Fierce Defender: Book 2, Hard to Handle trilogy by Janine Kane Page A

Hank alone for a few minutes?” she requested.
    Gray looked at Lewis and Zack and said, “I don’t know about the two of you, but I could use a cigar.”
    The men got up, and Zack led them out the back door, leaving Hank and Eva alone.
    “Evie…”
    “Hank, wait,” she said. “Hear me out.” She didn’t want him to have a chance to weaken her defenses. “You know that I love you. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t have stuck all of this out for so long. Because I love you, that is why… I think they’re right, and you really have no choice.”
    “I don’t want to be alone,” he asserted.
    “I know, Hank. But you’re a great guy. You’ll make friends. I’m sure of it. Hank, if you stay here, there is a big chance that you won’t live. If Heston has you killed, then I really won’t ever be able to see you again. You’ll have nothing, not even your life. And furthermore...”
    “I’d continue to put you at risk,” he said sadly.
    “That’s not what I was going to say, but yes, although that is a risk I’d be willing to take if it was only me we were talking about. But there’s more to this than just us. They nearly burned down my best friend’s home. Zack put himself at risk to save us all. The bottom line is, Hank, we’ve all gone through a lot to keep you alive, and if you refuse to go into the program, it’s almost as if it were all for nothing.”
    Hank didn’t say anything. He looked sullen. Eva was afraid he was still going to refuse. She stood and picked up the tray with the coffee pot on it. “I’m going to refill this,” she told him, leaving him time to think. “I’ll be right back.”
    He nodded but still didn’t speak. She felt terrible for him, even though she knew that his love of an “easy” buck had gotten him into this mess. He really had never been taught any differently, she thought, even though she knew she had to stop making excuses for him. If was hard. He was, after all, her brother.
    When she returned to the living room with a fresh coffee pot, the men were coming in from the backyard. She stopped and looked around. “Where’s Hank?” she said.
    The men stopped talking. “Bathroom?” Zack guessed.
    Her heart racing, Eva sat the tray down on the side table and ran down the hall. The bathroom door was wide open. Instantly, she knew Hank was gone.
    “Zack!” she yelled. But she needn’t have. From the bathroom window, she could see he was already out the front door. When she ran outside, Lewis was standing out by the street looking around.
    “There was no sign of him out here, but he couldn’t have gone far. Zack and Gray went in different directions.”
    Eva no longer felt guilty for asking him to go with the Marshalls. Now she was just pissed off. How was running away going to help him not be alone? It didn’t make any sense… She was starting to wonder if there was more to his decision to stay than just his fear of loneliness. Either way, if he was going to behave like this, the only safe place for him was in Witness Protection, of that she was now certain.
    After a few minutes, Zack and Gray return—without Hank. “He doesn’t have any money, and he’s wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants,” she said. “He can’t get far… can he?”
    “It’s doubtful,” Gray told her. “We’ll keep an eye out for him, but since there are no charges against him any longer… I can’t really officially look for him.”
    “I understand,” Eva told him.
    She went back inside and left Zack to see them off. When he came in, he found her in the kitchen washing up the coffee cups. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Hugging her tight from behind, he asked, “Are you okay?”
    She turned around so that she was facing him and put her head on his chest. “I’m okay,” she said. “I’m pissed off at Hank… again. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking.” She lifted her head up to look at Zack’s face and said, “If being alone