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Stepping inside the glass doors and hurrying through the living room, she suddenly came to a hard, surprised stop. Behind her, she heard Brogan curse, and she would have seconded the explicit word if it weren’t for the fact that she knew it was a word her brother was attempting to erase from his vocabulary.
And there he stood, along with Rowdy and Natches, all three men staring at Brogan with an animosity that would be impossible to miss.
“I’m fairly certain you were told that I was fine, Dawg. ” She crossed her arms over her breasts and glared back at the three men.
“I was told,” he growled.
“You didn’t believe it?”
“Physically,” he offered, “I believed you were fine. ”
“Then can I ask why you’re here? Tell me, have you decided to take it upon yourself to make some decisions for me that have absolutely nothing to do with you, as well?” she asked sarcastically.
“Told you so,” Rowdy muttered aside to Dawg as he lifted his hand and covered his mouth.
“Shut up, Rowdy,” Dawg ordered, his gaze still locked with hers.
“I told you so, too,” Natches offered.
Dawg didn’t bother to give the same order to his younger cousin.
“I’ll tell the four of you what. ” She included Brogan in the offer. “You can stay here and beat one another to a bruised pulp, scream, yell, curse, or whatever, and I’ll just get my things and roll. ” She looked over at Natches. “You were smart enough to drive yourself, right?”
“Yeah,” he answered warily as he hooked his thumbs in the belt cinching his lean hips. “Why?”
“You owe me,” she reminded him. “I want your ride. ”
“Ah, hell, now, come on, Eve. ” He frowned, protesting the order as he glanced at the other three. “I don’t like their company. ” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Dawg and Rowdy.
“You’re not leaving, Eve,” Brogan stated behind her.
She turned slowly, drew in a hard, deep breath, and met the anger burning in his gaze. “You don’t want to do this,” she told him softly. “I won
’t be manipulated, ordered, or deceived, Brogan. If you learned anything about me in the past two and a half years, then you know that. ”
Fury burned in his eyes, but his lips thinned as he only continued to glare at her.
Turning to her brother once again, she stared at him until his gaze flickered. No one, but no one could make Dawg flinch when he believed he was completely in the right.
“This is none of your business,” she told him. “I’m not six; nor am I sixteen. I’m a grown woman and I can make a grown woman’s decisions. ”
“Can you?” His arms went across his chest as his brows lowered broodingly. “Even if he’s a damned criminal?”
“Even if I’m wrong about the fact that everything inside me tells me he’s not a criminal,” she amended, “I can’t live my life by your instincts and your rules, Dawg. I have to live by my own. ”
“You made me a promise, Eve,” he reminded her. “I thought you understood the stakes. ”
“Are you going to disown me, Dawg?” she asked curiously. “You once said we’d get along fine as long as I didn’t betray family, country, or myself. I haven’t betrayed any of the three. But you skirted the line when you manipulated a promise from me that you knew I’d never be able to keep. ”
Rowdy and Natches both turned a look of disgust on their cousin.
“Man, you know Christa’s gonna find out,” Natches warned him.
“Not if you keep your fat mouth shut,” he growled.
Natches frowned and turned to Eve. “Is my mouth fat?” He was suddenly fingering his lips as though worried before turning on Dawg. “I’m going to give you a fat lip in a minute. ”
Dawg snorted. “Yeah, and go home all bruised to Chaya? I don’t think so. ”
