Amber sat down on my lap as soon as I took a seat on the closest bar stool. “My day just got a helluva lot better,” she drawled, leaning in to shove her cleavage in my face. I wished that I could say the same.
“Heard you were driving around with sweet Hannah Watson,” she continued. This town had little to do but talk about people. I figured they’d have me and Hannah engaged by next week at this rate. Another reason to let Amber sit on my lap. Maybe enough people would see it and I’d just get labeled a manwhore instead.
“I’m working for Denver,” I told her as if she didn’t know this already.
She wrapped an arm over my shoulders and leaned in closer. “I heard that, but I also know you like your girls sweet. I figure it’s about time you tried some naughty.” I assumed she saw herself as the naughty in that sentence.
Vince Wallace and Todd Hyatt walked in and headed for a pool table. “Asher! Heard you were in town,” Vince called out while walking over to me. I’d played football with both of them. Wasn’t sure what either of then were doing now, though.
“Yeah, I’m home for a bit,” I told him.
“I see you got some good hometown entertainment,” he said grinning at Amber who just giggled.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“Ash, man, saw you play this year on TV. It was fucking crazy to see. Kept telling the boys I used to play on the same field as you,” Todd said as he took a beer from Jack’s nephew Roy who was working the bar today.
That seemed to excite Amber because she managed to wrap herself tighter against me. I knew I could have just taken what she was offering all too happily. But I also knew I’d feel guilty later. Not sure why. Dixie was my brother’s girlfriend. I’d been with other women since her. Something about being home and seeing her again made it all different.
“You’re living the dream. Living the dream,” Todd said with a wistfulness in his tone. He was my age, but he’d gotten married the week after high school graduation and his twin boys had been born the next month. That is all I knew about Todd.
“Good to have you home,” Vince told me, then the two of them moved to the pool table.
Amber’s thigh moved down between mine until she was pressing and rubbing it against my dick. “Want to go somewhere so I can kiss on that?” she offered.
Before I had to make a decision, the door opened again and Bray walked in. He became my excuse for telling her no. “Tap,” was all that Bray said to Roy before walking to stand beside us and looking at me.
“You the only one here?”
“Yeah. The others are . . . out,” I told him, not sure exactly where they all were.
“What up, Amber?” Bray asked, winking at Amber who squirmed in my lap some more. I was walking out of here if she started mentioning a threesome. I’d had enough women in the past who’d asked for one with one of my brothers and that shit was not happening. Ever.
“Trying to get this one to take me out to his truck,” she said, pressing her body against mine some more.
“Good luck,” he replied. He knew me too damn well. “You up for a game,” Bray asked me.
“Yeah.” I needed to do something other than let Amber rub all over me. The fact that my dick was hard didn’t mean I wanted her. It meant it was being rubbed on and it was what a dick did. I patted her leg. “Let me up, babe.” As soon as I said the words, her eyes lit up. Damn. I hadn’t meant it as a term of endearment.
Suddenly, her lips were on mine and I decided to just go for it. To try and see if I wanted more. But I knew immediately that this wasn’t something I could fake. Her body felt good, she had a great one, but this would only end up being one more pointless fuck.
Taking her by the waist, I moved her gently off me and stood up. It was then that my eyes locked with Dixie’s. Her skin was pale and the raw pain in her eyes shook me to my core. I didn’t want to hurt her. I never wanted to see her look at me like that again. I’d seen that look too many times in the past.
I forced my legs to move away from Amber before she did any more groping. “Rack ’em,” I said to Bray, tearing my gaze off Dixie.
“She ain’t worth it,” Bray said under his breath.
“Yeah, she is,” I replied. She was worth so much more than Bray would ever understand. He didn’t love anyone like that. I doubted he ever would.
“Amber’s hot,” he said as if I needed that pointed out to me. I glanced back at Amber, wondering if I could go there. Lose myself in her, even if only for one night.
“I know. I’m trying to focus on that,” I told him.
My head was so fucking messed up with Dixie being there, I had missed my other brothers walking into the bar. “I got the winner,” Steel said all happy like he owned the damn world. He did. He had my world. He had my Dixie.
“So you’ll be playing Bray. Nobody can beat his ass,” Brent said with an amused smirk directed my way. He was right. Bray was the undefeated champion among us.
Although, at the moment, Bray looked wound up tight. He had that crazy look in his eyes he would get whenever his temper was about to flare up. Bray’d had anger issues since he was a little boy. He’d lose his shit in an instant and calming him down had never been easy. Dad had been good at it. But once Dad was gone, we never really knew how to do it. The older he got, the less it happened. But when it did, it was dangerous for everyone involved.
Momma said he needed to see a psychiatrist. Regularly. Bray said he had no use for a shrink. We all agreed he was wrong. He needed help controlling himself. I wasn’t sure what the fuck had just set him off, but it was clearly boiling under the surface. He then turned to a blonde I knew he dated in high school and started flirting. She didn’t know to stay away from that dangerous gleam in his eyes. He was going to use her as a distraction. But from what?
I turned to look at Brent to see if he noticed it, too, but he was leaving with Scarlet. As much as I didn’t want to look at Steel, I did. I needed backup and soon. But Steel wasn’t looking at Bray, either. He was smiling back at Dixie. Shit.
“Brent leaving?” Steel asked, then looked at me.
“Looks like it,” I replied, giving him a pointed look, then shooting my eyes toward Bray to get his attention.
Steel frowned like he wasn’t sure what I was trying to say. Were they all blind?
Bray slammed his stick down then and turned to stalk out of the bar. That caught Steel’s attention and he was right behind me as I hurried for the door. Hell was about to break loose and I was afraid I had just figured out why. Fuck.
Dixie Monroe
STEEL CURSED UNDER his breath and hurried after Asher. Both of them were now following Bray who had seemed angry. I must had missed something. I wasn’t exactly sure what that was since all my focus had been on Asher. I was watching him to see if he looked at Amber anymore. It was ridiculous of me, but I had needed reassurance he wasn’t really interested in her.
I followed behind Steel who seemed to have forgotten about me. Not that it mattered. Something else was obviously wrong. I wish Scarlet had stayed. Brent had been so determined to leave with her.
I had barely made it to the steps when Bray’s voice rang through the parking lot, “Don’t, Scar.”
I squinted in the dark to see Scarlet pressed up against Brent’s truck and Brent and her were obviously doing stuff. But the raw pain in Bray’s voice stopped me in my tracks. Caused me to stop breathing. Because in that moment, I knew. I knew what I had feared was true after all. Had Steel and Asher known? They’d ran out of there like they did? Surely they weren’t okay with this? Not when Asher was so determined that he couldn’t be with me because of his brother.
“Come here, baby,” Bray said. His tone was gentle yet demanding. My stomach turned. Oh, god. This was bad.
I stepped closer just as Scarlet looked up at Brent and said, “I’m sorry.” Then she left his arms and rushed into the arms of his twin brother.
Asher moved then. Fast. “What the fuck,” he roared. His voice was loud and full of fury. I’d never heard him so angry.
“Please tell me you’re shitting me,” Steel said moving to stand beside Asher. Like they were a united front, ready to take on Bray.