“No, you fuck off. Randy called in sick yesterday and today. Candle told him he’d better show tomorrow or he’s out of a job. If you think he won’t come after her, you’re wrong.” She spun toward the door.
All of a sudden, this wasn’t about Nic. “Who was he?”
Her hand froze on the handle.
“Only one thing makes a woman as hard as you.” And it sure as shit wasn’t balls of steel.
Kendall faced me and spoke in a deadly whisper. “You think you know me?”
“Not at all.” And that was the way she kept it. She was secretive as hell about anything personal.
“Good.”
“And I was gonna let it stay that way—until you got in my shit.”
“I got in your shit?” she practically spat.
“A woman comes to me, asks for my help, then wants to leave and you lock the door? Offer my house?” I got in her face. “You better believe you’re gonna explain yourself.” My life was my business, she didn’t get to interfere.
“Oh, come on. You really think she was going to leave?” Kendall deflected. “Where’s she going to go?”
“You better hope it’s nowhere because if she ain’t perched on that stool when I walk outta here, I’m holdin’ you personally responsible.”
Her glare turned up a notch. “She came to the best, right? Talon the Marine. Talon the Savior. Talon the hero.” She spit the words out bitterly. “You think I’m blind? You think I don’t see what you’re trying to do?”
“Look around, sweetheart.” I stretched my arms wide. “I own a fuckin’ surf shop. Nothin’ more, nothin’ less.”
She smirked. “Is that what you tell yourself?”
“I don’t have to tell myself shit because I’m not the one confused.”
“Well, neither am I.” Her face went smug as hell and she dropped her bomb. “You couldn’t save your wife, so now you try to save everyone else.”
Ruthless hate washed over me like a drug. Air burning my lungs, anger coursing through my veins, vise grips on my chest, I couldn’t speak.
“That’s what I thought,” she taunted. “Mr. Rough Edges and Brass Balls has nothing flirty to say to that.”
“You’d fuckin’ like that, wouldn’t you?” My voice off, I leaned toward her. “Rough and hard get you off?”
Eyes burning with disgust, she glared at me. “You couldn’t get me off if you tried.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable off.” My voice went low and threatening. “You ever mention my wife again, don’t step foot in my shop.” I walked out, slamming the door behind me.
Nic glanced up at me with uncertainty.
“Let’s go, Siren.”
UNLOCKING THE PASSENGER DOOR OF my Challenger, I held it open.
Siren stared at the car.
My hand went to my hip. “Need help?”
“No, thank you.” She awkwardly lowered her leg to get in and stumbled.
I grasped her good arm and she sucked in a breath like she was afraid of me. Goddamn it. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“I know, I’m good,” she said in an almost mechanical voice.
I waited till she was settled then I got behind the wheel. Staring straight ahead, I did something I never do. I explained myself. “Kendall likes to push my buttons. I let her because she’s the most reliable employee I’ve ever had. She’s not my girlfriend, she’s not even my friend. I got pissed because she was interferin’.” I looked at her. “Not because she offered my guest room.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
I did anyway. “I’m not mad at you.”
She nodded. “Thank you for clarifying.”
There was zero emotion in her tone and I wanted to know if it was real. “You always this even?”
Her eyebrows drew together. “I’m sorry?”
“Calm, mild mannered, even tempered,” I explained, describing everything I wasn’t.
“Would you prefer something else?”
“It’s got nothin’ to do with what I prefer. I’m just wonderin’ who the real woman is behind that emotionless front.”
She sighed. “I’m not putting up a front. I’m tired and hurt. Can we please go and get this over with?”
“Yep.” I let out a breath and pulled into traffic. Irritation I could deal with. But that emotionless shit? I’d seen it too many times and it was usually a ticking time bomb. “What story we gonna use?”
“Excuse me?”
“When they ask you at the clinic what happened?”