Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Leaving it at home would be stupid considering the amount of criminals they’d apprehended. And the people they’d pissed off along the way.
The door opened and surprise filled him as he saw her step out, her hands in front of her. She was shaking, her head moving around frantically as she tried to take everything in.
Behind her something rustled and he moved his gun back to the open door.
“Don’t shoot him!” she cried. “Please!”
“Come out!” he barked. “Now.”
“He doesn’t understand you,” she said as she stepped back toward the open door.
“Why? Does he not speak English? It doesn’t matter, he needs to get out here,” Eli said.
“Of course he doesn’t speak English.” She reached back through the open door.
“Don’t move,” Eli and Kellan ordered at the same time.
She gazed between them in shock. “But he’s scared. He won’t come out without my help. And why do you want him to come out?”
“Because he was hurting you,” Eli said. “You were screaming for help. Why would you defend him?”
They’d seen this a lot. Where people defended their abusers. Kellan hated it. Hadn’t he heard it about his own father? How some of his father’s friends used to justify the way that he’d smack them around. How he’d talk to them.
Oh, he’s just upset over the loss of Marie.
He’s entitled to a few drinks if it helps.
It’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be.
At least Kellan had gotten his father to aim most of his anger toward him and not his brothers.
She stared between the two of them, then shook her head. “Are the two of you really FBI agents?”
Eli drew his ID from his back pocket and showed it to her. She peered down at it. “Yes, I’m FBI Agent Eli Jones.”
“Wow.”
“Who is in there?” Kellan demanded. He was tired of her prevaricating. When they wanted something from her, then she should immediately give that to them.
There shouldn’t be all this back and forth.
Kellan Jones was a man who expected to be obeyed.
In everything.
What does it matter if she obeys you or not? She’s not yours to command.
Shit.
He needed to get far away from her. He didn’t like how she was affecting him.
“My dog,” she huffed.
“What?” Eli asked. “Was he attacking you?”
Kellan ran his gaze over her, glad for the fact that Haven council kept their public areas well-lit.
“No, he wasn’t attacking me,” she said with exasperation.
“Then why did you yell out?” Eli asked.
“Because I opened my eyes and saw a man peering in the window of my car in the middle of the night. That’s why I screamed for help.”
Kellan could hear the unspoken ‘idiot’ in her voice.
Eli huffed. “That’s why you screamed? Because I was checking up on you?”
“Um, how did I know what you were doing or who you were? All I saw was someone staring at me. You scared the hell out of me! What did you think you were doing?”
She put her hands on her hips as she glared up at them both.
The urge to put her over his knee and give her a good hard spanking struck him.
Shit.
When had he last had that urge? So long ago he could barely remember. He was a member of their local BDSM club, but he usually left the discipline up to Eli. If he even bothered to play, which he hadn’t in a long time.
But now . . . yeah, maybe he was starting to see the appeal in spanking a naughty brat.
“What are you doing?” Eli asked. “Why are you parked here? It isn’t safe to be in a public park on your own at night.”
“I just stopped here for a few minutes. I’ll be leaving soon.” She gave them both a cool look.
She was lying.
She was good at it. But Kellan was better. He’d taken a course on reading body language and he was certain of it.
“Don’t lie,” he ordered in a low voice.
The girl flinched and gave him a wary look.
Yes. You should be wary.
“You said you opened your eyes,” Kellan pointed out. “Which meant you were asleep or trying to get asleep.”
Her eyes widened and he knew he was right.
“What the fuck?” Eli said, making her jump. A whine came from in the car.
Shit. Did she really have an animal in there?
Kellan actually liked dogs. One of the few things he did like. Dogs never betrayed you. They could actually be extremely loyal.
He saw a dog poke his head out and the girl reached over to pat him softly.
He wasn’t as small as Kellan had been expecting. How had they missed seeing him before? Had they been so focused on the girl that they’d failed to see a large dog sitting in her car?
“What kind of dog is that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what sort of dog you own?” Eli asked.