“And who says I’m yours to fucking discipline?”
He whispered in her ear. “Say fucking one more time and we’ll just see who’s in charge.”
She stared straight at him. “Fucking.”
“Did you just dare me?” He was incredulous. Nobody dared him. Ever.
“Yep.”
He grinned.
She eyed him warily. “Um . . . why does that make you smile?”
“Because now I get to think of some way to prevent you from using that word again. And since spanking is out, I get to be creative.”
“Why is spanking out?” she asked curiously. Then she blushed bright red as though realizing what she’d said.
“Because in no way do I ever want you to think I could be like him. I will never raise my hand to you. Not in any way.”
She stared up at him, her lips parted, then she closed her mouth and swallowed heavily. He could see the tears in her eyes. He hated it. Those gorgeous violet colored eyes that should just be filled with laughter and happiness.
“You are nothing like him, West Malone. And don’t ever think you are.”
Somebody cleared their throat and, too late, he realized they still had an audience. Shit. Since when did he forget other people were in the room? Since just now, apparently. Not even Lana had had the ability to make him only see her and forget about the rest of the world. That thought rocked him and he pulled slightly away from Felicity. She looked at him in confusion. He attempted a smile. Her confusion turned to a hint of worry.
“Where’s your brother, Flick? He wasn’t at the house when Beau and Maddox came for you,” Alec asked.
She frowned. “He went to Houston yesterday. He’s supposed to be coming back today.”
“Did he drive?” Jake asked.
She nodded. “He’s got a modified vehicle.” She gave Jake a few details about her brother’s car.
How could a brother do this to a sister? None of them had a sister, obviously. And he’d gotten into plenty of physical tussles with his brothers over the years. But they gave as good as they got. But he would never touch a sister. Ever. Mia was the closest thing to a sister they had and the thought of raising a hand to her, or to any woman, made him feel like he was going to throw up.
“Right. Give me a minute to make a call,” Jake told them. He stepped out of the room, and West leaned into her.
“It’s all gonna be all right, Flick,” he told her.
She looked up at him in surprise. “That’s the first time you’ve called me that.”
“Called you what?”
“Flick.”
“Yeah, well, Flick sounds like some teenage tomboy. So don’t expect me to say it often. Last thing I want is to think of you as a kid.”
Alec snickered. Flick looked at him as though she didn’t understand, but he wasn’t going to explain. Before she could question him, Jake returned to the room.
“No one is home yet. Got someone watching the house and I’ve put out an APB on his vehicle. I need to hear, in your words exactly what happened, Flick. I also want to know when he started beating you.”
“He’s going to be furious.” The fear in her voice was stark.
West gently grasped told of her chin and turned her face towards him. “He’s not your problem to worry about anymore.”
“Spencer is always my problem,” she told him.
“No,” Jake told her. “He’s mine now. West is right. You need to stop worrying about him. We’re going to protect you now. This is my town. You’re one of my people. And you’re a woman. In case you haven’t gotten the picture, we look after our woman around here.”