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We laugh into each other’s mouths, and everything slows down. Like maybe neither one of us wants to rush past what feels to me like a truly perfect moment.
Sliding my fingers into the dark waves falling around both our faces, I whisper, “Okay, so maybethisis what I need.”
There’s another thud behind me and Vaughn’s head comes up, a question in his eyes. But I don’t have the brain power to figure out what else fell or how.
Except that sound wasn’t really behind me so much as over by the—
“You’re a fucking dead man!” Greg’s voice booms from the general proximity of the front door.
Chapter 16
Natalie
Greg is going to kill him.
Vaughn closes his eyes, his muttered “fuck” barely audible beneath my brother’s storming threats. He’s backing off me, but not fast enough.
From the slice of space between the side of the couch and the big body still on top of me, I catch the flash of my brother’s fist as it connects with Vaughn’s cheekbone.
“No!” I scream, struggling to get up, but Vaughn barely flinches, taking the hit in stride.
His big hand centers on my chest, gently holding me in place. “Don’t worry,” he says. “We’ll work this out. Stay here.”
Another fist flies, but Vaughn shifts back, shooting Greg a lethal glare. “Give me a second to get up so we don’t hurt—”
“So you can get off my sister, you motherfucker?” The sound that comes out of my brother’s throat is like something I’ve never heard before, and it terrifies me. “Get off my goddammed little sister!”
“Greg, stop!”
Again, I try to get up, but Vaughn shoots me a warning look as he stands, facing off with my brother. “Stay on the couch, everything’s going to be fine.”
Greg laughs, sounding more like a lunatic than the loveable laid-back guy he is 95% of the time. “The fuck it is. First, I’m gonna beat the living hell out of you. And then I’m gonna get on the phone with Coach and your ass is gone. Attacking my sister? There’s no fucking coming back from this one. No team in the league will touch you. You’re done.”
I gasp. “He didn’t attack me, you idiot!”
He points a finger at me. “Nat, so help me, not now.”
“It’s not what it looks like, Baxter. Just take a breath and let me explain.”
Greg’s jaw clenches hard enough I can hear his molars pop. “Not one word.” He grabs the open sides of Vaughn’s torn shirt. “You don’t say one fucking word about her, about this.”
I scramble from my seat and two sets of angry eyes cut to me as both men speak in unison. “Stay back.”
I take a staggering step toward the corner with the TV.
Vaughn’s fists are balled at his sides, but even after Greg threw the first punch, this man who lives to fight with my brother hasn’t laid a hand on him. Yet. It’s because of me, but everyone has a limit. And Greg has nothing holding him back and a righteous sense of indignation pushing him forward. It’s a powder keg of testosterone in here and the air practically crackles with aggression. I know the kind of damage these two could do to each other, and inadvertently, anyone caught in the blast radius.
“Okay, I’m back. But Greg, let him go and let me explain.”
Greg doesn’t even look at me when he answers. “Probably safer for this fucker if you don’t.”
Vaughn scoffs, blowing out a disgusted breath. “Baxter, this isn’t about you. In fact, it’s none of your goddammed business. So why don’t you get your hands off me and back the fuck up.”
“Make me.” The pure menace in his voice makes me sick. These men are too close of a match. They’re too tough to go down easy, too big to think the damage won’t be significant, and too stubborn to just let it go.
“Should I?” The smirk on Vaughn’s face is nothing like the one he gives to me… it’s backed up by fifteen years’ worth of bottled aggression just waiting for release. And right now, he’s got the perfect opportunity to let it loose.
Greg gets within an inch of his face and roars, “My fucking sister!”
