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“She didn’t see his face, there were no leads on who he was or why he attacked her. And he’s stalking her now. He wants to finish what he started.”

The water bottle crumpled in his hand, water sloshing over his fingers before he realized what he had done. Forcing himself to release the plastic, he set it on the railing and focused on his father.

“Where did it happen?”

“She moved out right after your last visit,” he sighed roughly. “Nice little apartment in town, next to one of her friends. Few weeks later she started getting crank calls. Caller ID couldn’t trace them. We put new locks on her doors and windows, but you know how she was.” Ray shook his head wearily. “Liked sleeping with her window cracked. She thought she was safe. Thought she would hear it if someone snagged the fire escape ladder. But she didn’t. Her neighbor’s boyfriend heard her screams and knocked the door down, but he’d already hurt her. The attacker got out the window before the boy could catch him.”

Short and to the point. And he was hiding something, Rowdy could feel it. He stared back at his father, silent, probing, knowing he would tell him eventually. Rowdy wouldn’t give him a choice.

Ray glanced back at him, then away. His teeth clenched, rage glittered in his eyes.

“It wasn’t a normal attack,” he finally muttered.

Rowdy felt a chill race up his spine.

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NAUTI BUOY

“What do you mean by that?” He had to force the words past his throat.

Ray cleared his throat. “He meant to rape her anally. He almost managed it.”

“Motherfucker! God. Damn!” Rowdy flung himself across the porch, his hands running over his head before he gripped the back of his neck in fury. “Son of a bitch!” His abdomen tightened as he fought to hold back a howl of pure rage before jerking back to stare at his father. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Hell Rowdy, what could you do?” Ray snapped, anger suffusing his face. “She begged us not to tell you. You were clear across the world with no hope of coming home anytime soon. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Like hell,” he snarled. “They would have let me come home or dealt with the consequences. That’s no excuse.”

“Exactly.” His father’s face flushed with anger. “You would have gone AWOL to come home, and caused even more of a mess for that kid. Do you think we didn’t know what the hell was going on before you left the first time? You couldn’t keep your eyes off her and she was just a fucking kid. Four years later you were back for three months and it was worse.

She didn’t need that.”

Rowdy’s face blanked in shock. “You think I would have touched her, pressured her for sex after she was attacked?” He fell back a step, unsure how to deal with the blow his father had just dealt him.

“I didn’t think you would have touched her when you were home before,” he snapped. “She’s your sister…”

“Fuck that shit.” Rowdy’s hand sliced through the air. “That girl is no blood to me and you know it. And I fucking left, didn’t I? Did I rape her in her goddamned bed, Dad? Son of a bitch, I don’t believe this.” He had

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to force himself to lower his voice, but he couldn’t hide the astonishment as he stared back at his father.

“Hell, I didn’t think you would rape her,” Ray bit out. “But she didn’t need the stress. She was terrified of you knowing the way it was, so damned hysterical over it I had to swear I wouldn’t tell you. And Son, a woman doesn’t get that upset over a man knowing, who should have been treating her like a sister rather than a woman.”

“She is mine!” Something inside him snapped then. He had thought over the years that there were things he didn’t have to tell his dad.

Things the other man would understand without words. Such as the fact that Kelly belonged to him, as soon as she was old enough, mature enough. He had been wrong, and the knowledge cut through him like a knife. “I’ve known she was mine since we were fucking kids. I left, didn’t I? I stayed away until I thought she was old enough. What the fuck more did you expect from me?”

“You’re too old for her…”

“Then what the hell are you doing married to her mother? More age separates the two of you.”

“I wasn’t raised with her mother,” Ray snarled. “I wasn’t taught to treat her like a sister.”

“You condescending old bastard!” Rowdy raged. “You wouldn’t have anyway and don’t try to tell me you would. Damn you, Dad, I can’t believe this.”

Rowdy shook his head, trying to make sense of his father’s sway in loyalties. Hell, he expected his father to love Kelly; he’d practically raised her. But this? To think she needed protecting from his own son?

“Rowdy, I love you more than life.” His father heaved a tired breath.

