Page 53 of Don’t Look Back

“What… the… fuck?”

At the realization of who that voice belonged to, I took Ryan in my arms as if my body could shield him from the world. “Don’t you know to knock on a fucking door before you open it?” I shouted.

Sawyer stood frozen in disbelief. “Wow… Fag must be contagious.”

Charlie made an attempt to pull him back, but he was stronger.

“Maybe I should show him what we do to his kind around here,” he said, forcing his way farther into the office.

“You lay another hand on him ever again, and I am breaking every bone in your pathetic little body,” I snarled.

“Aw, you’re protecting your little boyfriend. How sweet. Now get out of the way Tinker Bell.” He tried to duck around me, but I stepped with him, blocking him off from Ryan yet again.

“I mean it, Sawyer. Leave.”

Finally, he peeled his gaze away from Ryan to look at me. We were so close at that point I could have kissed him. If I really wanted to cause trouble, I would have, but my focus was on protecting Ryan.

“Make me,” Sawyer challenged.

I shoved, slamming him against the wall.

“Get out of here,” I called over my shoulder. Sawyer kicked and scrabbled at my hands, but I had years of training on him. Ryan was violently trembling, tears pouring down his cheeks. “Go straight home, text me when you get there.”

Ryan flashed out of the room, but I didn’t let go of Sawyer until I was sure he’d made it out of the parking lot. Charlie’s bastard brother fought against my grip, clawing at my hands and cursing me the entire way. He didn’t accomplish much against my six-foot-four frame, but he tried his best. Any other day it would have been comical, but I was too angry.

When I let go, he crumpled to the ground, not even having the common sense to stabilize himself. “I’m gonna kick your ass you fucking pansy.”

He flung himself at me but I saw it coming and ducked out of the way. “I’d like to see you try. You’ve already got Grace, what else do you want from me?”

Charlie tried and failed again to pry us apart. “Sawyer, give it up,” she pleaded. “I’m tired of saving your ass all the time.”

“Then don’t!” he shouted, dangerously close to hitting her. “This isn’t about you.”

“What happens behind closed doors isn’t about you either,” I chimed in. “You know what? Maybe you just want everything I’ve got. You’re pissed because the only way you can get laid is if you crawled up a chicken’s ass and waited.”

A crack, and pain shot through my jaw. I stumbled slightly, but it was enough for Sawyer to land a blow to my stomach before I recovered. My fist was moving before I could even think about it, and his nose shattered beneath the punch. “How’s that for pixie dust?”

Blood gushed through his fingers, and Charlie finally got a good enough grip on him to haul him away.

Catching my breath, I shook out my left hand. My knuckles ached and the tight, healing skin on my palm stung.

“Stay here, Genie,” Charlie called, wrestling a swearing Sawyer from the room. “I’m calling someone to come get you.”

“I’m fine to drive,” I said. “I need to go find Ryan.”

I didn’t know where he went. I tried to call but got no answer. I’d gotten a text saying that he was safe, but nothing else. He was probably scared out of his mind, and I didn’t know what to do to help him. I couldn’t go to the Thompsons’ house in my state. Sawyer was quite a bit smaller than me, but years of hard labor bulked him up. He could pack a punch when someone wasn’t expecting it.

With every call to Ryan that went unanswered, my defenses heightened. Had I scared him off? Was this the final straw? Was he leaving town?

Hours passed without a single word. If I went over there, I could out him—if Sawyer hadn’t done so already.

I could do nothing more than pace around my living room. The house got darker as the sun went down and I didn’t make the move to turn on a single light. I walked in slow circles, glaring at my phone every time it went off and it wasn’t him. The only thing that stopped me from blowing his phone up was the knowledge that he might need space to process.

Selfishly, I just hoped that he wouldn’t leave. I’d only just begun to adjust to having him in my life.

I jumped at my phone when it finally rang, answering without looking at the screen.

“Are you alright?” I immediately said. Hearing Charlie’s voice on the other end sent my heart into my stomach.