Talon (Uncompromising #1)(17)
“I can’t stay here.”
I dropped my hand but I didn’t step back. “You got somewhere else you can go?” She hadn’t mentioned her family again and I was sure if she could’ve gone to them, she would have by now.
“I can’t stay here,” she said again.
“I don’t hit women. Seems to me the choice is obvious.”
“Then what? I can’t stay indefinitely,” she challenged.
“After you heal, we’ll figure it out.”
“How long is that? A day, a couple of days, a week?”
Knowing what I was doing was fucked-up, knowing I had no business doing it, I opened my mouth and sealed my fate. “A week.”
“A week,” she repeated.
“Is that a question?”
“No.” She squared her shoulders but her voice turned wary. “What do you expect in return?”
I crossed my arms. “I’m not askin’ for shit.”
“I have less than a hundred dollars. I can’t pay you and I own nothing of value. It wasn’t unreasonable to ask what you’d expect in return for putting me up for a week.”
She had balls, I’d give her that. “We gonna play this honest?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“I expect you to leave the motherfucker.”
“I already did.”
“And not go back,” I clarified.
She studied me, doing the staring thing again. “Fine,” she agreed.
“I’m gonna have a conversation with him,” I warned.
“Are you going to hurt him?”
Considering I wanted to beat the shit out of him, especially after seeing her back, I wasn’t going to make her any promises. But I also didn’t know if she’d warn him I was coming. “Do you really want to know?”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
“Hopefully.”
Alarm widened her eyes for a split second before she carefully hid it. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not gonna be stupid enough to throw the first punch. But anything after that is fair game.” Randy was pussy enough to call the cops if I did. Not that I cared, I could talk my way out of shit, but I didn’t want that kind of headache right now.
“I’m not worth it,” she said quickly.
“You sayin’ that asshole’s worth more than you?” The idea of her thinking that shit made me see red.
Surprise flashed across her face. “No. I meant for you.”
“For me what?” I asked suspiciously.
“Don’t go after him, not for me. He’s not worth it.”
I calmed down marginally. “I didn’t say he was worth shit, he isn’t. But he needs to understand there’ll be consequences if he decides to come after you.”
She dropped her gaze.
I caught her chin. “Playin’ it honest,” I reminded her.
“I remember.”
The hollow tone to her voice had me wondering what the hell she was thinking. Worse, it made me want to jump through hoops to get her attention. “I wasn’t raised to stand back while a man pushes a woman around. You want my help, you wanna stay here, know this is who I am.”
Her head turned slightly but she didn’t respond.
“Siren?”
“I heard you.”
“Then give me an answer.”
“You didn’t ask a question.”
Jesus fuck. “You goin’ back to him?” It shouldn’t have mattered. I shouldn’t be getting involved because she was going to be history in a week, but it mattered. Too fucking much.
“No.”
Tension I didn’t know I was holding on to let loose and I took a deep breath. “You hungry?”
“I’m sore.”
Shit. “C’mon. Let’s get you fed then I’ll give you somethin’ for the pain.” I walked to the kitchen and she followed. “You got any preferences?”
“No.”
I glanced at her and smiled the smile that usually got me anything I wanted. “Every woman has preferences.”
She didn’t bite. “I don’t.”
I dragged my eyes the length of her, slow and purposeful. “That’s a loaded statement, darlin’.” And I wanted to know if it was on purpose. “We’re not talkin’ ’bout food anymore, are we?”
“When you can’t afford to be picky, you make do.”
I didn’t know if that made me angry or sad. Worse, she didn’t say it like she was sorry for herself. She simply stated it as fact. “You can do a hell of a lot better than a man who knifes a woman with steel in her spine.”
“He cared for me. After the surgery.” She dished out the personal information like she did everything else—without emotion or expectation.