Free Black Dawn by Cristin Harber Page A

heard him too. The asshole barely waited for her door to shut before he took off. As he passed Parker, Matt stayed facing forward, but his left hand went up, shooting him the bird.
    “Fuck you too.” Then Parker slammed his fists onto the steering wheel because he didn’t know what to do as they drove away.
     

CHAPTER NINE
     
    All the threats Lexi had ever heard about Bacon played through her head until she was dizzy with the certainty that her poor pup would be dead on the couch when they arrived home. Matt was mean and growing meaner by the day. He’d even tried to burn Bacon that morning. Where had her mind been when she’d left without the dog? Well, she hadn’t been thinking. Breathing had been her problem. Her throat felt as if it had been crushed, and her mind hadn’t gone to her dog. What it had gone to was the protection Parker had offered. His arms had surrounded her with a manly scent tinged with the smell of outdoors and gunpowder, like some superhero aphrodisiac.
    Yet there she was, without Parker and back with Matt. But she really hadn’t been with Parker. He had been a ride. A good man who wouldn’t stand by when she was crumbled on herself. Parker likely thought she was stupid, and maybe she was. But the idea of leaving her dog alone with her fiancé, when Matt had clearly issued that last warning, was too much. Plus if she really was going to leave, she couldn’t just have her savior carry her out the door. She needed her computer and notebooks. They were her livelihood and her evidence—selfies after a rough night or her notes jotted down about what he did and said—if she did ever confront Matt.
    Lexi bit her tongue when Matt jumped the curb. They headed home at breakneck speed. She needed to survive until she could get her dog, her stuff, and leave. Her mind slammed into overdrive. What should she do? Say? Matt needed to think she’d been stupid or scared. Something. It was best to start simple. It also needed to start now, in the truck, where they were semi in public. If his hands were on the steering wheel, they wouldn’t be on her.
    “I’m sorry, Matt.”
    “Bet you are.” Lines furrowed across his forehead and anger tinged his skin red.
    “I really am. That got out of control. It was all my fault. I’m sorry.”
    He glared at her. “I saw your co-worker outside the house, driving away.”
    What? That was what had started it? She’d had no idea. He had simply had stormed the house and thrown her against the wall. “I promise you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “He was there.”
    A cold chill ran up her spine. “I never saw him.”
    “Then I’m pissed you begged Parker to pick you up. Fuckin’ slut.”
    “No.” She swallowed her disgust and put her palm on his thigh. “It all happened so fast. I never want to fight with you again.”
    His hand slapped down on hers, his fingers crushing her bones.
    She winced, leaning forward. “Ow, Matt—”
    He smashed her fingers together. “You comin’ home for me or that mutt?”
    “You!”
    “You’re really sorry?”
    Wincing into his hold, she nodded. “Yes, that—ow—that hurts.”
    “You know how bad it can really hurt. Don’t pull that shit again.” Then he flung her hand back. “I forgive you, peaches. But your ass will make it up to me.”
    Her head dropped. “I know.”
    “Be thinking how.”
    She ducked her head further, not wanting to think of how he’d expect that kind of repayment. “Okay.”
    “And, peaches?”
    “Yes, baby?” she mumbled.
    “You leave me again, no warnings about the mutt. I’ll find you and drag your ass home.”

CHAPTER TEN
     
    If there was one thing Parker enjoyed about walking into the Winters’s house, it was the food. Mia Winters loved to cook, and Parker loved to eat. So did everyone else on the team. But they had wives and kids and babies on the way, so more often than not, the rest of Titan was well fed when they were home. Parker relied more than he