Unsuitable

She let Reece tend her cut leg, while Etta and Flip watched. She couldn’t reconcile the calculated violence with the man kneeling at her feet with Dettol and a packet of Dora the Explorer bandaids. He’d saved her life again. But he’d enjoyed doing it. She could see that in him, the pride. It burned like acid poured on safety and shredded it to ribbons.

She touched his cheek. “I need time to absorb this. I didn’t think there was anything important I didn’t know about you.”

He got to his feet. “Okay, sure. I think.” He stopped and shook his head. They were both very aware of Etta and Flip.

“What, Reece?”

“It’s not up to me to tell you what to think. But you’re in shock. Not the need to be hospitalised version, but that was a bad scene. I don’t want to leave you alone tonight.”

“But that’s what I want.” If she closed her eyes all she saw was Reece’s efficient brutality and the blood flying. She could still hear the sick crunch of bone breaking. “I need to be alone with this for a bit. And you need to get the girls home.”

Reece backed off. Etta’s eyes were too busy taking all this in. Audrey stood up. “You should see a doctor in the morning.”

“For what?” He looked genuinely confused. That’s how normal this was for him.

She gestured at his hands. He’d cleaned them up before he tended to her, but they looked bad, torn, bruising already starting to show. If she didn’t tell him to stay away tomorrow he’d be back first thing and she didn’t know if she wanted that.

“Please, Reece. Sleep in, see about your hands. I’ll call you later.”

He accepted it. He stepped forward to kiss her, but she turned her face, moved at the same time he did, but away, not towards him. She had a headache and she needed to sleep. In the morning she’d see what direction they’d moved in next.

Together or separately.

21: Ripper

“Tell me again.” Flip hung over the car seat, her face close to his.

“Sit back and put your belt on, Flipper.”

“I will, but tell me first. How many guys?”

“More than one. Sit back.” If she didn’t sit back and belt up, he’d lose it with her. The night had turned to shit and he was worried about Audrey. “Can we just cool it?”

“No.” Flip laughed and poked him on the shoulder. “You beat dudes up. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did Audrey. You never told her,” said Etta.

“Never told her what?” said Flip.

“Jesus, can we let this alone.”

“Audrey sure wasn’t looking at you the same way she did when we first got there. She looked at you like you were a freaking celebrity when we arrived. Just then she looked at you like you were Jack the Ripper,” said Etta.

“Who’s Jack the Ripper?” said Flip.

Etta faced the back seat. “He was this mass murderer guy who killed all these prostitutes.”

“I know what a prostitute is and I’m not scared of Jack the Ripper.”

“You’ll be scared of me if you don’t put your flaming belt on,” he growled.

God, this night. He wanted it over with. The first half of it was a wet dream. He’d thought Audrey was lying about the bows across her butt, but no bra strap. He’d had to touch her. There really were tiny straps and bows and most of her arse cheek in his hand. He’d almost suggested they get a room. If he had they’d have avoided this now. Audrey frightened of him. He should’ve gotten them out of the bar at the first sign of trouble. He should’ve minded his own business.

Etta was right. Audrey was freaked. First he did that stupid thing telling her he wanted a family. That was not cool. And then he’d had no choice but to go in hard, he couldn’t risk getting taken out himself, leaving her exposed. He’d give anything to take back what happened in the laneway. And yeah, he’d kept the fighting secret, he wasn’t that man anymore, but the look on her face told him she didn’t believe it. And worse, fuck, she’d seen the part of him that enjoyed it, got off on the primitive thrill of a test of strength and skill.

He dropped the girls off and headed to Polly’s. Found the flat empty and grabbed a shower. Then he surprised Polly and some girl making out in the kitchen. Holly fuck, the girl was Les. He knew this was on, but he hadn’t seen it in action.

Polly unhanded her when he walked into the kitchen. “Reece. Dude. Hey, what happened?”