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A moment of suspended silence descended around the table as they waited for what would come next.
"Oh, goddamn," Ty muttered in pure frustration as he slid out of the booth and came to his feet and stood directly next to Josh who was standing now, as well.
As his two best buddies faced off, Ethan's guts clenched in anxiety. He held his breath as he waited to see how this would go down. The next few seconds could be detrimental to all five of them.
Josh and Ty stood glaring at each other with a fraught air of silence, the tension in their frames enough to tell Ethan this could be damn bad. Josh appeared to be barely holding his fury in check, his hands clenched into fists at his sides as an almost savage violence radiated off him in waves. Ty, on the other hand, stood with his shoulders back, but his expression was one of mere annoyance and irritation. The seconds ticked by and Ethan knew, without a doubt, that he'd been right: Josh was prepared to bury anybody who even looked twice at Hannah.
Finally, Ty let out a disgruntled breath and took one step back. Josh immediately stood down, pushed past Ty, and slid into the seat next to Hannah that Ty had just vacated.
Ethan let out a relieved breath.
Ty made no move to sit in the empty chair. He only stood silently for a moment and stared steadily at Josh with laser-like precision. Finally, he spoke with an edge of contempt. "So that's the way it is, Turner? You calling dibs?"
"You better damn-ass fucking believe it," Josh snarled, staring at Ty as if he still wanted to kill him.
"Thought you didn't want to use that word in front of Hannah," Ty said sarcastically, and it took everything Ethan had not to roll his eyes.
Josh was still clearly pissed. "I'll use whatever words I want to in front of Hannah. You, on the other hand—you best watch your language in front of her."
Ty looked as if frustration was eating him alive as he glanced away from Josh and let out an aggravated sigh. But then, abruptly, his eyes landed on Ethan. He stared at him for a few seconds as his body stiffened into lines of barely-held antagonism. Fury crept over his features as his expression changed from anger to one of malevolence. He held Ethan in a death stare until finally, he spoke in a low, gravelly tone as if he were trying to control himself and not lose it completely. "Is your goddamn hand on my sister's leg?"
Fuck. Ethan felt a hot slew of emotions hit him between the eyes. He was so damn sick of this shit. He wanted it done. Over. He wanted this out in the open and he wanted Ava to be his. He looked down to where his suntanned hand enclosed her thigh. He squeezed once and then slowly, with exaggerated movements, as if to say 'fuck, yeah, it is,' he raised his hand from underneath the table and carefully placed it on top. Taking his time, he looked up and met Ty's gaze with a cold, hard challenge. "No," he replied slowly and sarcastically, a taunt he couldn't control.
Ty continued to stare at him as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd just seen and heard, rage building in every line of his body, and Ethan was slowly coming to the realization that everything in his life had just changed.
He hoped like hell that he could retain his friend, but the most important point blazing through his mind was the fact that he finally had an opening with Ava. That had been clear to him when she'd let him touch her for so many long minutes. She could have easily stopped him, but she hadn't. And at this moment in time, as vital as his friendship was with Ty, Ethan acknowledged that if he had to choose, it could only go one way. Ava. He was going to have her. She was going to belong to him—no matter what the hell it took to accomplish that feat.
Abruptly, Ty seemed to find a hint of control as he pointed his finger at Ava in remonstration. "You." He snapped his fingers as he tilted his head toward the door. "Let's go."
"I'm not going anywhere," Ava announced to the table at large. But even as she said it, Ethan knew that he needed to let her go for now. Ty needed some time to come to grips with what he'd just learned, so Ethan slid from the table and stood to his feet. Ty wasted no time. He reached over and grabbed his sister's hand and physically pulled her from the booth and then from the restaurant.
Ethan sighed and sat back down. He took a deep breath and then another as he studied the now almost serene expression on Josh's face as his friend had Hannah to himself again. Ethan didn't know if it was actually cool to call dibs on a girl, but even now, he was wondering how quickly he could do the same with Ava.
****
The next day at midday, Ethan stood unhitching the ensilage trailer in the implement pasture. He'd been working steadily for over three hours in the heat, perspiration running down his naked back. He'd long ago pulled off his t-shirt, which had been drenched with sweat, and now he worked in only jeans and boots. He needed to get back to the house, he'd been out of bottled water for the last hour and he was starving on top of it.
When he heard a truck driving up, he quickly finished the job, raising the trailer tongue off the ball hitch. Standing to his full height, he saw Josh's truck pulling in behind the trailer. Ethan lived so far out in the country that his friends rarely came to his house, but before he could even question why Josh was here now, the truck came to a stop in a cloud of dust as Ty slammed from the passenger side and started pacing towards him.
Josh climbed from the vehicle a little more leisurely, and abruptly, Ethan knew what this was all about—and it didn't surprise him in the least. In fact, he'd pretty much been expecting a confrontation with Ty all morning.
