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“I’m sorry, brother. I know the two of you formed a special bond whi—”
Ty reared back. “What the fuck? No, we didn’t.”
“Ty, you can’t tell me you don’t care about the gir… woman. She looked at you like you hung the damn moon. And you hovered like a mother hen when she was here. It’s okay.”
He shook his head. “You’re crazy. I helped rescue her. What kind of dick wouldn’t want to make sure she was okay? That’s all, it was nothing more. Any deeper connection is all in her head. Don’t go looking for unicorns when it’s just a damn mule. Told her the same thing.”
“You told her that?” Curly’s jaw dropped.
“Yes. I don’t want her getting any whacked-out ideas. For fuck’s sake, Curly, she’s half my age. I don’t need her trailing after me like an eager puppy with some misplaced hero worship.”
Curly ran a hand through his hair. Or he tried, but it snagged on the curls halfway through, so he gave up. “Okay, the pieces are starting to come together now.”
“Shut up. This isn’t a damn puzzle.”
“While you were there, did you dole out any other words of wisdom to the young lady recovering from a serious trauma?”
His stomach turned as heat washed over him. “I mighta said something else,” he mumbled.
Curly’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
Another shot of tequila was required before he could confess his sin.
“Four shots in ten minutes? Shit, you must have said something really dumb. Come on.” He waved his hand. “Spit it out, cuz.”
Nope. Not saying it.
Curly merely arched an eyebrow.
Fuck. The guy spent thirteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Ty didn’t stand a chance against him in a battle of wills. He set the glass down and shoved the bottle away. The last thing he needed was to be plastered while in such a foul mood. That’s when shit tended to go south fast. “I told her she was stupid.”
“What do you mean?” Curly’s forehead scrunched.
“I said she was stupid for…” He shrugged.
Curly’s mouth opened and then snapped closed. His face went from interested to pissed so fast Ty would have missed the transition if he’d blinked. Lucky for him, he caught the whole shift. “You didn’t.”
“Oh, I did.”
“Jesus, Ty.” Curly rubbed his temples. “Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?”
“I do.” He reached for the bottle again, only for Curly to smack his hand.
“Do you really?” If this were a cartoon, Curly’s face would be fire-engine red, and smoke would be billowing from his equally red ears. “Because that’s about the worst thing you can say to someone struggling to that extent.”
“I know that!” he shouted, gripping his hair. “You think I don’t know that?”
Curly stared at him across the bar. “I’m not sure right now. You are acting out of character.”
“I know it, okay. I didn’t even mean it. I just… I walked in the room, saw the bandages, and I-I don’t even know.”
“You had a big feeling?”
He rolled his eyes. “Really, cousin?”
“Really.” Curly nodded. “You felt something for that woman, and it freaked you the fuck out, so you decided to be a dick and make sure she didn’t develop ‘hero worship’ or whatever bullshit you were spouting a few minutes ago.”
“No.” He shook his head. That wasn’t it. For Christ’s sake, she was so goddamned much younger than him. He’d felt shock and sympathy, of course. He wasn’t made of stone, but nothing more. “I asked her why she did it, and she wouldn’t tell me shit. It pissed me off, so I snapped. That’s all. Nothing deeper.”
