Page 72 of Anger Bang
She was about to share her revelation with her mom when a loud commotion outside yanked her attention over to the RV’s window. Justine was marching toward the RV alongside Kade, his mom trailing a few steps behind. The producer was gesticulating wildly, her hands going everywhere, as she gave Kade a what-for that going by the volume and the grimace on her face was legendary. For his part, Kade didn’t seem to be paying the producer any mind. His steely focus was solely on the RV. Thea took an unconscious step back, her heart jumping up into her throat as the rest of her body screamed in joyous anticipation.
He was coming.
Kade St. James was coming, and she was already gone—for him, at least.
There was half a second where the air practically sparked with expectations, and then Kade burst into the RV. His hair stood up as if he’d been shoving his fingers through it for the past century and a half, and his jaw was set in a grim line. He looked around, his attention bouncing from Thea’s mom to Justine the producer and his own mom, who’d both entered right after him, to Thea, where it stopped.
Something nearly feral made his gaze darken as he looked her up and down as if he could barely control himself from storming over, throwing her over his shoulder, and taking her away—maybe to yell at her, maybe to fuck her senseless, possibly both at the same time.
Her pulse sped up, and every sensitive spot on her body that he’d ever touched zeroed in on him. Her gaze glided from the possessive look in his eyes to the fullness of his lips that had set her skin on fire to his broad shoulders, perfect for bracing herself when she was riding his hard dick, to the way his jeans fit his strong thighs to the absolutely undeniable aura of power and determination licking against her nerve endings. Fucking A. No one should have that much raw sex appeal.
“You’re okay?” he asked, his voice heavy with the hoarseness of a man who’d stayed up all night in misery.
She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” she said, the single word coming out breathy and hot and needy and oh-my-God exactly how she shouldn’t be talking to anyone in front of her mom and the producer of a reality TV show.
He didn’t take a step toward her, but it still felt like he was right beside her, wrapped around her, a force field of testosterone.
“If you ever do that again without leaving at least a heads-up to where you’ll be,” he said, his body nearly vibrating with barely repressed ferocity, “I will completely lose my shit. Do you understand? You want to leave or need space? Just say so. But I can’t spend another night ever thinking that you’re hurt or need help and I’m not there for you. Got it?”
She nodded, her ability to speak obliterated by his words.
“Good.” He waited for a beat, staring at her like he could see all the way down to her soul, and then scanned the room. “Dex said he’d be here.”
Thea gave an internal “I knew it.”
“The groom’s gone, too?” Thea’s mom said, her eyes as round as an Oreo cookie. “Are they eloping, or are they breaking it off?”
“They better have been kidnapped by aliens, because I don’t know another excuse that will keep them out of lawsuit hell for fucking up this reality TV wedding,” Justine grumbled. “When I find the two of them, I’m going to post every single second of it, no matter how much I have to pay extra to pixelate non-sponsored products out.”
The last thing Jackie probably wanted right now was for Justine and a camera crew to find wherever she and Dex were holed up.
She was scrambling for an idea about how she could help when a cameraman and boom operator came clomping up the three steps to the RV’s door and entered the now-way-too-crowded living room.
Justine shot him a dirty look. “What are you doing here, Angus?”
“We’ve searched everywhere,” the mullet-haired cameraman said with a shrug. “They’re in the wind.”
The producer let loose with a string of curses that would make a sailor blush as she checked the time on her phone. “The live stream starts in ninety seconds, Angus. If all I have to show is a few tumbleweeds by that stupid stinking river, I’m going to have your ass. Nepo baby or not, you’re going down for this.”
Angus rolled his eyes. “My dad will have your job.”
“He’s too busy fucking the nanny to come after me, Angus,” Justine said, jabbing her finger in the air next to his face. “Where. In. The. Fuck. Are. Jackie. And. Dex.”
Thea pressed a hand to her twisting stomach, her nervous gaze flicking from the stressed-out producer to the bored cameraman and back again. The air in the RV was spiked with tension sharp enough to make her skin prickle. Her sister had tried to protect her—it had been a ham-handed effort, yes, but Jackie’s heart had been in the right place—and now it was Thea’s turn.
“One minute until we’re live, Angus!” Justine said, her voice cracking. “I’m gonna sue them for everything they’re worth. By the time I’m done, they won’t ever get another job in this town. They’re done. Finished.”
The boom mic operator stepped back as if he was trying to become one with the wall while Justine kept ranting, but Thea blocked her out.
There was only one way Thea could help her sister at that moment. Her gurgling gut flipped and flopped. Fuck. Anything would be better than this, but she was out of options. She not only had to shove herself into the center of attention, but she had to crack open her soft underbelly and tell Kade exactly how she felt while the entire world looked on. She had to give Justine enough drama to give Jackie enough time to do what she needed to do and to keep her from losing the career she’d sacrificed so much for.
Her belly rumbled in a very this-is-not-good way.
She was going to throw up.
