Read Online The Right Thing by Allyson Young - Free Book Online Page A

her
before but would crawl through broken glass, through fire if need be. “I’d like
to talk to you.”
    “This the guy who fucked you up, ’Kenzie?” The female wrestler
tossed the question over a broad shoulder in McKenzie’s direction, no doubt
wanting to toss him out the door on his ass.
    “We don’t talk that way in my shop, Donna,” admonished the Chinese
man in a marked Texas drawl, which threw Michael for a moment. And then the other man turned to him,
fixing a look better suited to a fellow toting a six gun. “What do you want
here, sir? I am Mr. Lee. This is my shop.”
    Michael could feel Jenifer behind him, all agog. His cousin wasn’t
used to anyone standing in her way, and Jenifer always initiated any
confrontation. He was the same, but these people were clearly championing his
sub and he was smart enough to know alienating them could cost him. So he
retreated back behind the counter and tried to look as normal and yet as
powerful as he could, donning the mantle of authority that came so easily. The
Amazon didn’t look impressed, and the little Chinese woman joined her husband,
still clutching the iron. Yet another woman, this one small like ’Kenzie, but
resolute, moved to stand beside his recalcitrant sub, resting a hand on McKenzie’s
arm in a gesture of reassurance. Stand off.
    “I’ve been looking for McKenzie for months and just want to talk to
her.”
    “Well, I guess that would be up to ’Kenzie, now wouldn’t it?” Donna
was overtly hostile. He wondered what McKenzie had told her.
    Clearly, he hadn’t made a good impression. Michael appealed to Mr.
Lee with a look, mano a mano ,
but received a blank stare. His wife spoke to him in their language and the
other man broke eye contact for a moment before resuming his intent look.
Michael managed not to fidget, striving for a calm and reassuring demeanor. Mr.
Lee nodded and turned to Michael’s woman who sheltered from his gaze, taking
cover behind them. What the fuck did she think he was going to do to her? Well,
he guessed he knew the answer to that. Feeling sick he sucked air to will the
nausea back.
    “’Kenzie, gal? Do y’all want to talk to this fella? It’s up to you.”
    They all waited in the silence broken by a faint hiss ensuing from
the back of the shop and the murmur of street traffic. All the machinery was
shut down and ticked off the moments as it cooled. Another customer pushed
through the door, the bell tinkled and the tableau fractured.
    “No.”
    That barely breathed negative. A knife to his chest. Michael
involuntarily stepped backward against the searing pain, right into Jenifer,
and everything moved sluggishly forward. The wife reached for the customer’s
receipt, the husband and Donna moved as one to usher McKenzie into the depths
of the shop, and the other woman stepped around to block the counter. She
looked fierce to Michael’s jaundiced eyes, despite her slender size. They’d
left him no recourse at that moment so he walked out of the store, dragging an
enthralled Jenifer with him. Michael supposed it was a different kind of
entertainment for his cousin.
     
    * * *
*
     
    McKenzie managed to make herself accompany Donna and Mr. Lee to the
little storage room in the back. She couldn’t stop the tears though, nor the
sobs now tearing through her chest. Seeing Michael standing not twenty feet
away created the sense of time standing still and then being dumped straight
into a freezing cold vat of water. Her brain screamed at her to flee but her
body wouldn’t obey its commands. Her heart awakened and begged her to throw
herself at his feet. She thought she would go insane with the push and pull and
only holding onto the clothes rack had given any hope she wouldn’t go screaming
over the edge of oblivion. Donna came to the rescue and Mr. and Mrs. Lee
respected ’Kenzie’s decision. Michael had found her and wanted to take her and
had a woman with him. She wasn’t Joyce, although looked similar at