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“You smug asshole,” he growled, coming forward again.
So much for that truce.The thought flitted through my mind even as I readied for a fight. Beside me, Ryan and Jamie also tensed.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” The quiet deadly words resonated around the massive room, stopping everything.
My head didn’t just turn. My entire body did, my whole being drawn to the sound of that voice. Even pissed and threatening, it was my favorite sound. “Max.”
His eyes flicked to me, softening just like his voice. “Hey, Nemo.” But they shifted right back to settle on Rinkin, all that softness disappearing.
“Oh, look who it is. Your brother. No. Your boyfriend.” He smirked. “Oh, wait. It’s both.”
I rolled my eyes. Douchebag. If he thought his petty little observation could cause any kind of pain, self-loathing, or even shame, it was clear he’d never spent a minute inside my head.
Been there. Done that. Never again.
“You know what they say,” I said mildly. “Once you go brother, you never go back.”
Jamie snorted. “Good one, bro.”
“Sick,” Rinkin spat and pivoted toward the door. He didn’t get far because he nearly stumbled into a scowling wall of black leather.
“Wes might think your comments are amusing, but I sure as fuck don’t.” His eyes were so dark, a threat all their own. As if he would yank Rinkin into that opaque, endless nothing and trap him there for all eternity. “Guess you don’t remember the last time you pissed me off.”
“Break it up,” Coach intoned from the doorway of the locker room.
Everyone looked toward him except for Max. His unblinking stare remained pinned to Rinkin.
“You causing trouble again, Rinkin?”
“Me?” He scoffed. “Didn’t you hear this asshole just threaten me?”
“Navarro, you threatening my swimmers?” Coach deadpanned.
“Nope.”
“Rinkin, get out of here. You three, go change. And you,” Coach said, looking at Max. “What the hell are you doing in my pool?”
“Came to pick up Wes.”
“Haven’t you heard, Coach? They’re dating.” Rinkin goaded.
Coach’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline. Then his face flushed. “Didn’t I tell you to get out?”
Rinkin left, muttering beneath his breath the entire way.
When the doors slammed behind him, I started to explain. “Coach, I—”
Coach held up his hand. “It ain’t my business.” Then he disappeared back into the locker room.
“Good times,” Jamie mused. “But I’m going to change. My boys are turning into soggy raisins.”
“You have to stop saying that,” Ryan told him.
“Yours are probably soggy raisins too,” Jamie refuted.
Ryan smacked him in the back of the head, and they went inside. I glanced at Max, my heart fluttering a little. “Be right back.”
“Not so fast,” he said, catching me around the wrist. The cool metal of the rings on his fingers was shocking against my skin. I turned completely, opening up my body to his. His thumb brushed lightly over the inside of my wrist, making my body prickle with awareness. “You okay?”
