“You think I’m going to let you play me like that? You bitch. You should be thanking me for even asking you out.”
A horrified sound scraped out of her lungs. “You’re such an asshole, Seaton. Screw you, I don’t want anything to do with you. Stay away from me,” she tossed back.
But it was already too late for poor Seaton.
Ryder descended before the bastard knew he was there, coming out of the darkness like the monster that he was.
Rage tore through his bloodstream.
Aggression breaking him in two.
He took the asshole by the back of the head and smashed his face into the edge of the roof.
Shock raked from Dakota, the attack coming from out of nowhere, while the prick wailed in agony. “What the fuck?”
It earned no sympathy from Ryder.
He kept him upright by the back of his shirt, spinning him around. “You think you can touch her when she said no, you fuckin’ pussy?”
Ryder tossed a blow to his already busted face. The asshole cried out, and he stumbled back from the force of the hit.
Ryder went after him, throwing another punch that sent him wheeling back before he dropped to his ass.
“Ryder, oh my God.” Dakota rushed around the car, her heels clattering on the pavement. “Ryder,” she begged. “Just leave him.”
There was no leaving him for Ryder, and he dove for him, pinning him to the ground. “Little fucker, I’m going to make you regret ever speaking her name.”
The asshole writhing on the ground spat blood in Ryder’s face. “Do you know who I am? You can’t touch me. I’ll destroy you for this. Over a fat fucking whore who’s terrible at sucking dick.”
Fury clouded Ryder’s sight. Darkness seeping in at the edges. Taking over.
Every time he’d ever sat with Dakota under the cover of that tree while she’d cried over something one of these ignorant pricks had said burst through the dam.
An assault of memories.
The comfort she’d found in him.
The way he’d always wanted to be there. Protect her. Every vain promise he had made.
The shame over walking away.
Every bit of it got taken out on this asshole.
Ryder threw fist after fist.
Dakota’s pleas barely dented into the mayhem.
“I’ll kill you, you piece of shit.”
And he probably would have, too, the way the bastard went limp and stopped fighting back, if it wasn’t for the blip of the siren and the blinding glare of the headlights and spotlight that cut into the madness.
It was an SUV pulling into the lot. Sheriff was painted on the side, and a crackled voice shouted from the speaker. “Hands in the air. Right now.”
Lungs heaving for air, he sat back, his knees digging into the pitted pavement as he slowly lifted his hands above his head.
“Oh, God, Ryder.” Dakota wept from somewhere behind him, and he could feel her fear. Her confusion. The horror of what had just gone down whirling around her sweet spirit.
Both doors on the SUV cranked open, and the sheriff on the driver’s side came around the front. He had his gun drawn and aimed at Ryder. “Slowly move to the side and lay down on the ground. Facedown.”
Ryder complied, nerves clattering through him as he did. He’d always been so careful. So fucking careful. But protecting Dakota was worth any cost.
Any consequence.
Except he cringed when the second officer came into view.
Ezra.
His cousin who’d just graduated from the academy and had gotten hired on at the department two weeks ago.
Shame poured down.
He knew what they were going to find when the older officer stepped over him and handcuffed his arms behind his back, before the officer began to pat him down, digging into his pockets.
He pulled out the two baggies.
It wasn’t much.
But it was enough to have Dakota whimpering and Ezra wheezing, “Fuck, Ryder,” under his breath.
It was bad enough there was an asshole with a smashed face unconscious off to his side, and in the distance, the shout of another siren echoed through the air.
A minute later, an ambulance and another sheriff’s patrol pulled into the lot.
Ryder was dragged onto his feet and turned, and his gaze tangled with Dakota’s.
Cinnamon eyes were wide and full of fear. Terror and disbelief. Shock rolled through her body. The girl shaking so hard you’d think she’d been rescued out of a frozen lake.
A paramedic wrapped a blanket around her while the others tended to the fucker who was currently moaning on the opposite side of the lot.
Ezra was the one who guided Ryder to the back of the SUV and forced him into the backseat. “What the fuck were you thinking, Ryder?” Remorse leached into his tone, and he kept his voice low so only Ryder could hear. “You know I can’t cover for this.”