He watched carefully as Ty crossed the space that separated them and finally came to a halt about ten feet away. His glare told Ethan all he needed to know. The dude was pissed. Well, hell. Even though Ethan wanted to get this confrontation over with, the idea that it was about to happen right now left him feeling all kinds of shit. Goddamn, he loved Ty like a brother. He didn't want this to happen. But on a positive note, if he just stood still and took this beating then maybe Ty would settle down, everything would be out in the open, and then he could finally have Ava.
But then it actually registered what that was going to mean in the next few minutes of his life. Fuck. Purposely letting Ty kick his ass was going to hurt.
"What the fuck, man? My sister?" Ty hissed, enraged, his hands balling into fists at his sides.
Warily, Ethan glanced from Ty to Josh. Why was Josh here exactly? Surely to shit they didn't mean to gang up on him. Fuck that—he'd be toast. Momentarily confused, Ethan studied Josh who stood a foot in front of his truck. "What the hell, you here to help him beat the shit out of me?"
Josh grimaced and shook his head, the scars on his face giving him a menacing look as he crossed one booted ankle over the other and casually leaned back against his truck, as if to show he was no threat. "I'm here to make sure y'all don't kill each other."
As Ethan studied Josh he could plainly see his friend was still pissed at Ty but more importantly than that, he didn't seem to be holding any animosity toward him. With a better understanding of what he was facing, Ethan took a deep breath, concentrated on Ty, and tried to calm him down. "I haven't touched your sister and that's the God's honest truth."
Ty retaliated immediately. "Bullshit. You were touching her fucking leg last night."
Jesus. The dude was going to hold him to a technicality. Ethan looked heavenward and let out a sigh. "Fine. I touched her leg."
Those five words were all it took. With his admission, the expression on Ty's face became incensed. Lowering his head like a bull about to charge, he pushed toward Ethan, murderous rage in every line of his body.
Ethan quickly sidestepped, the defensive movement putting him out of Ty's reach for a couple of seconds. "I'm not going to fight you, Anderson."
"So you're going to stand there and take the beating I'm about to give you?" Ty hissed, taking another step forward. "Fine by me."
Ethan took a single step backwards, trying to buy time to placate his friend again. "It's not what you think," he tried.
"I think you want to fuck my sister—that's what I think," Ty raged.
> Christ. How could he answer that? "It's more than that, man. I have feelings for her."
Ty roared as if Ethan's words caused more pain. "That's even worse, motherfucker!"
"How's that worse?" Ethan asked, keeping his attention wholly fixed on Ty.
"It means you've been thinking about fucking her for a long goddamn time," Ty bellowed before charging at Ethan once again.
Ethan quit arguing, quit sidestepping, and tightened his stomach muscles in anticipation of the punch he was about to receive. The first one was a direct hit to his abdomen. Ethan doubled over, more pissed than hurt. Goddammit. He had no option other than to stand still and take this shit. Fighting with Ty would only make matters worse. He totally understood why his friend was pissed, and damn, truth be told, Ethan was somewhat pissed at himself. Why the hell couldn't he leave Ava alone?
The second hit was an uppercut under his jaw. Ethan's head slammed back under the force. As his neck arched from the impact, he felt like his brain was going to split in two.
As he groaned in pain, the third hit was another punch to his gut. Fuuuuuccccckkkkk. He'd barely had time to tighten his abdominals before the hit.
Ethan balled his fingers into fists as he felt an almost uncontrollable urge to lay Ty out cold. He began trying to reason with himself as he took a punch to the face that he knew damn good and well would leave his eye blackened. Don't do it, man. Don't fight back. Don't come unglued. This bullshit is almost over.
Just as he had the thought, Ty hit him again and then began berating him with incensed words. "You fucking hurt my sister and I will kill you, motherfucker. You understand, asshole? You make her cry so much as one fucking tear and I'll hunt you down and take extreme pleasure in making you suffer, you understand me, Jackson?"
With the last hit, Ethan was so dazed that he was barely aware when Josh pulled Ty back and held him by the shoulders. Ethan leaned over, dropped to his knees, and began coughing. With blood dripping from the cuts on his chin and cheekbone, he looked up and blearily focused on Ty. "I got it, bro." He took an inhalation of oxygen and then another while Ty and Josh looked on.
Slowly, Ethan stood back upright, swaying on his feet but managing to focus on Ty. Swallowing painfully, he worked his aching jaw before saying, "I get where you're coming from, but I hate to tell you that your thought process is fucked-up."
As Ty put his hands on his hips and continued to glare at him in silence, Ethan managed through a wave of pain, "Dude. You need to understand the way it is. You don't get how I feel about her. If somebody gets hurt from this—dude—I promise you, it won't be her."
