Malone's Fate (Haven, Texas Book 14) by Laylah Roberts

Author:Laylah Roberts [Roberts, Laylah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-28T18:30:00+00:00

25

Fuck.

What had just happened? Tanner stared after Lilac. Didn’t she understand that Linc had deserved the punch? That those men the other night at Dirty Delights had deserved it too?

That all he was doing was protecting her?

Why had she looked at him like she thought . . . like she’d thought that he might harm her?

He’d never do that. Everything he did was for her. All he wanted was to care for and protect her.

Linc picked Ryleigh up and carried her out of the guesthouse. Both of them had given him strange looks. He glanced to Opal who was staring worriedly after Lilac.

Yeah. Nope. He wasn’t leaving things like this. He took a step toward the bathroom, but Opal moved in front of him.

“I need to go talk to her,” he said.

“No, big boy, I think it’s best that you don’t.” Opal’s voice was firm but kind.

“I need to! I can’t leave things like this. I can’t have her thinking that . . . that I might hurt her. That’s what she thinks, right?”

“I don’t know if she thinks that, exactly. Listen, she just needs a bit of time and some rest. She’s exhausted and stressed.”

“I need to tell her that I’d never harm her. Ever.” He ran a shaking hand over his face. “I can’t believe she’d be worried that I would do that.”

“Lilac hasn’t had an easy life. She lived with a narcissist who blamed her for everything that went wrong in his life and . . . shit, I shouldn’t have said that. Fucking big mouth.”

A narcissist? Who was that? Opal said ‘he,’ so it wasn’t the nanny. Her dad or brother?

“I know a bit about her childhood. She told me about being raised by her nanny and how that bitch cherished her brother yet hated Lilac. How she’d restrict what Lilac ate.”

Opal nodded. “Honestly, if she’s opened up even that much, then deep down, part of her already trusts you. It’s just . . . you can’t keep using your fists to solve shit. I fucking get it. I’m always tempted to smack the stupidity out of someone. But Lilac needs to know that you’ll keep your cool.”

“Linc fucking deserved it, and he knows it. That’s why he didn’t hit back. And those assholes at Dirty Delight definitely did.” He started pacing. “She can’t expect me to sit by and do nothing while people touch her, upset her.”

“Hmm, she probably wasn’t all that upset by those assholes in the bar. But Linc is supposed to be your friend. And my guess is she feels so guilty over Ryleigh being sick that she felt like she deserved his ire.”

“That’s fucking bullshit! He had no right to talk to her like that.”

Opal held up her hands. “Hey, I fucking agree. He was a fuckhead. Hmm. Yeah, I’m putting that between dickhead and shithead. But the thing is, Lilac doesn’t necessarily agree. And all she sees is you using your fists to hurt people. Which is what her brother does.

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