Free Commanded by Stacey Kennedy Page B

bartender.
    Sawyer took a mental note of the barkeep—mid-twenties, five foot ten, thin build,
     blue eyes, short black hair. A habit from the job, he supposed. Reminding himself
     that the bartender wasn’t Travis or even a suspect, he pulled his wallet from his
     back pocket and grabbed the picture of Travis stashed there from the APB that had
     gone out. “Was this man in your bar tonight?”
    The bartender leaned over the bar, frowning at the picture. “Who’s asking?”
    Sawyer reached in his other pocket and pulled out his badge. He slammed his badge
     down on the bar, then pointed at the photo again. “Was this man in your bar tonight?”
    “Yeah, about an hour ago.” The bartender folded his arms, eyeing first Sawyer and
     then Chloe. “Came in for a beer and left.”
    Abrasive response. Closed-off body language. Sawyer’s instincts flared, and Chloe
     must’ve picked up on the barkeep’s evasiveness, too, since she asked, “Do you know
     Travis personally?”
    Angry blue eyes flicked to Chloe. “What if I do?”
    Sawyer cut in before Chloe could reply. “Look at her like that again and we’ll have
     a different kind of problem.” When the bartender glanced Sawyer’s way, he added, “Answer
     her question and we won’t.”
    The barkeep glared for only a second before he started wiping his bar with a white
     cloth. “Travis and I train at the same gym.”
    Sawyer gritted his teeth, as clearly what he’d heard about Travis’s friends and family
     protecting him was the truth. “Did you know that Travis beat his girlfriend to within
     an inch of her life?”
    “I heard something about it.” The bartender gave a mirthless grin, keeping his focus
     on his cloth. “I’ve also heard the cops are bugging his friends and family to give
     him up.” His eyes lifted, threatening. “I’ll be the first to tell you that you’ll
     never find him.”
    Sawyer didn’t know if it was the bartender’s smug voice or the grin on his face that
     made him snap, but it didn’t matter. He lunged and wrapped a hand around the bartender’s
     throat in less time than it took him to inhale. He didn’t know how he ended up on
     the other side of the bar. All that he knew was that his body weight added force to
     his grip, pinning the bartender against the wall.
    He heard nothing but the sound of his thumping pulse in his ears. His fingers tightened
     around flesh, squeezing with all his frustration and rage. He felt the flow of vengeance
     running through him for the harm that had come to Ash, for the journey of healing
     she’d have to endure, and even for the loss of her innocence. While Sawyer knew his
     sister wasn’t a virgin, Travis had raped and aggressively abused his baby sister.
     Sawyer wanted to make him pay.
    It wasn’t until he heard Chloe’s sharp yell of his name did his thoughts abruptly
     withdraw from that primal place where man hunted those who hurt the ones he loved.
     “Let him go,” Chloe said. “Right now!”
    The space between
loss of control
and
in control
began to shrink, and Sawyer felt his fingers release the man’s neck. With an effort,
     he dropped his hand and stepped back. He noticed the bar had gone silent, with everyone
     looking their way.
    Chloe said to the bartender, “You do realize that not coming forward with Travis’s
     whereabouts means you are harboring a criminal?”
    The bartender, bent over, coughed and wheezed. “Yeah, I fucking know that.” He straightened
     up, glaring daggers at Sawyer. “I’ll have you arrested for assault!”
    Sawyer took a step toward him, loving how the bartender cringed away. “Travis’s girlfriend
     is
my
baby sister. This isn’t about the police or about helping your friend anymore.” He
     allowed the fury he felt hearing that Ash had been raped and abused by Travis to invade
     him. “If I find out he’s been here again and you haven’t called it in, I will turn
     you in myself.”
    “You have nothing on me,” the