“But I know you, boy. I know the kind of man you are and your tastes in women. And if you think word wasn’t circulating about the little games

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NAUTI BUOY

you and some of those women got into then you’re wrong. Even before you were out of high school, I knew. And that girl is like a daughter to me…”

“Screw this.” Rowdy could feel the heat swirling in his head then, a rage like nothing he had ever known. He had lived his life believing in his father’s trust in him, never breaking his word, never giving his father any reason to think he wasn’t the man he should have been. “I have never hurt a woman. Ever.”

“No, not that they weren’t willing. And I’m not judging your sex life, Son. I’m protecting Kelly’s.”

Shock seared him. He stared back at his father, disbelief warring with an anger he was afraid he would never be able to quench.

“Protecting her from what?” he snarled at the implied accusation.

“What the hell do you think I would do, Dad?”

Rowdy shook his head as his father stayed silent, staring back in the older man’s eyes and seeing the conflicting pain, the division of loyalties.

“What the hell did I ever do to make you think I would hurt her?” he asked, confused, bitter now. Anger burned low in his gut, but the disbelief held it back, for now.

“Son, when a man and woman consent to certain sex games, it’s all well and good. Hell, I’m no saint, and I figure you got some of it from me.

But Kelly’s just a kid, and after this…”

“Wait.” Rowdy shook his head. “Sex games? Are you saying you’ve taken what you’ve heard and based that on whether or not you’re going to believe I wouldn’t hurt her?” He stared back at his father in astonishment. “Hell, Dad.”

“I’d kill any man who would touch that girl the way I know you were carrying on with Calista James,” Ray growled, his voice dark, deadly.

Calista James. Well, fuck!

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Rowdy shrugged his shoulders then straightened them as he faced his father.

“Kelly is mine.” His lips pulled back from his teeth. “I don’t give a fuck what you think about my sexual practices or what you think I would or would not do with
my
woman. And I guess neither of us are the men we believed each other to be, Dad. Because if anyone had ever asked me who believed in me the most, I would have said you.” He shook his head then, weariness suddenly surging through him. “I’ll get my bag and head back to town.”

“Rowdy.” Ray caught his arm as he moved to the door. “I’d give my life for you, boy, but you didn’t see her in that hospital, you didn’t hear her begging us not to tell you. Terrified you would think she was dirty, that it was her fault. You didn’t hear her crying as her mother rocked her, crying for you. And you sure as hell weren’t the one who cleaned out her apartment and saw the blood on those sheets. I did. And I know you.

You’re a lot like me. You’ll want everything from her, and I can’t allow you to hurt her like that.”

Rowdy jerked his arm from his father’s grip, his eyes burning as he stared back at him. The description of what she had endured was ripping through his soul, hotter, brighter than any distrust his father could feel.

But his father was standing between him and Kelly. If he didn’t get the hell out of there, he was going to lose the tenuous control left to him, and God only knew what would happen then.

“I’ll clear out now. But I’ll be damned if you’ll keep her from me. And you remember that.”

Rowdy jerked the door open, stalking into the house before coming to an abrupt stop. Kelly stood at the top of the landing, her face paper-white, her long, damp hair hanging over that fucking shapeless T-shirt, her hands clenched in front of her.

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Her lips were trembling, her eyes big and dark and filled with tears.

Rowdy glanced away, fighting for control before he turned back to her and began to walk steadily up the steps. The tears gathered in her eyes, until one dropped as she stepped back, allowing him to stand beside her.

God, he wanted to wipe that tear away, wanted to erase the shattered pain he saw in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice ragged. “I’m so sorry, Rowdy.”

“Why?” He asked the question softly, aware of her mother standing further up the hall, his father in the entryway.

“I wasn’t careful…”

“No.” She flinched as he snapped the word out. “Don’t be sorry for that, baby. That wasn’t your fault.” His arms hung limply at his side, his own world lying broken at his feet. “I’ll be at the boat if you need me. I’ll always be here if you need me.”

And for now, that was all he could give her. Right now, it was all he had. He moved away from her, turning and stalking to his bedroom, ignoring Maria’s whispered “Douglas?” as he pushed the door open.

His duffel bag was still on his bed, unpacked.

