demanded.
“Just about how I was a bitch and how Dart had given him a last warning. I think he didn’t care anymore because of that. Oh, and he also said he deliberately messed up some of my work stuff. Then he slammed me back against the wall and was looming over me. Luna barked, and you know the rest.”
“Show me your arm,” Razor demanded.
“There’s nothing wrong,” she said hastily.
“Show me.”
She had a button-up blouse on and she couldn’t easily pull up the sleeve, so she started to undo the top buttons.
“Whoa, what are you doing?” Razor demanded, grabbing hold of her blouse and glaring over at Sav.
“It will be easier to pull it down rather than push my sleeve up,” she explained.
“Sav, turn around.”
Razor waited until Sav had turned, before letting go of her blouse. She gave him an exasperated look but tugged the top of the blouse down to show him her upper arm. It was definitely red from where that asshole had grabbed it.
“Fucking bastard. Did he touch you anywhere else?”
“No. But he pushed me against the wall. There might be a small bruise on my back.”
“Show me.”
She quickly showed him. He lightly ran his fingers over the sore spot. “It might bruise.”
“I’ll be all right.”
She did up her blouse as he turned away to pace. His hands clenched and unclenched. Then he stopped and leaned his hands against the wall with his back to her. He bent over, taking in deep breaths.
“Razor,” she said.
“One moment.”
Sav turned back, studying her.
“He put his hands on you,” Razor groaned. “It was my job to see to your safety and I let that bastard touch you.”
“Razor, that wasn’t your fault.”
“Has he touched you before?” Sav asked.
Razor spun, staring at her. “No, he hasn’t touched her. Because if he’d touched her like that, she would have told me. Isn’t that right, Tabby-baby?”
“That’s right. He hasn’t touched me.”
Razor gave an arrogant nod.
“And he apologized for the things he said when I first started here, so I thought everything was fine.”
“Fuck,” Sav muttered.
“What things?” Razor asked.
“Oh, um, just calling me sexy thing.”
Sav grimaced and glanced over at Razor. “Don’t kill me, but he called her that the day she came to see you about the job.”
“Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”
“Because I fucking warned him. Thought that was enough.”
“Was there more?” Razor asked her.
“Ahh, yeah. He asked me out. Told me I’d have a good time with him and then got angry when I said no. But that’s the way guys talk. I mean, I’ve heard some of Jared’s guys speak about women like that. They’d never say that to me, of course. Or in front of me. But I’m working with all guys, I thought . . .”
“You thought what? That it was something you had to put up with? You should have told me.”
“I . . . you’re right, I should have. But I wasn’t certain that it was something to be concerned about. And then he apologized and he hasn’t said anything since. I’m really sorry.” She felt terrible. If she’d told him, then she could have prevented this.
Razor sighed and her stomach dropped. She was going to be sick.
Then he held out his arms. “Come here.”
She flew into his embrace and he tightened his hold on her. “Never again, understand me? From now on, you tell me every fucking thing.”
“I will. He seemed so contrite. It just didn’t seem important.”
“You don’t decide that, I do. It’s just better if you tell me everything. I’ll filter through it. Got it?”
“Got it.”
24
Razor held her hand tightly as they walked into the house. Instead of moving into the kitchen as he usually did, he led her to their bathroom. Grabbing her around the waist, he lifted her onto the counter.
He started washing his hands. He’d brought in the T-shirt that he’d been wearing and had tossed it in the hamper. She’d wash that soon.
“Razor?” she asked softly. She knew he was still fighting himself. He’d been quiet on the ride home. Was he angry with her? For not telling him about Weasel Dick? She couldn’t blame him.
Drawing her knees up to her chest, she pulled the top of her blouse up over her head.
“Baby girl, no hiding.”
“I’m so s-sorry, Daddy! I don’t d-deserve you!”
“Hey, now, what’s all this?” He tugged at her blouse. “Come on, let me see that beautiful face.”
She shook her head.
“Tabitha,”
he said in a low voice. “Let Daddy see you.”
Popping her head out at the command in his voice, she sniffled and wiped at the tears in her eyes. “Today was all my fault!”
“No, it was Tommy’s fault. He touched you. Did you want him to do that?”
“No!” She shuddered at the idea. “But I should have told you what he said to me.”
“You should have. But I know you didn’t trust me fully back then. And you didn’t feel comfortable telling me things like that.”
“But once we were together . . .”
“Did he say anything like that after we got together?”
“No, he apologized like I said.”
“And you thought he was genuine.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I thought I should give him a second chance, you know? You’ve given all of your guys a second chance. I thought it was only fair I did the same. I was wrong.”
“Making mistakes is okay, Tabby.”
“But look what it did to you! You thought you couldn’t touch me. You were forced to hit him.”
He huffed out a breath. “I wasn’t forced to hit him. No one forces me to do anything. I wanted to.”
“But . . . but . . .”
“It’s all right. I knew what I was doing. Afterward, yeah, I had problems pulling myself back together. Regaining control. But that’s my issue, not yours.”
“I didn’t mean to keep it from you. If he’d said anything more, I would have told you.”
“Good. I wish I’d never hired that bastard. Should have listened to my gut. This is my fault too.”
She shook her head. He’d only been trying to do the right thing. Like he did for all his guys.
He cupped her face between his hands. “I love you, Tabby-baby.”
“I love you too.”
Turning away, he filled the bath.
That was it? Wasn’t he going to punish her?
“Daddy? What are you doing?”
“I need to take care of you. Will you let me? It helps center me. I need to feel in control right now.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’ll do anything you need.”
“What about what you need? Did Tommy grabbing you trigger bad memories? Of course, it did, what am I saying? What do you need?”
“I don’t . . . I don’t know.” She gulped as disappointment flashed in his face. What did she need? “I need you. To hold me and tell me everything is all right.”
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