“What in the hell is going on?” I scrubbed my hands over my hair and made my way over to the girls.
Salem looked at me over her shoulder, her dark eyes worried and fathomless. Even with her tawny complexion I could tell she was pale.
“Poppy thinks it’s Oliver, her husband.”
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. The buzzer went off again and I looked at it balefully. “How on earth would he even know how to find you?”
Poppy was shaking her head back and forth and crying big fat tears. “I don’t know. Oh my God, he’s going to kill me.”
I felt my eyebrows dip low over my nose as I made my way to the intercom. “It’s probably just some drunk that can’t get in and keeps leaning on the same button.” I hit the response key and barked, “Move it, dude. Not one is letting you in. It’s four in the morning, don’t make me call the cops.”
There was no response, but as soon as I let up off the call button it started buzzing again. Salem was watching me like I should know what to do, so I just shrugged and said, “Fine, I’m gonna go out there and help them get their damn finger off the buzzer. Whoever it is.” Poppy started crying harder and Salem frowned at me.
“You saw her when she got here. This guy is unpredictable and unhinged. I don’t want you to get hurt. Maybe we should just call the police.”
The buzzer started trilling once again and Jimbo growled at it low in his throat. I reached down to scratch him between his ears.
“Let me handle it first. This guy doesn’t get to harass my girls and maybe he needs to pick on someone his own size.”
Poppy hiccuped. “He’s insane, Rowdy. He nearly beat me to death because I wouldn’t agree to have kids with him. What if he has a knife or a gun? I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”
I gave both of them a lopsided smile and pulled the door open. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good at taking care of you, remember?”
They both called my name as Jimbo darted past me and bolted to the end of the hallway where the security door was located. I grabbed his collar just in case and pulled the first door open and made my way to the second where the intercom was located. There was a man standing in front of the console pressing the button with Salem’s apartment number on it and not letting up on it.
He was pretty unremarkable-looking. He was shorter than me by quite a bit, and he was wearing nondescript khakis and an untucked polo shirt. His hair looked like it had been raked through with aggravated hands, and when his dark eyes landed on me I could see fury blazing out of them.
“Hey, man. Knock it off. I don’t know who you are but you have the wrong apartment.” Jimbo growled low in his throat and tugged at my hold on his collar. He was a good dog and never aggressive, so it made me frown at the guy. “Move along, buddy.”
The guy stepped away from the console and looked me up and down. Granted I looked like I has just been loved hard and woken up grumpy, which I had, but I still towered over him and there was no missing the apprehension that crossed his puckered face. His gaze landed somewhere on the pirate ship inked on my chest and he asked me with a sneer, “Who in the hell are you?”
I was so taken aback all I could do was blink. The dog barked a loud, high-pitched yelp and the guy gave him a dirty look.
“The guy on the outside of the security door doesn’t get to ask the questions. Like I said, get lost or I’m calling the cops.”
His chest puffed up and red rage flooded into his face. “My wife is in there and I’m not going anywhere until I talk to her.”
Poppy was right. This guy was missing a few screws.
“No. You aren’t getting anywhere near her. I saw your handiwork last time you ‘talked’ to her and that isn’t happening again.”
“She belongs to me!”
I took a step forward the dog lunged at the guy’s crotch. “People are not property. Poppy is a sweet girl who deserves better than an ass**le that uses her as a punching bag and a dad that looks the other way while it’s happening. Go back to Texas and forget about her.”
He took a step closer to me and almost lost a finger when he poked me in the bare chest with it.
“I know about you. The orphan with no family, no roots. You have no one and nothing. Poppy didn’t want you then and there is no way she wants you now. I’m going to talk to her even if I have to go through you to do it.”
I probably would’ve let it go, probably would have managed to maintain my cool, but before I could form words to tell the guy to f**k off, he lifted his foot and kicked Jimbo square in the side. The dog howled in pain and jerked out of my grip. I didn’t have to worry about swinging first because the little bastard tried to get in a sucker punch when I turned to see if the dog was okay. I caught his fist in my hand and jerked his arm behind his back. When he was off balance I clocked him once hard in the mouth, which split his bottom lip open and had blood dripping down his chin. I was just so much taller than him that really he couldn’t get any leverage as he wiggled against me and I turned him around and clamped him in an unmovable choke hold.
He threw his head back and tried to head-butt me, so I grabbed him by the back of the neck and bent him forward so that he was wrenched over at a totally awkward and painful angle. I marched him out of the breezeway and down the sidewalk to the street. I shoved him away from me with enough force that he stumbled and fell forward on his hands and knees.
“Don’t come back, dude. I’m taking Poppy to get a restraining order today, and believe me, if you think I’m bad you don’t even wanna see what her sister has in store for you if you come around again. Only piece-of-shit men hit women and you’re lucky I don’t do to you what you did to her.”
He turned over to look back at me and I swore he was plotting my death as he glowered at me. I really should smash his nose in to teach him a lesson or at least kick him in the ribs to pay him back for the dog.
“Poppy is mine.” It came out garbled and I just lifted an eyebrow at him.
“She feels differently about that. Someone along the way shoulda taught you how to respect women.”
I whistled for Jimbo and laughed out loud as he limped over to where the fallen intruder was still lying and lifted his leg. Poppy’s husband tried to scramble away to avoid the golden shower but he wasn’t fast enough and Jimbo was obviously proud of himself as he bounded back over to me. We watched as the guy got to his feet, swearing at us and calling us names the entire way as he stormed off to his car.