Chaos:Soon??
I didn’t bother responding as I killed the engine and climbed out. She’d know what I meant soon enough.
And sure enough, she was right there, on the floor as soon as I walked through the door. Christ, I wanted nothing more than to walk right up to her and kiss her like my life depended on it—because sometimes it felt like it did. I wanted to show everyone in this fucking bar that she wasmine. But that wasn’t an option.
I did my best to keep my features schooled when she looked up and spotted me. Her smile so brilliant, so beautiful, it was like a spotlight shining right into the room. I caught myself before I returned it, giving her a nod of acknowledgment instead. It was all we could do, especially since her brother was sitting three tables away from where she was standing.
I hated watching her smile fall and her forehead scrunch into a frown. I quickly jerked my chin to where Zach was sitting, and he wasn’t alone. He’s with Hardin, my oldest brother, Rhodes, and our buddy, Connor.
Zach spotted me a few seconds later and lifted his hand in the air to wave me over. “Ah, look at that. He actually showed.” He chuckled and took a pull from his beer on the table. “Thought for sure you’d bail.”
My brows pinched together as I pulled out the empty chair and sat down. Spotting the waitress nearby, I lifted my hand in the air to get her attention and pointed to Zach’s beer, silently indicating that was what I wanted. “Why would I bail?”
“Maybe because we’ve barely seen you in a month,” my brother answered. “You’ve missed the last three family dinners.Gypsy’s pissed. Said to tell you she’ll skin you alive if you miss one more.”
My sister was a pro at guilt tripping each of us, the same way I assumed a mother would, and usually it worked. Hell, not usually. Always. But I couldn’t find it in me to feel guilty about it this time because it meant being with Lennix.
“I’ll be there,” I assured Rhodes. “No skinning necessary. I have just been busy lately, that’s all.”
Zach studied me shrewdly. “Nah. I don’t think that’s it.” My stomach fell on the floor at my feet. “I think you got yourself a woman.”
Ah fuck.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to admit to having a woman, let alone who that woman was. I valued our friendship—and my life—too much.
I did my best not to let my panic show and snorted. “Please. You realize who you’re talking to, right?”
“Yeah, man,” Connor chimed in. “Odds are, his dick would fall off if he stuck to just one woman. Asshole’s practically allergic to monogamy.”
Well, I wouldn’t have put it likethat. “Exactly,” I pretended to agree. “You know damn well I don’t do relationships.” I offered him a grin I sure as hell wasn’t feeling. “Just because you’ve settled down doesn’t mean it’s in the cards for the rest of us. I have every intention of dying a happy bachelor.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d said something to that effect, but this time the words left behind a foul taste. I wasn’t feeling them the way I usually did, which actually scared the hell out of me.
Hardin cleared his throat, drawing my attention. The bastard made a face that saidyou’re so full of shitwhen Zach wasn’t looking, and I gave him a look in return that promised I’d murder him painfully and slowly if he didn’t keep his mouth shut.
Fortunately, our waitress appeared with my beer and a fresh round for the rest of the guys, and the topic of my love life was all but forgotten. I quickly shifted the conversation to something safer, asking Zach how Rae was doing as her pregnancy progressed. From there, we discussed the clinic Connor was putting on for young bull riders and how he and Ivy were preparing for their baby who was due any day now.
My gaze kept sweeping the bar of their own accord every few minutes, seeking Lennix out. Every time I found her, she was smiling at or laughing with some jackass trying to put the moves on her. It was taking nearly all my willpower not to storm up to every asshole in the place and beat the holy hell out of them for flirting with my Chaos.
She’d been doing a damn good job of avoiding our table, leaving us to the other waitresses on the floor, and I couldn’t shake the feeling she wasn’t doing it because she was worried about Zach catching on.
“Fuck, man. Can youtryto be subtle?” Hardin asked about an hour into this impromptu guy’s night. Connor had left to go home to his wife, and Zach had stepped outside to call Rae and check in.
I lifted my beer to my lips and drank deeply. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
It was my brother who spoke up then. “He’s talking about the fact you’ve been eye-fucking Baby Paulson over there like you have first-hand knowledge of what it feels like.” I couldn’t have stopped the heat that scorched my cheeks if I’d tried. At the flush on my skin, my brother’s eyes went wide. “Ah, fuck. You haven’t. Please,Christ, tell me you haven’t.”
I didn’t bother acknowledging that. Instead, I said, “Don’t call her Baby Paulson. She’s a grown ass woman.”
Rhodes threw his hands up in the air as Hardin slapped his on the table. “That’s a yes. Jesus,” he hissed, leaning in and lowering his voice. “You fucked Lennix?”
“It’s not like that,” I started, pathetically.
“Then what’s it like?” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and giving me that disappointed big brother face he’d perfected over the years.
“I can’t... I don’t know how to explain what’s going on. It’s... complicated.” To say the fucking least.
For a moment, I thought one or both of them was going to punch me in the mouth. Instead, Hardin asked, “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
