“And when those occasions arise, you’re...equipped to handle it?” Meyer wanted to know.
“I can hold my own.”
“He’s incredible,” Avery countered. “Very fast and strong. I was amazed at how good he is.”
Meyer threw down his napkin. “You were there?”
“Watching through a window, yes, since Rowdy insisted that I stay inside.”
“Thank God for small favors,” Fisher muttered.
“Oh, Avery,” her mother whispered. “I don’t want you to go back there.”
Great, Rowdy thought. If Avery kept it up, they’d tie her down before letting her leave with him.
“It was a little scary,” Avery admitted, “especially when the guy sliced up Rowdy’s back.”
Sliced up? It was one damn cut. Rowdy picked up his tea. “I don’t think you need to embellish things, honey.”
“I’m not! You know you handled them both with ease. Those thugs didn’t stand a chance.”
“Well.” Fisher taunted Avery with a narrow stare. “Apparently he wasn’t fast enough to avoid that knife, now was he?”
Going pale, Avery started to argue, but wasn’t given a chance.
“And what if he’d been killed?” Meyer demanded. “What would have stopped those goons from coming in after you?”
Sonya gasped at the possibility.
Avery waved off their concern. “Meyer, really, give me some credit. I had the door locked. Besides, I’d already called the cops. They got there just as Rowdy wrapped things up.”
Rowdy could feel Fisher, Meyer and Sonya staring at him with the same type of horror reserved for a train wreck. Hell, he could even hear their thoughts.
They were wondering what someone like him was doing with someone like Avery. They were blaming him for Avery’s new bloodthirsty tendencies.
They wanted him away from her, pronto. And to be honest, he couldn’t blame them one bit. Put Pepper in a similar scenario and he’d feel the same.
No way did Avery miss it. She was too astute for that.
So she...what? Wanted them to know what he was capable of? But why?
To rub it in, as Fisher had said? To show them just how far she’d gone in her rebellion? He hated that thought, but nothing else fit.
As if she hadn’t already done enough, Avery added, “I’ve seen Rowdy fight a couple of times now. He can be lethal.”
Fine, if that’s what she wanted, then he’d share it all. Rowdy forgot about his back as he relaxed in the chair. “Learning to defend myself came with the upbringing.”
“What does that mean?” Meyer wanted to know.
“My sister and I were raised in a rusted trailer on the riverbank. At five, I was fighting off hungry rats, and I guess I never stopped.” Avoiding Avery’s gaze, he lifted his tea in a toast. “If you don’t learn to fight, you get your ass beat on a regular basis. So yeah, I can handle one idiot with a knife.”
Everything, everyone, fell silent.
Screw them all, Rowdy decided. He reached across the table to snag up another of the puny sandwiches, tossed it in his mouth and pushed back his chair. “Time for us to hit the road.” Standing there, feeling all their eyes on him, he tipped up his tea glass and finished it off, too.
And without waiting for Avery, he started out of the room. He heard Fisher snicker and thought about going back to beat the shit out of him, but he had never taken his bad temper out on anyone who didn’t deserve it.
Fisher might be annoying, but that didn’t earn him a coat of bruises.
Right now, Rowdy was the only one who deserved to have his ass kicked. He’d been a blind idiot, a complete fool.
As Meyer and Sonya tried to convince Avery to stay, he heard the rise of voices. Let her, Rowdy thought.
But he knew deep down he wasn’t going anywhere without her.
Furious, mostly at himself, Rowdy stopped outside the sunroom and, hands on his hips, waited.
A second later Avery came hustling out with Fisher at her side. She shook off the other man, spotted Rowdy and slowed with...relief.
Bull. He wouldn’t let her draw him in again.
“Sorry,” she told him brightly, as if their visit hadn’t gone completely off the rails. “I had to say my goodbyes.”
Sonya and Meyer were right behind her, still spewing arguments for her to stay. When they saw Rowdy, they clammed up.
Good breeding could be a hindrance, huh? Rowdy almost laughed.
“If you want to take a minute to make plans for another visit,” Rowdy offered, “I can wait outside.”
“No, that’s—”
Fisher interrupted her. “Meyer and I can wait with him, Ave. Take your time.”
“No!” She started forward. “I—”
“Yeah, Ave,” Rowdy mimicked, stopping her in midstep. “Take your time. Can’t claim to be a gentleman, but I’m not crude enough to leave you behind.” His own bad disposition took him out the door and as far as the driveway. Having Fisher at his back didn’t feel any more reassuring now than it had earlier, but this time Rowdy hoped the creep would do something, anything, deserving a beat down.
Instead, his hands in his pockets, his tone nonthreatening, Fisher said, “Sorry, man. I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to come here.”
“Yeah?” Arms crossed over his chest, Rowdy leaned back on the fender of the bastard’s car. “Why’s that?”