Tortured Souls (Rebels of Sandland 2)

It was, but he was doing a crap job at helping her see that.

“What? So, you’re just over it, are you? All those years of friendship? Shit. Brodie treated you like a brother and you’re just gonna let it go?”

Their brand of friendship was a fucked-up one even in my books, and I’d dealt with a truckload of fucked-up shit in my life.

“What else do you want me to do?” Lockwood hissed like the pussy he was.

“Help me! We could go down to the barn where the fight was. Check out the flooring. Christ, anything would be better than the radio silence you’ve given me since the funeral.”

“But it was an accident! I already told you and you just need to deal with it.”

I didn’t like the change of tone in his voice.

“Harper, there isn’t a judge or jury in this whole town who’ll see it any different. You’re fighting a losing battle. And I’m never on the losing team,” he hissed.

“At least I’m fighting. It’s a damn sight more than you’ve ever done.”

She sounded so desperate. Why did hearing that do something to me?

“Listen, I’m going to put this in really simple terms, just so you understand. I am not getting involved. Brodie fought and he lost. He paid the price for going into a fight without being match fit. End of. I suggest you drop it too. There’s other forces at play here, Harper, and if you carry on, you’re gonna find a fuck load of trouble at your door.”

They’ll have to get through me first.

“Are you threatening me?” she said, trying to sound confident. She wasn’t. I could hear the slight hitch in her voice.

“If that’s what it takes to get rid of you, then yeah, I’m threatening you.”

My rage levels were hitting full capacity. We weren’t the best role models, but we’d never speak to a woman like that. Money doesn’t buy you class or manners, it would seem. So, he wanted to get rid of her? Bigger forces were at play? I wanted her to push harder. Whatever he was hiding needed to be exposed if his family was as corrupt and twisted as I guessed they were.

“You’re the biggest piece of shit. Do you know that?”

Good, my girl was standing her ground. It made me proud to hear her fight back.

“Yep. Still not gonna lose sleep over it, sweetheart.”

You will when you’re lying in a hospital bed being fed through a fucking drip. Sleep through that, motherfucker.

“I’m not leaving. I’ll scream this bloody street down if I have to.”

I heard some commotion going on and I didn’t stop to think. My instincts kicked in and I flew into action. After the way he’d been talking to her, it was time for me to shut him the fuck up. I charged down the drive and turned into that alleyway. When I saw them, I lost it completely.

Jensen had his hand over Harper’s mouth, and he’d pinned her to the wall. Her eyes were bulging, and she looked petrified. He was hissing and spitting out threats, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the blaring in my ears. No one puts their hands on a woman in my presence and gets away with it, least of all him.

I was about to grab his shoulders and pull him off, but I was too late. He stepped back and smacked his fist into her face, sending her crashing to the floor. The blood that was boiling in my veins became a volcano of pure, unadulterated rage.

“You fucking bastard.” I slammed him against the wall and smashed my fist into his face. He didn’t move away; he was too dazed from seeing me come out of nowhere. “You ever touch her again and I will fucking kill you,” I shouted, holding his face in my hand and feeling like I was about to explode. I hadn’t felt anger so viciously for a long time.

He didn’t even attempt to fight back, the fucking coward. He took one look at Harper, laid out on the floor clutching her cheek, and he pushed me off and ran back towards his house. I always knew he was a cunt. All mouth in front of his mates, but when he came up against a worthy opponent like me, on his own, he pissed his pants like a punk ass little bitch. I didn’t care who heard me in that stuck-up, snobby neighbourhood. I shouted down the alleyway to let him know his days were numbered. Me torching his cars would be the least of his problems once I got my hands on him.

“That’s it, Lockwood. Run away, just like you always do. You can’t hide forever though, you fucking piece of shit. I’m coming for you.”

I turned to look down at her lying on the floor. Lockwood could wait. I had more important things to deal with, like making sure she didn’t totally lose her shit from seeing me.

I put my hand out in an effort to help her, but she just glared at me wide-eyed and pushed herself up on her own.

We stood facing each other, both panting. Me, from the effort it’d taken to give Lockwood the best right hook I could manage, and her from the anxiety of seeing me for the first time since that night. So many emotions were playing across her face, but not the ones I wanted to see.

She lifted her chin, trying to speak confidently, but there was a crackle of vulnerability in her voice.