“I ain’t the man for her, Cain. But I’ll find a way to always watch over her.”
“I can do that my own Goddamned self!” Cain snapped. “She’s my daughter. She’s your woman! Fuckin’ treat her like it!” The call ended.
Goddamned motherfuck! Stunner threw his cell phone across the room. Straight into a freshly plastered wall. It left a hole, but, thankfully, didn’t shatter the phone. Now he had a hole to patch.
“Hope everything’s OK,” Beast said as he walked into the room. “‘Cause if it’s not and you start makin’ holes in the wall me and Havoc just finished, you might find yourself headed back to Kentucky a helluva lot sooner than expected.”
Stunner grunted, scrubbing his hand over his face. Then he did something he never thought he’d do. “I need help.”
Chapter Three
“I need you to take over the Complex Variables class, Suzie. I’ve got to help Dr. Salisbury with his rocket project.” The man demanding she take over the math class was not her boss. In fact, he wasn’t even in the same Masters program she was in. Jake Fresno was a mathematics major, and not a very good one. In fact, there were rumors the only reason he was in the graduate program at all was because someone on the university’s board of directors owed his daddy a favor. Suzie had been so out of sorts since the fall break fiasco she felt like she was riding a razor’s edge between violence and tears. At the moment, she was leaning toward violence.
“Seems to me, being the Astronautics and Aeronautics grad student, I’d be more qualified than you to work on that project.” Suzie didn’t look up from the paper she was grading. “In fact, given you’re a mathematics major, you should be teaching all the math classes you’ve had me doing so you can participate in fun projects you’re not remotely qualified for, or are any good at.”
She always set up her workstation in the library on Mondays and Wednesdays and the Math Lab on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Part of her graduate work included tutoring, and she liked to make sure undergraduates could find her no matter their major. Despite what her fellow grad students thought of her, the undergrads took advantage of her brain when they could. Her tutoring schedule was always full and, when someone couldn’t get an appointment, they sought her out in the afternoon and evenings when she graded papers. Today was Friday so she sat at one of the many desks in the graduate dorm lobby. She considered it the last avenue for a student needing help. If they missed her through the week, they had two hours in the afternoon to catch her before the weekend.
For long moments, Suzie thought Jake would keep his mouth shut and move on. She didn’t dare look up. Doing that would be the equivalent of flinching. If she flinched, he’d be all over her.
“What did you say to me?”
Suzie kept her focus on her work even though she couldn’t process anything on the page. “I don’t think I stuttered. You want free of your Complex Variables class, I suggest you talk to your supervising professor. If he requests my services, he should talk to mine.” This was really unlike Suzie, so it was understandable if it threw Jake off. Also understandable if he rallied quickly and came at her again. Which he did.
“Who do you think you are? Do you have any idea who my father is?”
“Not really, and, quite frankly I couldn’t care less.” She finally looked up at him, careful to keep her expression one of boredom. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m really busy, and I think there are undergrads waiting for me.”
“You little cunt! I suggest you do what I tell you to or you might just be sorry. My father owns half the state and has every board member at this university in his pocket. He’ll get you expelled before you can blink.”
OK, that got her full attention. She placed her pencil on the desk and stood. Suzie remembered how her father looked when he was supremely displeased. She remembered how scary he could look. She went for that look now.
“I’ve been called that name for the last fucking time,” she said, keeping her voice soft and deadly like her father could do. “Do your worst, you little fuck. My daddy’s meaner than your daddy. And I bet my daddy carries a bigger fucking gun.”
That brought Jake up short. He didn’t really know what to say, but his face turned every shade of red she could have possibly imagined. He looked around, making sure no one could see or hear. They were in a public place, but no one was near enough that he felt the need to mind his language. Or his words.
Jake bent to place his palms on her desk. “You’ll regret this. I know where you live.” He gave her a grin evil enough to give her chill bumps. “If you think you’re the first little cunt I’ve had to put in her place, well, you’re not.” He stood, still grinning. “I’ll be seeing you around.”
“Looking fucking forward to it,” she said, dismissively. She picked up her pencil and went back to her papers, trying her best to control her breathing and the shaking of her hands.
“Suzie?”
Her head snapped up. Jake had started to leave the building when the man who’d spoken passed him. Jake turned to watch, mouth agape, as the biggest man Suzie had ever seen walked through the door. She thought she’d known the voice, but the visual was someone she didn’t recognize. But she knew the set of the man’s shoulders. The piercing blue eyes so cold they could freeze blood in the veins of an enemy. She even knew the hesitant gait as he approached her. And how did the body she remembered look so much bigger than the last
