Resonance of Stars (Greenstone Security #5) - Anne Malcom Page 0,111

danger of his own—one that wasn’t the same as Duke’s, but it was still scary.

“You back away from my wife now,” he said. Words of steel, full of threats.

Rosie rolled her eyes at both of them.

“You.” She looked at her husband. “You’ve known me for how long now? So what makes you think I’ve somehow changed drastically in the last few hours that you can go around fighting my battles for me, making threats for me? I fight my own battles, follow through on my own threats.” She didn’t wait for Luke to respond. Her eyes went to Duke. “And you. I get you’ve got the whole ‘alpha male in love’ thing going on. I get that you’re one of the last in our group to get it. You’re overexcited. Whatever. But you are not stupid. Nor are you anywhere near as misogynistic as you’re acting right now. You know that your woman has and can take a punch just as well, if not better than a man can take it. You also know that justice is a dirty business. Revenge is even dirtier. Despite what all the movies tell us—even her movies—it’s not a business that leaves anyone unscathed. Anastasia is a grown woman. She’s a smart one at that. Smart mostly because she called me. And because she knew exactly what she was getting herself into and what could come of it. She was prepared for that. She handled it. Her face will heal. So get over yourself.”

Rosie delivered the speech the same casual way she had delivered everything these past couple of days. She was probably one of the most impressive people I’d ever met.

Despite this, there was a tense moment, one that even the most badass of females couldn’t break.

Then Duke stepped back.

I exhaled.

Luke glowered.

Rosie grinned.

Duke didn’t say anything else, just snatched my arm and dragged us out of there.

I had been shocked to see Tanner and Andrew in the next room, both of them holding handguns and harsh glares.

They were still wearing their fucking boots and cowboy hats, milling with bikers.

Both of their gazes turned to stone when they saw me, more specifically saw what I was guessing was the already large bruise on my cheek.

Duke seemed to struggle to let me go when they both approached, but had no choice when I was engulfed in two different cowboy, macho-men hugs.

Andrew cupped my face when he finally let me go. He did it in the gentlest way a man could touch a woman, like a father might. That and the shimmer in his eyes hit me square in the stomach.

“You scared the crap out of me, darlin’,” he said, a rasp in his voice.

“You came all the way here?” I asked, stupidly. Obviously they were here.

He smiled, but there was sadness and love in it. “You’re family.”

It was that. That sentence right there, delivered from the patriarch that got me. That shattered me. I had planned on saving my breakdown for the privacy of my own mansion. But it started here, in front of all the bikers, Tanner, and Duke.

My sobs racked my body, and Andrew held on to me the entire time.

At some point, I got a hold of myself. The well ran dry.

Andrew let me go, kissed my forehead, and stepped back.

He looked behind me.

I knew who was behind me, who hadn’t touched me or said a word during all of this.

“You good, son?”

“Good.” Duke uttered the single word with a deadness to his tone. “We’ve got somewhere for the both of you to stay, but I need to get Anastasia sorted.”

Andrew nodded. “You go, take care of our girl. I think we can handle ourselves here.” He looked around. “I need to buy some of these guys a beer.”

I wanted to smile at that, wanted to stay and watch Andrew and Tanner drink beers and shoot the shit with the bikers.

But Duke wasn’t having that. He snatched my hand again and all but dragged me outside. There were no words, no caresses, just his grip on my wrist.

I’d done it.

I’d gotten what I wanted. I’d pushed Duke away. I was going to get my life back.

And it killed me.

He hadn’t looked at me since he’d got here. Not since the first moment he’d run his eyes over my body, assessing the injuries. He’d done that for practical reasons, obviously. But since then, nothing. He’d asked me if I needed painkillers, if I wanted anything to eat. I’d said no to both of