Pretend You're Mine(124)

An arm nipped her around the waist, dragging her out of the fray.

Ty, in uniform, deposited her in the doorway of the cooler.

“Ty! Make them stop!”

“On it. Stay here.”

Ty threw himself into the brawl with the practiced form of law enforcement. In seconds, he was able to disengage Linc. It took a little longer with Luke, who took an angry swing at his brother-in-law. Ty shrugged it off and punched Luke square in the jaw, knocking him back a step.

“Don’t make me taze the shit out of you. I’ll do it and probably enjoy it,” he warned.

Luke held up a hand in surrender. “Just keep that asshole away from her.” He shot a look at Harper. A bruise bloomed on his chin and blood tricked from his mouth. “Are you okay?” Those hazel eyes held so much.

She could only shake her head and turn away.

“Harper,” he called after her.

Insulting her one second, and then looking at her like he just wanted to pull her into his arms the next. Making love to her like he couldn’t survive without her and then discarding her like yesterday’s trash. She couldn’t survive the wait for him to figure out what he really wanted. He might never know.

“Can I trust you to not kill each other for a few seconds?” Ty asked before stepping out of the cooler. “Georgia Rae, you mind keeping an eye on those two for me?”

Ty drew Harper over to the cereal aisle.

“Are you sure they won’t fight?” Harper worried.

“They wouldn’t dare fight with Georgia Rae in the middle of them. She’ll have their hides. So what the hell happened?”

Harper filled him in. “I was just trying to get Joni’s groceries. You know, do something nice for her since she’s been so great to me. And I can’t even do that...” she stopped herself before she screamed in frustration. “This is the first time I’ve seen him since he asked me to leave and this is what happens.”

“The guy is stupid in love you with you, Harper.”

“I don’t think so, Ty,” she shook her head.

“Honey, I know stupid in love when I see it. He’s just stupider than most.”

“How much trouble are they going to be in?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Gotta talk to the owner and see if she wants to press charges. Do me a favor and stay put while I figure this out.”

When Ty brought them out of the cooler, Linc, sporting the beginnings of an excellent black eye, winked at her. Luke started toward her, but Ty slapped a hand on his chest. “Not gonna let you do that, Luke.”

“You can’t stop me from talking to her.” Anger crackled off of him like electricity.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing until she says different. Now stand over there and try not to hit anyone else.”

“Do I need to remind you that when my sister broke up with you I was the one who told her she was being an idiot?”

“The difference is I wasn’t busting up a grocery store and some guy’s face at the time and now you’re the one being the idiot. Now stand there, shut up, and we’ll get this worked out.” He said it so amicably that Harper just blinked.

Luke stayed where he was but didn’t take his eyes off of her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and ignored the crowd that had grown to over a dozen people. Tangles of abandoned carts blocked aisles while customers and store staff mingled around sale displays of boxed stuffing and canned pumpkin. Linc leaned against a cooler door and chatted up a pretty stock girl.

Harper did her best to look everywhere but Luke’s face. It felt like an eternity before Ty came back.

“Okay, here’s the deal. Miz Valencio won’t press charges if you agree to the following terms. One, you split the cost of the nine six-packs that died unnecessary deaths and clean up the mess.”

Linc shrugged at Luke. Luke rolled his eyes and nodded.

“And two, you finish Harper’s shopping and pay for her stuff.”

“Give me your list,” Luke said, holding out his hand to her.

“Oh, no. Ty, they don’t have to do that.” She had tampons on the list.

“It’s Miz Valencio’s call. She doesn’t want you to leave empty-handed because these two ‘yahoos got their testosterone in a bunch.’”

“Give me your list.”

She was being lured to her doom but couldn’t see a way out of it. Harper approached slowly. She pulled the list out of her back pocket and held it out between two fingers, eyes on her hand. Luke’s hand closed over hers and pulled her closer.

“Harper.”

He waited until she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry for what I said. Are you okay?”