Free Redemption Road (Roughneck #3) by Nicole Hart

eye as he stared back, and stuck up my middle finger and mouthed, “Fuck. You.”
    Then I turned around and walked into the clinic without looking back, with a smile on my face.

Chapter 10
     
    As I drove home from work that evening, I had mixed feelings about my little outburst this morning. It felt good to finally stand up to Jake. I was sick of being his doormat. On the other hand, I’m sure it would only piss him off more and fuel his fire. But I hadn’t had any phone calls from Jake today; things had been peaceful. Thank God. Hopefully, it would stay that way. But if I knew Jake, he wasn’t going to give up so easily. He was used to getting his way, in every aspect of his life.
    When I pulled into my driveway, I was immediately concerned. I noticed Sam’s car, an older blue pickup, and a white van. What was going on? As I got closer, I noticed the business name on the van. Marten’s Alarm Company. I pulled my car into the driveway and got out, looking for Sam. She was standing on the front porch, on her phone when I spotted her.
    “They’re almost finished,” she said into her phone. I looked at Sam as I waited for her to explain what was going on.
    “Kash,” she mouthed to me, and pointed to her phone. I just shook my head and waited.
    “Ok, damn, dude, I got it,” she said with a laugh, and then hung up.
    “Hey girl!” she said with a smile.
    “What’s going on?” I asked.
    “Kash is having an alarm installed,” she said.
    “That’s probably a good idea,” I said, but feeling guilty that I was causing so much drama.
    “He said he wanted to make sure nobody messed with his shit, but I’m pretty sure it has more to do with you than anything else,” she said to me with squinted eyes, trying to read my thoughts.
    “I don’t know about that,” I said. Kash probably just didn’t want some psycho rummaging through his stuff.
    “He asked if you were ok at least five times, but got pissy with me when I asked why he was so worried about you. You’re not sleeping with him, are you, Mackenzie?”
    “No, I’m definitely not,” I said, in complete honesty.
    “Good, because Kash is my family. I’m forced to love him, but he’s bad news when it comes to women,” Sam said as she eyed me, trying to read me, I could tell.
    “You don’t have to worry, I’m not looking for anything like that,” I said, that part was a complete lie. Because the truth was, I wanted Kash more than anything in my life, but I couldn’t let it happen.
    “Well, girls, he’s just about done.” A large bearded man walked over to us.
    “Thanks for coming by, Uncle Jimmy,” Sam said to the man.
    “The alarm guys have been here most of the day, so Uncle Jimmy came to watch over everything until I got off work,” Sam said, as she looked at me.
    “Well, thank you both, so much,” I said, because I was extremely grateful. I didn’t know how I would ever get to sleep tonight otherwise, knowing that Jake had the nerve to come in here.
    “It was all Kash,” Jimmy said. “That little fucker was fired up this morning and made sure this got done today, I just waited around.” He smiled.
    “The tech does want to go over the instructions with you and set your code, all that good stuff, so if you’ll run in the house real quick,” He said.
    “Absolutely, thanks again,” I said, as I headed inside.
    Sam stayed with me while the alarm technician went over all the instructions and did a walkthrough with me. I felt so much better knowing that if Jake pulled this crap again, the police would be here within minutes. Once everyone left and I was home alone, I decided to microwave my dinner and relax with a glass of wine. My phone was sitting on the table and went off as soon as I sat down.
    Jake: The alarm was a nice touch.
    Me: Please leave me alone.
    Jake: Or what? You going to flip me off? Turning into a brave little bitch aren’t you?
    Me: Go to hell.
    Jake: You sure are mouthy to be all alone, without your new fuck