The Devil You Know - K.B. Winters Page 0,6

gone either way.

“See ya around, bro.”

“Later,” he called to my back as I made my way to the door, not following Kat, just heading in the same direction.

She was oblivious to the attention she drew as her heels clacked against the cement of the visitor’s lot. Women looked on in awe of her sense of style, the confident way she carried herself even when she was preoccupied with more important matters. And then men, well they drooled as she walked by, probably disappointed they couldn’t muster the courage to approach here before she reached her car.

But one guy stared in a way that wasn’t filled with lust or envy. He had intent in everything from the hunched over set of his shoulders, the way he shoved his fists into the pockets of his jeans, hoodie pulled up to obscure his features and his race.

He didn’t look like he wanted her body or her money, and instantly, I was on high alert. My thoughts went to Brendan Rhymer and Jas’ insistence that the asshole was still alive. If that motherfucker had risen from the dead to target Kat, then I’d be happy to send him straight back to hell.

It wasn’t Brendan though, the guy was taller and thinner than that sick fuck, but that didn’t mean this guy wasn’t sent by Brendan. Or his father or his missing sister.

My gaze slid back to Kat; blue eyes still fixed on the phone screen as her long legs carried her to the far end of the lot. I picked up the pace when he started to move toward her, determined to make it to Kat before this asshole did.

“Hey, hot stuff, give me a smile why don’tcha?” he said, part gangster, part cocky bastard.

Kat froze and turned on her heels with murder in her eyes. “What did you just say to me?” Her outrage made me smile, but the asshole was still advancing, and her anger gave me just enough time to get to her before he did and wrap my arms around her like we were more than kinda, sorta, friends.

“Now is that any way to greet an old friend, sweetheart?” I laid it on thick. Kat was confused and angry as I spun her in a circle so I could get a better, up-close look at the man following her. He was tall with tan skin but he was a white guy. Built but lean with a tattoo on his right forearm. I noted the details for later as Kat tried to squirm from my grip.

“What is wrong with you,” she asked in a half-whisper, half-yell.

“Be cool,” I whispered in her ear, nearly stumbling as the scent of her expensive flowery perfume short-circuited my brain. Kat Ashby was in my arms, where she was meant to be, in another life. I set her down and pulled her close, keeping her pinned to my side as I leveled that motherfucker with an icy stare. “You lost or somethin’?”

Finally, Kat remembered we weren’t alone, and her body went stiff with alarm, especially when he aimed an angry glare right at her.

“Nope. Just walking,” he growled, leaning forward to intimidate.

I smiled and held myself a little taller to let him know that I didn’t intimidate, ever. “Then get to walking. People might feel threatened by a strange man lurking in a parking lot, and they might do something about it.”

The threat landed perfectly, his eyes flared with acknowledgement and Kat gasped beside me.

Reality had finally crashed in on her and I accepted more of her weight as she leaned into me.

“It’s a free country.”

“Yeah? You an Ashby because I’ve never seen you before and this here is Ashby property. All of it.”

“Fuck you,” he spat and walked away, looking over his shoulder every few feet for his own safety.

I watched until he disappeared from sight, only looking away when Kat stepped out of my grasp and smoothed her dress in an attempt to calm her nerves. Her hands moved in slow, methodical strokes over her flat stomach and the flare of her hips before they moved to her thick brown waves, styled to perfection. When she had her emotions under control, Kat looked up at me with a smirk.

“I guess it’s a good thing you’re totally obsessed with me since you kinda saved my life. Thanks.”

Her tone pulled a laugh from me, reminding me of the seventeen-year-old version of her, so sassy and sarcastic. “You’re welcome, princess.”

Kat spun on her heels and started to