“I’ll get the rest of my stuff later.” He picked up the Marine-issue bag and turned to face his father as the other man followed him into his room. “The houseboat is mine, I paid for it.” They’d agreed on that. Six summers worth of hard work had paid for the
Nauti Buoy
, and he claimed it.

“The boat is yours.” The houseboat had been his mother’s last request before her death. “Rowdy, I know you don’t understand—”

“Sure I do, Dad.” He turned back to his father then, a tight, cold smile on his lips. “I spanked Calista a little bit, screwed her ass and did it in front of witnesses.” He watched as Ray Mackay’s face nearly turned purple. “And to add to that distasteful little venture, me, Natches and

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Dawg shared her for a while. I understand completely.” He was aware of Maria standing outside the door; he prayed Kelly was out of earshot.

“And you know what? I came back for Kelly. And I wouldn’t care what you thought of it, or what your wife thought of it, any kind of pleasure she would have wanted at my hands, she would have had. And still will. I don’t care what it is. And I really don’t give a damn what you think about that either.”

“Don’t make me kill you, Son,” Ray rasped, his eyes burning with fury.

Rowdy grunted mockingly, shaking his head as he glanced at Maria, then back to his dad.

“Hypocrite.” He pushed past his father and stepped into the hallway.

And there was Kelly, eyes wide, staring back at him in horror or surprise, he wasn’t sure.

“You know where to find me,” he reminded her. “Don’t make me come looking for you, baby. The fight wouldn’t be pleasant.”

“God, damn you, Rowdy…” His father’s snarl echoed behind Rowdy as he stalked away from them all.

But he saw her eyes before left. Fear, yeah there was plenty there.

But there were other emotions as well, and those were all he had to hold onto now.

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The slamming of the door echoed through the house as Kelly turned back to face her mother and stepfather. Ray was furious; her mother’s anger glittered in her blue-gray eyes. Kelly stared back at them, shocked at what she had seen, what she had heard.

“I can’t believe you two.” Her voice was hoarse, amazed. “I can’t believe you would do that to him.”

“Kelly, let it go for now. You need to rest…” Her mother reached out to her.

Kelly moved back, shaking her head, seeing the horrible mistake she had made in confiding to her mother after the rape. She had thought her mother would keep her word and not reveal to Rowdy’s father what Kelly told her. God, she had been so stupid. How could she have been so stupid?

“Fix it.” Her voice was a hollow rasp.

“Kelly, you don’t need to deal with this…” Ray began.

“That was so unfair of you.” Her lips were shaking, her body trembling with anger and pain. “He’s your son.”

“He’s an idiot,” he grunted. “And he should have kept his hands off you.”

“I wanted his hands on me,” she cried out. “Don’t you understand that? Have you two lost your minds? He’s your son, Ray.”

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Lora Leigh

“And he’ll always be my son.” Ray shook his head in confusion.

“Rowdy’s a good boy, Kelly, he’ll understand in time—”

“Do you know what you just accused him of?” she yelled back at him in shock. “Do you even see what you just did to him? You told him you couldn’t trust him not to hurt me, Ray.”

“The boy needs to learn control.” For a moment, he hesitated. “That’s all I was trying to tell him.”

She turned to her mother. “This is Rowdy’s home.”

“He’s a grown man, Kelly.” Maria swallowed tightly. “He’ll be okay.

You’re my concern—”

“Kelly, Rowdy will understand, he’ll just have to think about it,” Ray argued. “He’s always been hardheaded. He’ll come around and see you’re not like those women that crowded around him and Dawg…”

“You don’t even know what you did,” she whispered. “Neither of you do.”

“Kelly, everything will be okay.” Ray shook his head, his smile soothing. “Rowdy will be fine.”

“No, he won’t,” she whispered, wrapping her arms over her chest as she turned back to her bedroom. “No, he won’t. None of us will be.”

She closed her bedroom door, locked it and moved to her bedroom window as she heard Rowdy’s Harley leaving the drive. She stared through the glass, watching as he turned onto the main road, speeding toward the marina. He wouldn’t stay there. He’d pull the
Nauti Buoy
out of her berth and either head to one of the larger marinas, or head to the point.