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NATE’S HAND LANDED on Perci’s shoulder before he even realized he had moved. With a simple nudge, he had Perci and Ivy tucked closer to his side. Protected.
He didn’t like the light in Clive Gunderson’s eyes. The way the man stared at Perci was almost fanatical.
With hatred.
Gunderson was making it very clear for anyone within viewing distance that he could not stand Perci. Or Nate.
But the situation was Gunderson’s own fault.
He’d heard the story of Sheriff Gunderson straight from his youngest sister-in-law’s own mouth. She had had nothing good to say about the Gundersons. No Tyler had.
Pan had told them exactly how often and what kind of hell Clive Gunderson had put her and her sisters through. To hide what his son Jay had tried to do to Pip.
Pan had hinted that Perci had suffered most of all. That Gunderson would follow Perci home from classes and pull her over. On an almost-monthly basis. To remind them all to keep their mouths shut.
The harassments had been beyond horrific.
No one knew exactly what had happened to Perci out there alone on the road with Clive Gunderson. Perci had never told her sisters what he’d done to her. Pan had said she’d refused to talk about what that man had done. That she was terrified every time the man’s name was mentioned.
His fist tightened with the urge to ram it into Gunderson’s face. Show that sonofabitch that she was no longer vulnerable. That she had him, and all of his brothers, to stop assholes like Gunderson from ever getting near her again.
Instead, he spread his fingers wide over her back, then slid them up to cup her narrow shoulder.
“Gunderson.” He wasn’t going to say he was sorry for Clive Gunderson’s loss. Maybe he should be—he was a doctor, after all. He had taken an oath to heal.
Jay Gunderson had almost killed three people Nate loved. That would never be forgotten.
His hand tightened on Perci’s shoulder, almost involuntarily. She looked up at him, a question in her Tyler blue eyes. He shook his head minutely, then guided her and the grocery cart—and Ivy, who was clinging to her—around the man half blocking the aisle.
“I hope you know what you have, Masterson. It sure as hell burns when you lose it.” Gunderson’s tone was guttural, broken.
Menacing.
Nate turned back to the man, making certain he was between Gunderson and Perci and Ivy, just in case the man snapped. “You planning on making trouble, Gunderson? I don’t think that would be a smart idea.”
“Nate...” Perci slipped in front of him and turned. Her hand rose, landed in the exact center of his chest. Hell, it was probably all that stopped him from making a scene. “Don’t. Not here...Ivy...”
***
FOR ONE HALF SECOND, she was almost certain Nate was going to charge Gunderson right there in the midst of the IGA. His hand covered hers, and he squeezed, without even looking down at her. Big, strong, protective.
She shivered.
It was rather hard to be afraid of Gunderson when a man like Nate was right there.
She trusted him. To keep her safe, to protect Ivy, and to just...make everything ok.
That thought completely rocked her off her foundation.
She trusted Nate Masterson.
Perci tried to tell herself it was the same as the way she trusted his brothers, but she knew it was a lie. She hadn’t ever been great at deluding herself. Everything about Nate was different from his brothers.
Gunderson stared at them as they walked away. She could almost feel a knife in her back from his gaze. Nate leaned down after they’d rounded the corner. “Don’t ever let him see you’re afraid. Gunderson’s a damned snake. The whole lot of them are.”
She nodded. “You don’t need to tell me that.”
Clive Gunderson had gloated when her mother had died. Had said the Tylers always got what they deserved. She would never be able to forget that. Or forgive. He could have helped them more that night. But he hadn’t. She’d always wondered if her mother had died partially because of his neglect. But that was an answer she’d never get. And all those nights when he’d been waiting for her alongside the highway...she would never forget that fear. She never knew when he’d be out there. Sometimes he’d pull her over and hold her alongside the road for hours. She’d always told her family she’d worked late at the ER whenever it happened. She shivered again. She would never forget the nights she’d end up sneaking in to her room and cry from anger and frustration and terror. Because of Clive Gunderson. “Let’s just get what we need and get out of here. Forget about him. Please?”
He nodded.
And kept his hand on her. For once, Perci didn’t mind.
Ivy had sensed the tension that had risen and had started fussing a bit. Perci cuddled her for a long moment. Nate moved closer still, almost surrounding them with his much bigger body.
Protecting them from the rest of the world around them.