Page 43 of Your Worst Fear
“She was hired!” McKenna defended, stepping toward Henley. “That’s not her fault!”
I moved in between them, remembering how McKenna told me she had tried to attack him before. I didnotneed a fight breaking out right now.
“It’s fine,” I told McKenna, my back to Henley. I could feel the heat radiating off his body, suffocating me with its intensity.
“How is thatfine?” McKenna asked.
“Just…trust me, okay? I have this under control.” My cousin was protective. Not only that, but she had a hard time handing control over to someone else. This didn’t involve her, and I wanted it to stay that way. There were enough lives on the line right now. McKenna had her fair share of that a couple months ago and didn’t need to get involved in something life-threatening again.
Behind me, Henley snorted. I lifted my foot, moving it back just enough to slam it down on his toes. Forgetting Iwas wearing slippers, I internally cursed and bit my tongue when his steel-toe boot dug into the sole of my foot.
Fucking cowboys.
Henley grabbed my wrist—the one attached to my bad arm—and tugged me backward until I was standing by his side. I gritted my teeth at the bite of pain in my bicep, knowing he’d done it on purpose.
“If that’s all, we’ll be leaving now.” His fingers dug into my wrist. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“Work,” McKenna repeated blandly.
I tried to smile at her, but the expression fell flat. There was nothing lighthearted about any of this. “I’ll update you two, okay?”
From the couch, Brynne nodded.
“I’ll call, since I apparently can no longer text in privacy,” I added, digging my elbow into Henley’s side as nonchalantly as possible.
He all but dragged me toward the door, my goodbyes rushed out on the way. As he steered me toward his truck, all I wondered was how the fuckI’dgotten stuck with this one.
On the way back to my house, where I assumed—and damn sure hoped—all Henley was going to do was drop me off and leave, I demanded a drink.
I didn’t want to go home to sit in the bed he’d fucked my mouth in only a few hours ago. It’d either piss me off or turn me on. God forbid the latter, becauseI continuously had to keep pinching myself on the detour to the bar every time I thought of him reading that book between my legs.
“You got a twitch or something?” Henley grumbled as he held the door open for me to enter the rundown establishment. Fuck him for being a gentleman.
“Just having an allergic reaction to being in your presence,” I responded, heading straight for the bar to order a drink. Whiskey Ridge didn’t have any places like this directly in town, so he had to drive about thirty minutes outside of it to some other town—if it could even be considered that.
There were a few men lining the bar, three girls smoking cigarettes and eyeing me from the corner, and some black lab lying on a dirty bed beside the jukebox. The lighting was dim, a gold hue clashing with the bright neon signs lining the walls. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it didn’t have to be.
I simply needed a buzz.
As soon as my hands hit the splinter-ridden bar top, I said, “Whiskey on the rocks.”
The only acknowledgment of my order was a glance from the bartender before he got to work.
“Nothing for me, huh?” Henley asked, unfortunately stopping by my side. He rested his elbows on the counter as he leaned back, facing the tables.
“I’m not your mother. You can order for yourself.”
A small chuckle escaped him as he dipped his head. I glanced over to find his pearly teeth on display for a moment before his tongue lapped over them.
My eyes snapped back to the bar right as the glass ofliquid gold slid in front of me. I didn’t need to be imagining his tongue in other places right now.
See, this was why I needed a drink. The man was making me crazy.
“What’s got you all worked up, little killer?” Henley questioned, sounding somewhat bored, as if I was some child he had no other choice but to follow around all day.
I downed the whiskey in one gulp, sliding it back toward the bartender before he was barely a step away. He replenished it, and I repeated the motion twice more.
Henley grabbed the glass before I could slide it back for a fourth shot. “That’s enough.”
