It took me a second to recover from the surprise of him suddenly being there.

Then everything I was seeing, and smelling, crashed in to me.

The three boys were there, two others besides, all big and bulky. There were beer cans everywhere, also Jack Daniels and Absolut, several bottles of both, some tipped to their sides leaking onto my pretty braided rugs and across my fabulous floors, not to mention cans of beer the same way.

The air smelled of vomit, beer, booze, cigarettes, and pot. In fact, there was a cloud of smoke hanging in the room and there were makeshift ashtrays, these being torn apart beer cans. They didn't work very well. I knew this because there were burns in my coffee table.

There was also a girl in jeans, a sweater, and boots on her ass in the corner, one of the boys ineffectually attempting to hide her with his body. She was on her ass in the corner, knees up, curled into herself, face shoved into her legs, sobbing.

And there was another girl that another boy scrambled off of when Priest and I forced our way in (well, Priest did, I tumbled in).

She was the one on the couch, clearly unconscious, her clothing askew, the sweater that was pushed up was pushed high and I could see her bra.

Pressure built in my head and was about to blow but it didn't because I would find in that instant I had a much bigger problem on my hands.

That problem being Priest.

"You hurt her?"

His voice came low, deep, quiet, and deadly.

"My parents bought us the booze," the kid replied, not answering his question, his chin up, his body held alert, his eyes scared.

"Did you...hurt her?" Priest repeated and I twisted my neck to look up at him.

Oh yes.

I had a much bigger problem on my hands.

"They know we're here. They're cool with all this," the boy answered.

Suddenly, I was not held against Priest.

Suddenly, I was standing on my own two feet, Priest was across the room, the kid pinned to the wall by Priest holding himself two inches away, his chin dipped, his face nose to nose, the kid not moving, I guessed, due to the sheer force of Priest's terrifying presence.

He slashed an arm behind him indicating the girl still on her ass and sobbing.

"Did you...fucking...hurt her?" he growled.

"The pot was laced with something," the kid answered quickly, eyes enormous, body wired, fear wafting off him in waves. "We didn't know. She smoked it and went weird so none of us had any. No one touched her. She's been crying for, like, an hour or something."

"The girl on the couch," Priest bit out.

"She...she..." the boy started and trailed off, likely so he could concentrate on not messing himself, which was what his face was sharing he was doing, or close to it.

At this, I decided to let Priest do his thing, however scary that might be, but I had to prioritize. So I rushed to the girl on the couch, pulled her sweater down, and grabbed the throw I left for customers to cuddle up with in front of their TVs or out on their porches and threw it over her.

She moaned and shifted and then went slack.

She was fully clothed, even had her shoes on, which I took as a good sign.

"You leave this cabin, I break your legs before I break your neck."

That came from Priest and my eyes shot to him to see he was still nose to nose with the kid so he wasn't talking to him. Therefore I looked to the door to see the kid who'd been on top of the girl on the couch was trying to make his escape.

At Priest's words, the kid stopped and stood completely still, his Adam's apple bobbing, his gaze glued to Priest's back.

And this was indication badasses had eyes in the back of their heads and high school punks weren't completely stupid because I couldn't be sure, but I had an inkling Priest's threat wasn't entirely empty.

"Do you want cops?"

This also came from Priest and no one answered, primarily because the boys obviously didn't want cops and I didn't know why he was giving them the choice.

His head turned and he pinned me with a scowl.

"Cassidy," he prompted on an infuriated rumble.

I opened my mouth but didn't get a word out before a girl's broken voice cried, "We'll get in trouble! We'll get in trouble! You can't phone the cops! I'll lose my scholarship and Peyton's parents will totally freak!"

I was looking at her so when she stopped, I called gently, "Did they hurt you, honey?"

She shook her head vehemently. "No. No. We were just partying."

"Did they hurt Peyton?" I asked, waving my hand to indicate the girl on the couch.

She shook her head. "No. I was...was...before you got here, I was getting him off her. He didn't get very far."

"You sure?" I asked.

She nodded her head, bobbing it up and down quickly.

I moved to her and crouched close, her eyes following me the whole way.

I kept hold of them as I said quietly, "You do her no favors, not telling me the truth right now."

She shook her head again. "I was gonna get us out of here. I was. I promise. Swear. I wouldn't let that happen. The...the...the stuff I smoked was wearing off. And Peyton has a boyfriend back at home. Something happened, he'd lose it and break up with her and she'd never get over it."

"Promise me," I whispered.

"He was...he was...he's a jerk," she whispered back, her eyes darting beyond me to where the boy who was on Peyton was standing. "But he didn't get very far."

"You weren't helping her when we came in."

