Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(112)

I grinned, the action sharkish. “What’s the matter, Vincent? Mommy and Daddy realize you’re a waste of space who blows through their money and doesn’t do anything worthwhile?”

Vincent moved so fast I wouldn’t have been able to stop him. But Wylder did. The moment Vincent’s hand rose to strike, Wylder caught it at the wrist. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Vincent snarled and ripped his hand free. “The hacker felon’s degenerate brother. How lovely. Isn’t it risky for a drunk to be working in a bar?”

Everything in me tensed as if lead filled my muscles. He knew who Dex was. Wylder. He knew their histories. This was more than keeping tabs on an ex and your kid. This was gathering ammunition.

“Get out,” I spat.

“Gonna second that request,” Wylder said coolly. “Got the right to refuse service to anyone, and if you don’t go, I have no problem removing you forcibly.”

“I’ll sue you so fast your head will spin,” Vincent threatened. “I’ll own this bar and tear it to the ground just for shits and giggles.”

“Oh, you could try,” Wylder agreed. “But I think you’ll find the law around here doesn’t take too kindly to you richy-rich types thinking they can mess with the locals. And they sure as hell don’t take too kindly to people stalking their residents.”

A muscle fluttered wildly along Vincent’s jaw. “I’m not stalking anybody. I’m checking in on what’s mine.” His gaze flicked to me, raking over my body in a way that had me wanting to shower and vomit all at once. “You thought you could leave me. Disobey my orders. I own you, Braedyn. And you better come to heel.”

“What. Did. You. Say?”

The new voice was familiar, but it vibrated with a fury I’d never heard before.

As my gaze lifted, I saw that fury was a living, breathing thing. And it engulfed Dex.





46





DEX





I did everything I could to make sure I never became my father. I meditated. I gave back. I never let my temper get the best of me.

And part of that last piece was never letting more people in—not beyond the surface level that meant I would lose it if someone hurt them or something happened to them. But that had all been blown to hell.

Because as I stared back at the piece of shit trying to dominate Brae, to reduce her to property, I knew I had the ability to kill. That alone should’ve snapped me out of it, but it didn’t. It only stoked the fire living inside me—one my father had laid the kindling for.

The dipshit douchebag whirled, no awareness of when someone else was present. Someone else who could end him in a matter of seconds. It would be far too easy.

The moment Vincent registered who I was, his eyes widened a fraction. Then true fury lit his features. “So this is who she’s spreading her legs for now. A felon with a serial killer for a father. The courts are going to love that. They’ll be begging me to take my bastard boy.”

I prowled toward the man. There was nothing and no one but him. The person I wanted to end, wipe from this earth once and for all. “You’re right, and you’re wrong, Vinny. I can call you Vinny, right?”

Heat bloomed over the asshole’s face. “You can call me sir, you trailer trash.”

A low chuckle left my lips, but it wasn’t a light sound. It was pure darkness. “Well, Vinny. You’re wrong that I’m a felon. Never did time. Worked for the FBI instead. And I can produce half a dozen high-level agents who would love to tell a judge what an upstanding citizen I am.”

A sound of derision left Vincent’s lips.

“But you’re right that my father was a serial killer. He did things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your pathetic life. And he made me. He raised me. So you better think long and hard before you mess with two people who mean something to me.”

Fear flooded the weasel’s expression. He realized he was alone with me and two people who would most certainly not have his back. But he doubled down, proving he was a moron in addition to being an asshole.

“You can’t touch me. But I’m going to own you before this is done. I’ll own this whole godforsaken town before this is over.” Vincent’s gaze flicked to Brae.

Just him looking at her was more than I could take—his gaze traveling over her skin, her face. But then he spoke. “And I’ll take that boy of yours. You should be grateful. He’ll have everything your pathetic ass could never give him.”

My fist lashed out, connecting with his jaw in a vicious punch, one that had his head snapping back at an unnatural angle. Vincent went down like a ton of bricks. But it wasn’t enough.

I moved lightning fast to grab and hit him again, but Wylder was faster. He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me back, trying to create distance.

“That’s enough,” Wylder bit out. “You got him. Got him good.”

“It’s not enough,” I snarled, trying to get to Vincent, to hurt him worse.

Wylder cursed, struggling to keep me back as Vincent staggered to his feet.

“Gonna sue you,” he spat, his voice slurring just a little.

I pushed harder against Wylder, but then Brae was there, filling my vision with all she was. Her beauty. Her understanding. Her worry.