47. Bull

47

Bull

I figured he must be one of Lily’s clients. Another criminal getting pushy with her. From the few words I’d caught as I approached, he sounded American—a city boy. Drug dealer, maybe. I didn’t much care what he was; what mattered was that he was hassling my girl.

“Now hold on,” the guy said, straightening up. “I was just—”

“Leaving,” I told him. “Leaving is what you were doing.”

I stepped an inch closer to the guy. “The girl in the coffee shop said Lily threw coffee over some guy.” I looked at his shirt. “That’d be you.”

“Luckily,” said the guy, straightening his tie, “I’m fine.”

“What makes you think I gave a rat’s ass about you?” I growled. “That was my coffee she threw at you. You owe me three bucks.”

The guy squared up to me. “You want to try and take it? ”

“You sure you want to get that fancy suit dirty?” I looked again at the coffee stain. “ Dirtier?”

“You think you’re a hardass because you play cowboy?” asked the guy. “Yeah, I know who you are, ‘ Bull.’ Let’s go for it, I’ll show you how we do things downtown.”

I lifted my chin a half inch. “You know why they call me Bull?” I asked. “‘Cause when I get mad, there ain’t no stopping me.”

“ Enough!” Lily’s voice made us both turn around. “Bull, let’s go.” She looked at the guy in the suit. “And you—you have my answer.” Then she grabbed my hand and pulled.

I resisted for a second, just long enough to glare at city boy, and then let myself be led away. I slipped my arm around Lily’s waist and pulled her hard against me, crushing her softness against me as we walked.

“I’ll be in town a couple of days,” the guy called after us. “I’m staying at the Stallion Inn. In case you change your mind.”

Neither of us turned around, but I saw Lily bite her lip at his words. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up, my whole body going tense with rage. No one upsets my Lily.

But if she wanted me to leave it, I’d leave it. For now.

We climbed into my pick up and I pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards the ranch. But as soon as we were out of town, I pulled off the road and turned to Lily.

“It’s time for some goddamn answers,” I said. “Start talking.”