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The local boy might be decently put together and have skills, but he would be no match for Nash—a six-foot-seven mean motherfucker with a black belt, street cred, and a past life as a marine.
Predictably, Jase’s self preservation instinct kicked in, and he backed off. “Nothing. Just…conversation, man. She’s not worth the trouble. You can have her.”
When he turned to leave, Nash grabbed the punk by the shirt and snarled in his face. “Listen, asshole. Who ‘has’ her isn’t your decision. It’s not mine, either. It’s hers. Only hers. Maybe if you learned some fucking manners and showed some goddamn respect, you’d get somewhere with the ladies. This one you leave alone from now on…or you answer to me.”
Jase scoffed, but quickly retreated. “Whatever. I’m out of here. C’mon.”
His boys followed him like the lap dogs they were. In unison, they stormed across the room before thundering out the door. Around them, the women breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” Haisley murmured. “He’s been a pain in my ass for way too long.”
Nash nodded. “No problem. But I gotta say I thought you’d have better taste than that, sweetness.”
“I do now.” She winces. “High school mistake. And I told you not to call me that.”
“Sorry.” Nash grinned like he wasn’t sorry at all. “But if the flavor fits…”
She sighed in exasperation and slid her gaze Matt’s way. “What’s up with you? You look like a man on a mission.”
“We go on missions for a living,” Nash quipped.
Haisley looked him up and down. “I don’t see how. You’re hardly inconspicuous.”
“I have my moments.” His buddy grinned. “And I also have other talents. Wanna see?”
“Ugh.” She shook her head as Gracelyn and the other girl—hadn’t Madison once called her Charli?—giggled. “Not happening, Cash.”
“It’s Nash,” he corrected.
“Sorry.” Haisley grinned, not sounding remotely sorry, either.
Matt suspected those two had each met their match. “Hey, Haisley. Got a minute? I want to ask you about Madison.”
Something crossed the redhead’s face. Disquiet? Then she sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“Where can I find her? Our last couple of conversations…didn’t go well.”
“So I heard.” She shoved her hand on her hip and glared. “You broke her damn heart.”
Fuck. “I had a lot of shit going on.”
But it was a knee-jerk excuse, and he knew it. He’d been scared, and he’d waited too long to get his shit together.
“Which was clearly more important to you than she’ll ever be, so she pulled a ‘thank u, next.’”
“A what?” Nash frowned.
“You don’t know? For real?” When his pal shook his head blankly, she rolled her eyes. “TheAriana Grande.”
Nash recoiled. “Not my kind of music.”
“Another sign that we have almost nothing in common.”
“Opposites attract, sweetness.”
“I told you not to call me that,” she said through gritted teeth.
Matt had more important shit to deal with than their banter. “Can we focus? I need to see Madison. We have to talk this out.”
