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Air shoot from my nostrils as I attempt to rein in my anger, but the grin he flashes is a big red flag waving in my face. I’m not a fighter. I’ve thrown one punch in my life, and it sucked. But I’m teetering on the ledge, my hands in fists at my sides.
“Touch her and you’ll lose the ability to use your hands again,” I threaten, my tone cold as death.
“Try it. I’ve never needed to use my hands much with that one. She’s more than willing to put in the work in the bedroom.I’ve never met a woman who loves to ride dick the way she does.” He laughs cruelly, dropping his voice to just above a whisper. I pray she can’t hear his next words. “Maybe it makes sense after all. You found a cowboy to ride. Even if she had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find you.”
Footsteps pound on the pavement behind me as I throw my second-ever punch. This time, it doesn’t suck. It hits its mark just right. Blood spurts from Stewart’s nose as I step back and shake out my hand, sharp pain zipping up my arm.
He’s immediately grabbing his face, eyes full of bewilderment. “You’re so screwed.”
“Maybe. But at least I don’t have a broken nose.” I shove him out of my way and open the driver’s door of the SUV before shoving him inside. His head hits the frame on the way, but it does nothing to settle me. “Get the fuck out of here. Now.”
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyers, Brody Steele.” He glances past me, and I know without turning that he’s looking at Anna. The flowers fall to the road. “Last chance. I won’t be wasting my time with coming here again for you. Not even you’re worth this effort.”
“Leave and don’t come back,” she demands.
He doesn’t spare either of us another second of his precious time before he’s speeding off down the road and, hopefully, out of Cherry Peak for good. Anna softly takes my hand and sighs.
“You didn’t have to do that, Brody. He genuinely wasn’t worth it. He was just jealous that I haven’t been sitting here pining after him this entire time we’ve been apart.”
“Oh, it was worth it, alright. I’ve wanted to do that for weeks now.”
The corner of her mouth twitches. “He might not get any lawyers involved in this, but he won’t roll over and do nothing.”
I pull her in close and kiss the soft skin of her forehead. “He’s welcome to take a shot at me, sweetheart. Nothin’ will make me regret punchin’ him.”
Not even the call I get from Garrison the next morning, informing me that a representative from Swift Edge is on their way to Cherry Peak for an emergency meeting.
I’d do it all over again if I could.
42
ANNALISE
Reggie Beckett is notwhat I was expecting. He’s an older man with a blinding aura of sophistication and thoughtfulness. Dressed in a pink-and-red checked shirt and light-washed jeans with worn fabric down the thighs, he takes a seat across from Brody and me at the dining table. A matching red fedora rests beside Brody’s hat and the steamy mug of coffee I prepared for him.
I play with my fingers beneath the table, nerves rattling me right to the bone. Brody didn’t expect Reggie to be the one who flew down to speak to him, but it was a pleasant surprise. According to him, the alternatives were far, far worse.
“You have a lovely home, Brody. This place is definitely a marvel,” Reggie says, attempting to break the ice.
Brody nods tightly, leaning his elbows on the table, hands clasped tight in front of them. “A home this beautiful makes it hard to leave.”
I wince at the brutal honesty in the words. The air’s been tense, charged with unspoken worry and nerves, from the moment I opened the door and welcomed Reggie into the second home on Steele Ranch. It’s so unusual for Brody to be this frazzled, and I’m struggling to figure out how to calm him.
He isn’t worried because he regrets what he did yesterday. I believed him when he said he would easily do it again. It’s something else, and if I had to guess, I’d say he’s expecting the worst from this surprise meeting. For the label to wipe their hands of him, maybe.
He’s been home for too long. Lost them far too much money when he left the tour, and now . . . now he’s already back. I don’t know the details that were discussed in Nashville, and not because he’s hidden them from me but because we haven’t had the time to talk about much. It’s been one thing after the other since he left.
Most of which come back to me.
It was my getting followed by a reporter that brought him back home so soon after leaving, and it was my ex-fiancé that had Swift Edge management rushing here not long after. Guilt is eating me up inside, one savage chunk after the other.
If he were to lose everything he’s worked his entire life for, I don’t know what I’d do. What we’d do.
Reggie doesn’t reveal a single thing in his expression. He’s calm and gentle, far too much so considering the heavy topics that have to be coming.
“I can’t say I’d want to leave much either with a home like this. I can’t blame you for that. Life is unfair this way, though. It would be much easier if we could have everything we want where we want it, no?” he asks.
I’d have expected the sentiment to be spoken in a snarky way, like a parent scolding a child for being stubborn, but there’s nothing like that in his tone. I believe that Reggie truly feels that way. It’s unjudgmental and honest.
