I shook my head, but since the man wasn’t shining the flashlight directly at my face, he might not have been able to see me. “No. I don’t know either of them, where they came from or why they were here, but—”
“It’s okay. Just . . . put the gun down. Like I told you, unwilling women aren’t my thing.” The beam of the flashlight moved to his shoulder. “Did he get me? Because that fucking burns like a son of a bitch.”
That’s when I saw the blood dripping down his arm, and I lowered the shotgun. “Yeah. He got you.”
The light beam swung back over to me. “Looks like he got you too. Your face is busted to fuck. What do you say we help each other and do some first aid while we figure out where the hell you’re gonna go so this doesn’t happen again.”
“Go?” I glared at him like he was crazy. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He came toward me, and although I didn’t point the shotgun in his face again, I kept it handy.
“You really want to stay here? Because these might not be the only two assholes prowling around aiming to loot shit. This city is a fucking madhouse right now. I’ve never seen it like this before.”
He was right. It wasn’t safe for me to be here alone. But I’d stayed because the house was all I had. If something happened to it, I wouldn’t have shit, and I’d end up working the corner again. That was something I had to avoid, no matter what.
“I can’t leave the house. I gotta protect it. It’s all I’ve got.”
He crouched down in front of me. “Well, hell. I don’t much like the idea of you here all alone, a sitting duck for the next Ernie and friend to come along and . . .” He trailed off, but I didn’t need him to finish the sentence.
I wouldn’t be as vulnerable again. Never again. “I’ll keep the gun closer. I’ll put a hole in whoever comes in this house next.”
“Why don’t you start with getting some clothes on first. That’ll be a right good start.”
I didn’t take orders, or actually even suggestions, from just anyone. But this person had literally delivered me from almost certain death. But why?
“Who . . . who are you? What are you doing here? Let me see you.”
He angled the flashlight so the beam illuminated the most beautiful face I’d ever seen on a man. Chiseled and angular. Warm-toned skin. And green eyes that glowed like jewels.
“Like I said, I’m Moses. And, apparently, I was sent here to save you.”
Two
Magnolia
Present day
“He’s been lying to you since the moment you met him.” Mount’s words hang in the cabin of the car, mingling with the scent of the fancy leather.
My gaze cuts to Moses as my imagination goes wild. “What the fuck is he talking about?”
Moses’s glare could eviscerate a man, but Mount just smiles like he’s proud of himself.
Fucker. Right now, they’re both the damn enemy.
“I’m not sure what the fuck kind of game you two are playing, but I don’t want any part of it. I knew this shit was too good to be true.” I shake my head, reaching for the door handle. “I’m out.”
I yank the handle and climb out, not caring how expensive the car is when I slam the door as hard as I fucking can.
Another man, another liar. Why am I even surprised?
I grind my teeth, fighting against the pain that’s coming. Betrayal fucking sucks. I should know better because I’ve been on both sides of the equation.
Maybe this is karma. Ho-It-All pipes up, and I want to bitch-slap her into submission. The last thing I need is to remind myself that I probably deserve this.
I stalk toward Bernie’s house but pause at the gate.
I can’t go back inside. Not like this.
The other door flings open, and Moses’s massive body emerges from the car right before it pulls away from the curb and rolls down the street like Satan’s chariot. And maybe it is.
The expression on Moses’s face is hard and unreadable. He stalks toward me and opens his mouth, but I beat him to the punch.
Hands on my hips, I steel myself for war. “You married? Got kids? How many?”
“Mama—”
My head slowly moves from side to side. “Don’t you fucking mama me like it’s going to make me any less pissed. For the first time in a long damn time, I thought I had something. I thought we had something. And now I don’t know what the fuck to think. So, tell me, where’s your goddamned wife, Moses?”
I’m yelling by the end, but I don’t care. It’s not like Bernie will hear me over her stories, and if Norma does, she won’t interfere beyond sending me a text later to see if I’m okay.
Moses inches closer, holding out a hand, and his wild eyes make an effort to plead his case.
I jerk away. “Don’t fucking touch me. I’ve fucked enough married men. I didn’t need to do it again. So unless you’re gonna tell me right now that Mount is fucking with my head for some other goddamned reason, you’d better spit out the truth right the fuck now.”
“I’m not married. No kids, Mags. That ain’t it. Not even close.”
A giant whoosh of relief sweeps through me, but I’m afraid to trust it. “You fucking sure?”
He nods. “Never wanted to be tied to any woman other than you. Whether you believe that or not.”
The knot in the pit of my stomach loosens, but who knows for how long. “Then what the hell did you lie about?”
Moses glances around the neighborhood as a car slows at a stop sign down the tree-lined street. “Not here. We can’t take any more chances. Whoever the bastard is who’s coming at you, I’m not taking a chance he’s gonna find you here.”
He takes a step toward his car, reaching for the passenger door handle . . . to open it for me. Then he pauses and turns.
“You want to hear it, you’ve gotta come back with me.”
I press my lips together hard. Like I have a choice. All my shit is at his house, put away when I was naive to the fact Moses has been hiding something from me.
“Fine. But I want it all. The whole fucking truth. Every bit of it.”
“Deal,” he says, gesturing to the passenger seat.
With my head held high, I walk to the car and slide inside. The novelty of it being a Rolls Royce hasn’t worn off, but I’m in no mood to be impressed right now.
Moses climbs in, and the engine comes to life with a growl. “I could fucking kill Mount for that,” he says, gripping the wheel until his knuckles turn white. “Fucking know-it-all asshole. He gets a sick kick out of meddling in everyone else’s lives.”
He’s not telling me something I don’t already know, but that’s not what I’m interested in right now. I want the truth out of the man beside me.
Mount and his motives are irrelevant. He’s not the one who lied.
“What are you hiding, and why the hell did Mount drop that shit on me like a bomb?” I ask point-blank as Moses steers the car away from the curb.
His square jaw rocks back and forth as he slows at the first stop sign and flips on the turn signal. Facing me, he looks me in the eye.