Mastered by Malone (Haven, Texas 6)

“What the fuck happened?” he demanded of her.

“Oh, um, well . . . ”

“Well, what?” he asked, clearly at the end of his patience.

“I got a call from Jaret. He needed to be picked up. He was too drunk to drive and he didn’t have his phone to call anyone else.”

“And?”

She licked her lips. “And I couldn’t find anyone. I don’t have their cell numbers.”

“You could have used the radio to call West.”

“I did. He wouldn’t go get him,” she pointed out reasonably.

Alec stood, looming over her. Stand your ground. Don’t show him you’re afraid.

“And you thought it would be smart to take one of the ranch trucks and go pick him up yourself? You didn’t even leave a note!”

“I didn’t think anyone would notice I was gone.”

He looked at her like she was an idiot.

“He needed help. He’d walked in on Gloria fucking some guy and he was torn up. So he went and got drunk and then he did something stupid . . . ”

“What stupid thing did he do?” Alec asked quietly. “Please don’t tell me he fucking killed him?”

Really? That’s where his mind went first? To murder?

“No, he didn’t kill him. He destroyed his car.”

“That’s all?”

That’s all? That’s all? That was not the response she was expecting.

Alec moved towards Jaret and then slapped him. Hard. Jaret groaned and she jumped forward, inserting himself between Alec and Jaret.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she yelled.

“You want to get out of my way now,” Alec commanded in a low, deep voice that sent chills down her spine.

She wanted to move. Every cell in her body screame

d at her to obey the very scary man glaring down at her. It would be the smart thing to do. The sensible thing to do. Instead, she shook her head.

Seemed she just wasn’t that smart.

Alec glared down at the tiny woman as she dared to shake her head at him. Grown men had been known to run the other way when they saw him coming. And here was this little thing standing against him? And why? To defend his brother?

“What the fuck?” Jaret’s voice reached him as he continued to scowl down at Mia.

He was starting to revise her nickname. He should just call her headache. That’s all she’d been to him. Oh, she’d lulled him into a false sense of security for those first couple of weeks, tiptoeing around the house, not saying boo. But as she’d settled in and felt safer, the real problems had begun.

“Who the fuck hit me?” Jaret grumbled.

“I fucking hit you, you idiot,” Alec snapped at him. “And I’ll do it again if you don’t get some damn coffee inside you. Now. We need you sober before the cops arrive.”

“What? Why? What’d I do?” He sat up then slumped back. “Fuck, too much to drink. Got to sleep.”