"'Cause you weren't letting him close the door on you and I knew they were caught. You'd get in. You'd help her and then the door flew open and I got out of the way."

I searched the features of a young, high, drunk, terrified girl I did not know to try to ascertain if the worst that could happen happened in my cabin.

She stared up at me, holding my gaze, hers wet and scared, but unwavering.

"I wanna get outta here," she whispered.

"You got a car?" I asked.

She shook her head again. "We came with them. I was gonna walk Peyton up to the road then call a taxi."

"Where are you staying?'

"Vista Real Condos, by the slopes."

I nodded that I knew it, straightened, and turned to Priest. "I'm taking the girls home."

Priest glowered at me but jerked up his chin. "You deal with them, I'll deal with this," he stated.

I didn't know what "this" was or how he intended to deal with it and I didn't care.

I only cared about one thing.

So I walked across the cabin and got close to him.

"I want this place cleaned up and I want their asses out of here, Priest. Spic and freaking span and them gone," I hissed.

"It'll be done," he replied tersely.

I looked into his eyes, nodded, and turned.

"I'm gonna get my car. You rouse Peyton. Yeah?" I said to the girl.

She was pushing herself to her feet and wiping her face but she still managed to say, "Yeah."

I moved to the door, stopped in it, and forced my eyes to the boy standing there.

"One day," I said, my voice soft, my tone ugly. "You're gonna have baby girls. One day, you're gonna have daughters you'll love more than anything in the world. And then there'll come the day, the weeks, the months, the fucking years," I leaned in to him, my voice degenerating, "you'll lie awake, remembering this night. Remembering what you did to that girl. Scared out of your damned mind that some fucking asshole is doing that to one of your girls. Knowing it could happen because you know, being that kind of asshole, there are tons of assholes out there just like you."

His face paled and his throat convulsed.

"I pray to God what you did tonight never happens to the babies you're gonna make," I stated quietly. "But I'm fucking thrilled you'll live in terror of it."

On that, I stomped out to get my SUV.

By the time I got Annabelle (who told me her name in my Rover) and Peyton to Vista Real, got their behinds into their condo (also with no parents, what were these people thinking?) and dealt with Peyton puking for an hour-after which I delivered my lecture to them while Peyton lay sniveling on the couch, curled up against Annabelle, who was cradling and rocking her-and made my way home, it was well past four in the morning.

I drove directly to cabin six.

There was no Navigator. The other SUV was gone too.

It was dark, as were all the cabins, including eleven, where Priest's Suburban was parked outside.

Apparently, Priest had done his duty and then bedded down for some shuteye.

I found this upsetting. I knew it, I felt it, but I didn't let that feeling take hold.

It was Priest and I had to accept that.

I had no other choice.

Still, I got out of my Rover, walked up to the cabin, and used my master key to open the door.

I flipped the light switch and saw it was clean as a pin. The smell lingered in the air, which meant I'd probably have to shampoo the rugs and air the place out but there was nothing to indicate it had been trashed three hours before, outside the cigarette burns in the coffee table. I even walked through the bedrooms and bathroom and found they'd cleared out. Not a pair of undies to say those loser kids had ever been in residence.

Feeling slightly better about this (slightly), I grabbed my bat and flashlight that Priest had left sitting on the couch for me, left, locked up, and drove my Rover home.

I walked in carrying my flashlight and bat, dumping both on the seat of the handsome, carved, antique hall tree that was one of the few things that the ex-owners left that I intended to keep.

I left the light glowing in the foyer but headed straight to the dark kitchen.

I did this because that was where the bourbon was.

I made it to the cabinet where I kept my booze and was reaching to it when the voice sounded behind me.

"Why don't you have a man?"

I jumped, whirled, and stared at the hulking shadow sitting at my kitchen table (my table, not the ex-owners, theirs was gone-it was gently used, oak, sloped arrowback chairs, one thick, sturdy, carved, gorgeous leg holding up the table-I'd found it on Craig's List, local, and a screaming deal).

I stared at Priest, finding it hard to speak because my breathing had turned heavy.

"Why don't you have a man?" he repeated.

"I-"

I heard his chair scrape across the wood floor and my body shot straight as he stood, his shadowed presence a menace, even across the room.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've seen in my entire fuckin' life," he stated, his voice hushed but pulsing in a way that scared the heck out of me.

But it was his words that made me stop breathing.

"How is it that a woman that looks like you does not have a fuckin' man?" he asked.

"John-" I forced out.

"That is not my name," he clipped, his sudden fury blanketing the room. "You know that's not my name, Cassidy."

"Okay, Priest-" I tried again.

He leaned toward me threateningly.

"That's not my fuckin' name either and you know that too," he bit out. "You know, woman. You fuckin' know. So why the fuck do you rent a cabin to me?"