She sat silently next to me.  When she still hadn’t said anything a couple of moments later, I turned to look at her.  She was staring at me with a look I couldn’t place.  I frowned.  “What?”

“No offence to you, because you strike me as one of the good guys, but fuck, men can be assholes sometimes.”

I nodded and murmured, “Yeah.”

If only she knew the half of it.

We retreated from each other, lost in our own minds for the remainder of the trip.  It was an easy silence.  Hell, although Layla could be stubborn and argumentative, being with her was easy.  The half-hour drive passed quickly, and when she directed me to the rundown house in a shitty suburb I knew well, I cursed under my breath.

The past always came back to bite you in the ass.

I cut the engine and looked at Layla.  “Why don’t you wait here while I go in and deal with this?”

“Like hell.  I told you I wanted to be here for this.  I’ve got shit I want to say to him, too.”

I squeezed my fingers around the steering wheel.  Why did she have to choose now to dig her heels in?  “Layla, I told you, if shit went south you had to do as I said.”

“Shit hasn’t gone south yet.”

“Yeah, well, it’s about to.”

She narrowed her eyes on me.  “Why?  What are you about to do?”

I shook my head.  “It’s not what I’m about to do.  It’s what Gary’s about to do.”  Gary was a loose cannon.  Fuck knew how he’d handle me showing up here.

I watched as she processed my words and saw the moment she realised exactly what I was saying in not so many words.  “Shit!  You know Gary.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, so do I, and he’s a fucking asshole I need to have words with, so until shit really goes south, I’m coming in,” she declared and exited the car.

Fuck.

I got out as well and hurried to catch up to her.  She was nearly at the front door and I had to stop her before she barged in and caused no end of fucking problems.  I caught her by the wrist and pulled her back.  “Layla,” I hissed, “I’m not kidding when I say you need to let me handle this.”

She scowled at me and yanked her wrist out of my grip.  “And I’m not kidding when I say I have something to tell him.”

We stood glaring at each other, neither backing down.  And then Gary ripped the door open and stepped outside.

“Blade?  What the fuck?”  Confusion plastered his face as he looked between Layla and me.  To her, he said, “I’m done with you and that bitch cousin of yours so you can fuck off.”

That did it for Layla.  She shoved past me and got in his face.  “Don’t come anywhere near Annie ever again.  You’ve spent the last year shredding what little self-esteem she had to pieces.  You’re a fucking asshole, and I hope the next woman you fuck with squeezes the shit out of your balls and screws you over.”

I thought she was done, but she wasn’t.  Once she’d said her piece, she caught him off guard with a knee to the balls.  As he doubled over in pain, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him so hard he fell on his back.  Hell, this was a woman on a mission, and I stood back and enjoyed the show.  She wasn’t quite finished yet and took a determined step forward so she could press her boot to his dick.  Bending down slightly, she threatened, “You come near Annie again, and I’ll find ways to make you hurt worse than this.”

Goddamn, I was growing hard watching her.

She pressed harder on his dick, and he screamed in pain.  “Tell me you understand, motherfucker,” she demanded, and he nodded his head furiously. Oh yeah, he understood.  She removed her foot and said, “Good.”

When she turned to look at me, I raised my brows.  “You finished?”

Her chest heaved and she blew out a breath.  “Yes.”

I jerked my head towards the car.  “Wait for me in the car.”

I waited for her to protest, but she didn’t.  For once, she did what she was told and left us alone.  I waited until she was settled in the car before reaching down to pull Gary up by his shirt.  “You sorry sack of shit.  Never did know how to treat a woman right, did you?”  Memories of his past behaviour flooded my mind, and I had to restrain myself from doing some serious damage.

The pain Layla had inflicted was stamped on his face but he put on a show of being unaffected.  He spat on the ground at my feet and sneered, “Ricky always did say you were a fucking pussy where women were concerned.  Seems he was right.”

Ricky Grecian.

Will I ever fucking escape him?

“There’s such a thing as treating a woman right, asshole.  Sadly, men like you and Ricky haven’t got a fucking clue how to do it.  If you come near Annie again, I will personally make sure you never have the ability to fuck with anyone again.”

He stared at me.  Probably weighing which step to take now.  “I’m not fucking interested in her anyway.  Fucking cunt wouldn’t open her legs for me.”

Blood roared in my head, and it threatened to explode with anger.  My muscles tensed, ready to knock him the fuck out.  I wanted his blood, fucking craved it for what he’d said and the way he’d treated Annie and the women before her.  I dug my fingers into his shirt and gripped it hard.  Pulling him to me, I roared, “Women weren’t put on this earth for your fucking pleasure, motherfucker.  If I so much as hear a whisper that you’re up to your old tricks, so help you god.”  I maintained my hard grip on him for a few more moments before shoving him away from me.