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I shut the door behind me and stand idle in the center of the room. “Not likely. But I’d sure as fuck understand reason.”
“Reason?”Terry scoffs. “Your fucking brother clocked my fucking son in the goddamn head with his helmet.”
“Could have done a lot worse.” I fight a smile. “Like I said, he deserved it. Probably deserves more.” I suck a deep breath and exhale slowly. “You okay with your boy goin’ around scaring women into submission, are you?” I snap my fingers loud enough that he can hear. “Oh, yeah, of course you are. It’s how you fucking got his mother knocked up, ain’t it?”
“We going back to this shit, Tyke? You want to wind back the fucking clock twenty-five years to when a fucking girl picked me over you?”
I drop a derisive laugh. “Nah, brother. I want to take it back to when you fucking drugged my girlfriend and gave her no option.”
“You’re pathetic.”
“And you’ll never admit when you’re wrong, which is why I didn’t expect you to direct your fuckin’ anger where it should be—with your shithead of a son.”
“You’ve got something I want.”
“Don’t I always?”
“She doesn’t belong to you.”
“She chooses where she belongs, and right now, she chose us.”
He disconnects, leaving me fuming and in need of an outlet. I toss the phone onto one of the sofas before I get the urge to hurl the little fucker at the wall and pace to the liquor cabinet. I knew stepping into this mess would cause trouble. That having Maddie’s pretty little friend, Rae, on-site would be a welcome invitation for trouble from Terry. But that was the problem, wasn’t it? She is pretty. And like the sucker I am, I couldn’t turn a beautiful woman down when she needed help.
The whiskey burns a tight path down my throat, and I slam the glass back on the timber surface before me. Cut it any way you like, and I’m no better than Terry when it comes down to the bare facts. I gave that girl a room, knowing she carried something I needed—the ability to put that manipulative motherfucker behind bars for a good long time.
I guess I fooled myself, most of all, choosing to believe I merely wanted to be her white knight.
Digger glances up when I march through the living area; his head is just visible over the back of the chair. I ignore the slight furrow on his brow when I hit the stairs and take them two at a time. I never have occasion to come up here. My suite spreads six hundred square feet on the lower floor, with quick access to all areas should I need it.
Everyone else lives up here. Everyone but me.
Just another little thing that keeps me separate from the masses. Lonely.
“You still up?” I knock twice on Rae’s door.
There’s a shuffle from the far side, then the slap of bare feet on the timber floor. “Yeah.”
“It’s Tyke. You mind if I come in?”
The knob rattles, and then she cracks the door a couple of inches. “Sure.” She pulls it all the way wide and then turns away, padding across the room.
I close the door behind me and find her standing near the bed, unsure what to do with herself in nothing more than an oversized band T-shirt for apparent sleepwear. Lord, have mercy. Her legs go on for days, slim ankles leading up to thick, soft thighs.
I wet my lips, shoving the thought of what’s between to the back of my mind. “Just got off a call from your ex’s old man.”
“Terry.” She says his name as though the word incites reflux.
“Yeah.” I tip my head toward the chair, silently asking if I may sit.
She nods.
Sweet vanilla tickles my nostrils when I cross her path. Fists clenched against my thighs, I position myself on the foremost edge of the seat and wait for her to get settled on the foot of the bed. “I wanted to talk to you about your job.”
Her lids droop, and she drops her chin. “I figured.”
“What you earnin’ there, baby girl?”
Her toes curl against the hardwood. “Why?” Her eye twitches when she brings her gaze to mine.
