Texas Wildfire (Texas Heroes Book 1) by Sable Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

and enter it into his own phone. When he’d finished, he exited the truck and walked up to the door. Despite the heat of the evening, it stood open and Titan could hear voices. He started to announce himself, but what he heard gave him pause.
    “You are nobody!” Damien was yelling. “Do you hear me? Nobody wants you, you are nothing!”
    What the hell? Who was the Captain yelling at? Did they have an intruder? Titan was about to rush in to help when he heard a response—a response he wouldn’t have expected in a billion years.
    “Damien, please don’t. Please don’t talk to me this way.” Titan recognized Makenna’s voice. She was pleading with her husband. What the fuck? Rage billowed up in him like a wildfire. He tugged on the screen door but it was locked.
    “Makenna!”
    “Say it!” There was a scuffling noise. “You heard me, say it!”
    “I am nobody. No man wants me.” More scuffling. “I am nothing.” Her voice ended on a note which had Titan about ready to tear the door down.
    “Makenna!”
    “Say it again, bitch!” Damien’s voice was slurring, yet he sounded like a madman. “I won’t tell you again, say it!” Titan couldn’t wait any longer. He took hold of the door handle and gave it one mighty tug, tearing the door completely off its hinges.
    “I’m nobody.” He could hear Makenna begin to cry. “I’m nothing.”
    As he came into the foyer, he could see Makenna standing at the top of the stairs. Her face was pale and she was backing up toward the wall. “Makenna, what the hell is going on?” he yelled up at her.
    With a start, she whirled toward him, her face morphing from a mask of fear to one of shame. Before he got three steps in the door, she came hurrying down the stairs, holding her side with a panicked look on her face. “Titan? What are you doing here?”
    “What’s going on? Are you all right?” He repeated, searching her face. “Do you need help?”
    Glancing back up the stairs, she whispered, “You must leave, hurry! He’s unsteady on his feet, but if he comes to the top of the stairs he’ll see you.” Her eyes pled with him. “Nothing’s going on, everything’s fine. You have to leave. Now. Please!” She took his arm, pushing, beseeching him to go. “He’s been drinking, that’s all. We’re just having an argument. I can handle it. This is nothing.”
    “What was all that stupid nonsense I heard? It sounded like more than an argument to me.”
    Makenna placed her hands on his chest. She felt like her soul was being torn in two. She was so tempted to just lean into him, tell him the truth and beg him to defend her. But she had no right to drag him into this. “He gets angry and mouths off when he’s been drinking. I’m used to it.”
    Titan wondered if she thought her explanation would make him feel better. “No woman should have to get used to something like this. Are you sure?” He’d been in their house before. Now he looked around, trying to figure out what was amiss. The Wades had no children. They didn’t even have a dog since their black lab had gone missing a while back. He knew Damien drank a bit, but every instinct Titan possessed told him not to listen to Makenna’s insistence that nothing was wrong. “I think it would be better if you came with me, give him time to cool off.” He had to jam his hands in his pockets to keep from pulling her into his arms. “He has to be out of his mind. Any man who thinks you’re nothing has got a screw loose.”
    Makenna wanted to cry. “Please, you need to go. If he sees you here, it’ll just make it worse.”
    “Makenna!” Damien’s voice bellowed from upstairs. “Where are you?”
    “Go!” she whispered desperately, pushing him toward the door. “I can handle this. And please, please don’t tell anyone what you saw.”
    It was her begging him not to tell anyone that convinced Titan to leave. If she truly needed his help, shame and embarrassment wouldn’t be her first priority.