That silenced the cousin fairly well.
Ben met Dan’s gaze and saw both amusement—and impatience. The cop had a low tolerance for assholes.
“Anne,” Matt whined. “You really took a job elsewhere?”
“Yes.” Anne tilted her head. “Gentlemen,” she said coldly, “if you don’t wish to offer that apology, please remove yourselves from my property.”
Russell puffed up. “We did—”
“Actually, you did not. I didn’t hear any phrase containing the words forgive or sorry.” Anne’s father folded his arms over his chest. “My gi—Anne built you the finest team in Florida, and you handed her crew over to your incompetent kid. That showed disrespect to Anne—and wasn’t fair to your agents either.”
“Uncle Stephan, the guys wanted me. Not her,” Robert yelled.
“Sure, they did,” Travis said sarcastically. “Two of the wimpy part-timers wanted a male—not particularly you. The rest wanted the person who melded them into a team and who kept them safe. Not the cowardly asshole who botched the last three apprehensions with his grandstanding, who almost got Aaron killed, and who got Michael winged.”
Anne was on her feet. “Travis, is—”
She’d gone pale. Damn, she shouldn’t have to deal with this crap. Ben put his arm around her and felt her tremble.
“He’s okay, sis. They all are. But it only took three times with dumbass here and the men are jumping ship.”
“The team is yours if you come back, Anne.” Matt directed a stern stare at Robert’s father, who stayed silent.
“Thank you, but no,” Anne said firmly.
Ben cheered silently. She didn’t need those fuck-ups. Galen would value her.
She continued, “I won’t be back. Perhaps if you remove Robert—completely—and make Aaron the team leader, you might keep your agents.”
Matt’s shoulders slumped. “I understand. We’ll give Aaron the job.”
“You’ll what?” Robert shouted. “You’ll listen to that cunt?”
Ben growled.
Anne’s upraised hand held Ben in place. She frowned. “Ben, did you ever visit the bail bond office to see me?”
“No. Never been there.”
When her gaze turned to Robert, the asshole turned white.
“I couldn’t figure out how the bastards last night got my address,” she said. “But a week ago, someone beat you up. You said it was Ben.”
Robert took a step back at the menace in Anne’s voice.
She leaned both hands on the table and fixed him with a cold stare. “I think those guys came into the office, slapped you around, and you told them where I lived. And you never even warned me.”
“I never…” Robert sputtered, eyes shifting sideways. Every single person on the deck could see his guilt.
As fury roared through Ben, he moved forward. Paused. It was Anne’s right to tear apart the chickenshit. But damn. “Anne. Please?”
She smiled and patted her stomach. “Feel free to tend to these little chores for me…for a while. Don’t kill him.”
“Fuck, I love you.” Ben advanced on the asshole, swung from his hip—and, obediently, pulled his punch. Barely.
Robert flew halfway across the deck.
Arms crossed over his chest, Ben waited for dumbass to rise. Instead, he lay there, flat on his back. Eventually he put a hand on his jaw.
The cheers meant nothing compared to Anne’s soft, “Excellent work, my tiger.”
“Okay, I want to know something.” Stephan scowled at his daughter, not quite belligerently, but obviously annoyed. “Last night, you yelled at me for expecting Ben to defend you. Said you could do it yourself. So why is it different today?” He waved at Robert.
“Well, actually, last night I didn’t have any choice as to fighting,” Anne said, “and once I started, I kind of lost my temper. Ben knew I needed to release some anger.”
Ben shrugged at her father. “Her home. Her toys.”
“After I calmed down, I realized I shouldn’t have…indulged.” She gave Ben a wry look because when he’d understood how she’d risked herself and the baby, he’d given her hell. “So today Ben got to deal with the problem.”
With a smile, Ben took her hand, silently letting her know that he was available to deal with all her little problems. Any time. Any place.
Travis stared. “Since when do you not indulge? You’ve been knocking guys into next week from the time you were ten.”
Oh yeah? It’d be entertaining to hear some of those stories. Maybe if he gave Travis enough alcohol…