“I’ll take care of it,” he muttered and hung up on me.
Perfect.
Exhaustion from working a twelve-hour shift had already started to kick in before I even sat down to eat, and now it was in full force.
“I just want to talk to you.” Royal changed tactics, his voice immediately softening from the acidic spew that he’d just been spitting in my direction. “Why don’t you go sit down, Mallory? I’ll be right there.” Dismissing her was a surefire way to piss her off even more, and to paint a target on my back.
My eyes were still on the ground, but I would bet a hundred dollars that Mallory was glaring at me like she wanted me dead.
“Why don’t you both leave?” My throat hurt from saying anything. “I don’t want to talk to you, Royal.”
“Too bad,” he insisted, and while I tried to back up to get away from him, the back of my knees hit the bench and I wobbled.
He grabbed my arm, no doubt to keep me from falling, but that only made things worse. I yanked it out of his grip with a whimper and crouched in on myself, needing to get as far away from him as possible.
“Royal,” Mallory cut into my panic, her voice making me feel like I should stab a knife into my ear to stop the sound. “I think we should go. There’s something wrong with her.”
“There’s nothing wrong with her,” he snapped at her. “She’s throwing a fuckin’ fit. Just like she always does when she doesn’t get what she wants.” I felt the booth flex as he slid into it, effectively cornering me. “News flash, Kennedy. The world doesn’t revolve around you. When a man wants to talk to you, you give him the time. It’s called being polite.”
“No. It’s called being a jackass. Now leave. Before I make you.”
My eyes flashed open, and even through the tears I knew it was him.
“Mind your own business, Lincoln,” Royal said, exaggerating his name. “You’re interrupting a private conversation.”
“Do you want to die today, Royal?” Linc didn’t budge, and his eyes never met mine, even though I was silently begging him to. “Because I’ve got nothing going on. I’m sure I could make that happen if you don’t get the fuck out of here right now.”
Royal stiffened, but Mallory moved between the two men like the idiot she was. “Come on, Royal; don’t waste your time on him.”
Royal, apparently, grew a few brain cells in that moment, because he slid out of the booth without saying anything else to Linc. That didn’t stop him from staring at me with the same hard, lifeless eyes that he’d turned on me during our entire relationship.
“We’re going to talk about this, Kennedy. Whether you want to or not.”
“We have nothing to talk about, Royal,” I whispered. “Congratulations on your engagement to Mallory. Please leave me alone.”
Royal couldn’t say anything else. Not because he didn’t want to, but because Linc stepped between us and said something under his breath. Something only Royal could hear that turned his face bright red, and his mouth quivering with either rage or fear.
“Leave.” The low timbre of Linc’s voice never wavered in pitch, but danger rolled off him in waves.
If it were anyone, anyone else other than Royal, I’d feel bad for them. But not him. Not after everything he’d done in the last year to make my life a living hell. No. He definitely deserved to feel every ounce of Linc’s aggression aimed at him.
When he grabbed Mallory by the arm and yanked her away, I flinched. Memories flooded my mind of the last time he’d done it to me. Instinctively, I rubbed my arms and grimaced, fighting off the same helpless feeling I’d learned to live with.
Linc stood there, with his back turned away from me, watching Royal and Mallory walk in the opposite direction.
I took the rare opportunity to stare at him. The way he held himself hadn’t changed, at least not enough that anyone else would know. I saw the rigid tension in his shoulders that never existed before. The muscles in his neck twitched as he kept his eyes locked on Royal’s retreating back.
His arms were crossed over his chest, and I watched the way the muscles in his biceps flexed under the edge of his shirt. He shifted, and I got just a glimpse of a black tattoo on the backside of his right biceps before he turned and his eyes locked on mine.
I saw Linc every single day. Every day since he’d come back from the Marine Corps. And every single time I saw him, the fire that lived in my heart for him flared to life, consuming everything in its path.
A fraction of a second passed while we stared at each other, and every year that had passed melted away. The pain, the loss, the years spent without him by my side faded until we were back in that moment. The one when everything felt perfect. When I thought we had forever. When Linc was the first and last man I ever wanted to be with. In that moment, I saw the hunger in his eyes. I saw the passion for life that he used to have. I saw Linc.
He blinked, and the mask of indifference he carried slipped into place. Linc was gone again, and in his place a stranger stared back at me. One that knew everything about me and held my heart in his hands.
Tears pooled in my eyes. It wasn’t the first time, and definitely wouldn’t be the last time that I’d cry over Lincoln Hayes.
Before he saw me embarrass myself any further, I scooted out of the booth and ran away. At least at home, I could hide under the blankets and pretend that my life wasn’t a complete wreck.
Maybe once I got there, I wouldn’t feel like dying all over again.
2
Linc
As I sat in my truck watching the windows in Kennedy’s house for any sign of movement, I came to the conclusion that I’d officially become a stalker.
Liar.
In reality, I’d been stalking Kennedy since I got out of the Marine Corps, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it stalking. I had her six, that was it. Kennedy didn’t deserve all the shit I had going on in my life or the nightmares that I had every single night, but I’d watch out for her. I’d protect her with my life, even if it meant I had to protect her from myself. Which is why I was sitting my dumbass in my truck and not in bed with her.
I’d ruin her, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it.
The lights in the house were off, except for the one she always kept on in her bedroom, a little lamp that she’d gotten in eighth grade, and the one in her living room that sat on the bookshelf that she kept under her windows to hold some of her favorite books. I didn’t even have to be inside the house to know that, either. Kennedy liked light. She always had.
I’m only going to stay for an hour. Bargaining with myself, making empty promises, none of it seemed to work. I’d sit out there, in the dark, making sure she was safe from everything and everyone that could hurt her, including me, until my eyes would barely stay open. Then I’d drive the mile and a half that it took to get to my house, and I’d fall asleep on my couch. There was no use arguing with the routine. Not when it was the only thing that kept my nightmares at bay.
My phone lit up on my lap, and I answered it with a groan.
“What do you want, Remy?” The last thing I wanted was to explain to him what I was doing in the middle of the night.