“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.
“Oh, shit, what have you done?” Dallas was here now, too. He was coming up from behind me. His boots hitting the gravel as he moved to stand with the others.
I’d feared this. Deep down, I think I knew it all along. Scarlet loved Bray. But I’d not wanted to believe she would do this to Brent.
“She’s mine,” Bray said, turning to look back at the brothers behind him, then back to his twin.
“What have you done?” Brent sounded like he’d been ripped in half. I knew how that felt. My heart broke for him.
“She’s been mine. I wouldn’t admit it and you kept pushing to get her to go out with you, so she did. I should have said something then. I didn’t. I fucked up. But she’s mine. She’s been mine all along.”
How could she do this? I understood loving one Sutton and being with another, but I’d never do this. Or was what I was doing even worse? Was this what it would feel like for Steel if I kept this up, knowing he’d never have my heart?
“Dixie, you need to take Scarlet,” Asher’s voice was loud and cold. His gaze locked on Bray. Daring him to say anything. He moved toward Bray. “Let her go with Dixie. We got shit to clear up,” Asher wasn’t asking. His voice was tight and hard.
“Scarlet,” I said taking a step forward. I would do whatever they needed me to. I agreed with Asher. They all needed to deal with this on their own and Scarlet needed to leave. Her being there just made it all worse.
“Don’t touch her,” Bray growled as my hand touched her arm. In that moment, my heart skipped a beat from the sheer terror I felt. The look in Bray’s eyes was that of a demon. Evil. Cruel. Nothing like his usual self at all.
Scarlet was startled by his words, too, and I jumped. Moved away fast. Something was wrong with him.
Dallas was there suddenly, pulling Scarlet back, just as Asher’s fist slammed into Bray’s face. Scarlet screamed. I screamed. I heard other screams.
“Don’t ever fucking talk to her like that again,” Asher’s threat was full of his own anger. This was the first time I’d seen him like this, too. His fist landed again on Bray’s face.