Adley crumbles to the ground as soon as Dempsey pulls back.

“Maddie Wheeler is my girlfriend. You so much as say her name out loud again, and I will hunt you down and bring on a world of pain. In court. In the streets. I’ll fight you with everything I have until you’re fucking ruined. She. Is. Mine. Do you understand?”

I stand there, speechless, as Adley nods frantically from where he’s kneeling on the pavement.

“Use your words, asshole. Maddie Wheeler is off limits. Say it,” he spits out.

Andrew gasps for breath and struggles to right himself. He coughs and sputters, but eventually he pants out Dempsey’s demands. “Maddie Wheeler is off limits.”

“Good boy,” Dempsey degrades, patting Andrew on the head as he turns back to me.

“Lock your car,” he commands, taking my hand and pulling me toward the alley that separates Clinton’s and The Oak. “You’re coming home with me.”

31. Dempsey

Chapter 31

Dempsey

He thought he could come into my bar and put his hands on her. He thought he could intimidate her into fulfilling some sick obligation he decided she owed. He thought wrong.

I thought I could put some distance between us and pump the brakes on whatever this is. I thought I could push down all the feelings I’ve been fighting since the moment I met this woman. I thought wrong, too.

We cross the street in silence, her hand wrapped protectively in mine, neither of us uttering a word as we walk to my car parked near the clock tower.

I guide her to the passenger side, open the door, practically lift her inside, then buckle her up like she can’t do it herself. Her eyes bug out of her head, and I know she wants to protest, but she must see something in me that silences her objections.

I need to do this. I have to protect her. The only reason she’s even on Adley’s radar is because of what she did for my brother.

But it goes deeper than that.

Now that I’ve gotten to know her—now that I’ve been inside her—I can’t imagine letting anyone or anything keep us apart. I spent the last few hours of my shift trying to convince myself we could cool things off and go back to how things were before we hooked up.

But seeing Adley waiting at her car changed everything.

I can’t undo what’s been done. I can’t pretend she hasn’t spent the last few weeks chipping away at the armor I’ve forged to protect myself and my brother. She’s already in. Somehow, she’s worked her way into my life and my heart. I refuse to make her leave.