He blanches, licking nervously at the spittle collected in the corner of his mouth.
“It would be your word against mine,” he says with false calm. “And who would people believe?”
Bristol tilts her head to a pitying angle. “Do you know who my brother is? The people I manage and represent? Who my father is? The p
ower my mother wields in this town? Do you know who’s mentored me since college? You don’t have nearly enough influence or firepower to fight me.”
She takes a step closer, and I step with her, grabbing her arm, hating to see her any closer to him.
“Bristol, let’s go,” I say, reflecting the words she used to calm me the last time we had an encounter with this man.
Her eyes plead with me to let her handle it this time, and after a moment, I reluctantly nod, linking my arm around her waist in case something pops off. I know why she did it, but it’s galling and I abhor the fact that she put herself in danger—again, for me, but I’ll deal with that once we’re done.
“It’s not all those people you should worry about,” she continues, pressing her arm over mine at her waist, twining our fingers. “It’s me you should fear, because of the three of us”—with her free hand, she gestures to herself, Ford, and me—“you and I are the thugs. My husband is an honorable man. You won’t bring him down, and the next time you try, I’ll show you what an abomination looks like.”
Ford’s eyes slit with blood-thirst and he practically bares his fangs at Bristol. The air chills around us, his malevolence sweeping in like an icy wind.
“You keep looking at her like that,” I tell him through gritted teeth, “I’ll undo all her hard work convincing these nice people I wasn’t half a second off whipping your ass.”
“You think too highly of yourself, boy,” he spits, a gnarled smile on his face. “Upstarts like you, imposters. Your day is coming, though.”
“Oh, my day is here.” I struggle to maintain my composure. He’s pushing every button, and I need to get out of here before things get worse, before he says something else that will make me want to squeeze the life from his body.
“You take our jobs, our opportunities”—his narrowed eyes shift to Bristol—“our women, and you weaken the country my ancestors built, but we will take it back.”
“They built this country on my ancestors’ backs, motherfucker.” We go from me restraining Bristol to her restraining me. “None of us were here first. Unless you’re Native American, you’re an import just like me. We didn’t ask to come here, but we’re here now, and I have just as much right to it as you do. It’s as much mine as it is yours, maybe more, because nothing about you, what you believe, looks anything like the America I believe in.”
We’re a trifuckta, three sets of horns tangled up, when Amir steps in to break the tension.
“Car’s here,” he says tersely with a belligerent glance at Ford before he looks back to me. “You ready?”
I can’t even look at Ford for another second, the muscles of my arms straining and my fists clenching with the need to pound his face until it’s unrecognizable. I help Bristol into the car and immediately fling myself into the corner of the back seat, chin in my hand. Fury hounds me as I consider the city lights, unable to look at Bristol, much less speak to her.
“Grip, if you could—”
“Don’t.” It’s the only word I can manage without tearing into her. “I know you’re upset I slapped him, but—”
“Bristol, be quiet.”
I close my eyes. I count to ten. I try to visualize a serene locale, but there is not enough woosah in the world to calm me down right now. It’s silent for a few moments, my harshly drawn breaths the only sound in the car.
“But if you would just—”
I snap my head around and pin her to the leather seat with a glare. “What did I say? Not another word until we get home.”
“I’m not some child you can silence when you don’t like what I say,” she fires back, irritation pinching her pretty features.
She doesn’t realize her indignation is a puny thing compared to my wrath.
“One more word outta you, Bristol James, and you’re getting spanked or fucked in this back seat,” I snap. “Amir can never un-see either of those things. You decide what it’s gonna be.”
She blinks a few times, her eyes narrowed but a little nervous because she knows I mean every word. She huffs out a breath, sitting in her little corner and folding her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes in Amir’s direction.
What the fuck ever.
Pout, throw a tantrum and flail on the floor for all I care, but she better not say another damn word to me.
“Let us out,” I tell Amir when we reach our building. He and the driver take the SUV to the underground parking garage while we go through the lobby. In the elevator, I still cannot stomach looking at her. I’m so pissed right now, and the worst part? I’m harder than a motherfucker. There was a time when I’d know how this night would end. We’d have a knock-down, drag-out, we’d resolve the issue, and then we’d fuck the night away with makeup sex—but we haven’t had sex in six weeks, and the things I have to say to her may not be resolved tonight.