Ruthless Bastard (Dangerous Love 3)

“Shit,” she exclaimed, taking a step back.

One look at the ski mask covering the man’s face, and cold fear bit into her. Everything happened so fast after that. She glimpsed dangerous blue eyes narrowed on her. But then those eyes were gone as fingers caught her by her throat and she was spun around and pressed against the wall. His fingers squeezed and squeezed, her cheek burning against the brick cutting into her flesh.

“You do not take warnings well,” he said, his voice deep…dark. But that’s not the only thing she noticed. His free hand pressed against the wall in front of her face, and there peeking out from the arm of his jacket was the tattoo on his wrist. The man currently immobilizing her was the same man that Rhett had told her to run from.

But she couldn’t run.

He squeezed her neck tighter. “Apparently, you can’t fucking listen,” he growled in her ear. “This is the last warning you’ll get. Close down and stay the fuck closed.” He leaned in and his hot breath, smelling of cigarettes and alcohol, brushed across the side of her face. “It’s not in your baby’s best interest to ignore what I’ve told you. Do you understand fully this time?”

He released her neck enough to let her wheeze, “Yes.”

Then she learned the he’d come there to make a point. One that he made clearly as he sent her flying to the left. Her head smashed into the brick wall next to her, blinding pain slamming into her. Darkness crept into her vision, and tiredness sank in deep as the icy wetness beneath her suddenly began to feel cold. A fear she’d never known froze her. She fought to keep her eyes open, narrowing her focus on his black boots right in front of her. The baby…the baby…the baby…She blinked, her eyelids heavy and slow, and then the boots moved away from her, leaving footprints in the snow as he left her on the ground.

Get up.

Move.

She tried to push up, but her limbs felt impossibly heavy. Rhett…

* * *

The hard thumping of Rhett’s heartbeat thundered in his ears. He breathed in and out, relying on his training to control his emotions, and yet nothing eased the tightness in his chest. Fear, he realized when he pulled up to the hospital. But he didn’t know this emotion. Fear usually made him sharper, quicker, and enabled him to act until that fear drifted away. Now desperation cut through him like a sharp blade, leaving him more wounded than the bullet that had ended his military career.

At the emergency entrance, he slammed on the brakes of his truck. He darted out a second later, leaving the door open and the keys in the ignition, thinking only of Kinsley and the baby, the worst thoughts filling his mind. He charged through the hospital doors, running down the hallway. He’d been in Whitby Falls when Boone told him that Kinsley had been found outside her bar knocked out cold. A clear attack, Boone had said, and Rhett had never known the type of fury that came over him. Her body temperature had dropped to a dangerous degree, and that’s what the doctors were most concerned about. The last update Rhett got was that Kinsley was under heating blankets and was awake and alert.

The sweat felt cold on his flesh, his T-shirt slicked to him beneath his leather jacket. He skidded to a halt at the nurses’ station and slapped a hand on the desk. “Kinsley Knight.”

The nurse on duty slowly rose, giving Rhett a hard stare. “Are you family?”

“I’m her boyfriend.” The words left his mouth in such a rush that his brain didn’t get a chance to catch up to what he’d said.

The nurse frowned. “Identification, please.”

On any other day, Rhett would applaud this nurse’s firmness. Not today. “It’s Rhett West.” He slapped his badge on the counter. “The room number. Now.”

Another nurse poked her head out from the doorway to the right. “It’s fine, Joy, he’s the father of her baby,” the brunette said. “She’s in room one hundred and seventy.”

“Thank you,” Rhett breathed to his one-time lover from after his first tour in Afghanistan. He didn’t wait for Shannon’s response, just took off running down the hallway, passing doctors and a couple of cops on his way. 140…154…He turned right and slowed when he saw the rookie, Cameron, stationed outside a door.

“She’s in there,” Cameron said, gesturing to the door on his left.

Rhett bolted through the door, stopping short when he spotted Kinsley lying in the bed. “Jesus fucking Christ,” spilled from his mouth. He was well aware their inner circle was in the room, as was Hank, but Rhett’s attention stayed fixated on the deep scratches on her cheek. A dark purple color shadowed her cheekbone, the early signs of a bruise. Monitors surrounded the hospital bed, and the lumps on her belly beneath her hospital gown indicated some of those monitors were keeping an eye on their baby.

He slowly looked up at her face, staring into those gorgeous eyes. He’d known anger and rage and everything in between. This, he’d never known. He wanted to peel back the skin off whoever had touched her in a way that went against everything he believed in.

Whatever she saw on his face only made hers tighten. “I’m okay.”

His nostrils flared, the rage burning white-hot in the blood in his veins. He stood there, feeling the tremble of his body, the clench of his fists.

“Rhett,” she said softly, but not weakly, as she reached out a hand to him. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”

Unaware of anything but her, he moved to her, tangling his fingers with hers. He sat next to her and raised her hand to his mouth. Jesus Christ. He had never felt this kind of fear, one that crippled him. Didn’t understand it. When he finally felt a smidgen of control, he looked at her again, and she had tears in her eyes. “How hurt are you?” he asked.

“My cheek, but it’s not that bad.” She touched her neck and winced. “Here’s a bit tender.”

Rhett stared at that spot on her neck. A spot he’d kissed. A spot that another man had no right touching, especially to hurt her. He released a breath, gaining back more of the control that had been slipping away. Slowly, so he didn’t scare her, he cupped her face. Something broke and warmed simultaneously as she leaned into his touch. “What did he do to you?” he asked her. “Every word. Every hurt caused. Tell me all of it.” And then he’d make the person pay.

“I went outside to put the garbage out,” she said. Her chin quivered, tears filling her eyes. “He was just there. Out of nowhere. He grabbed my neck and had me up against the wall.”