“He lies better than anyone I know, so it’s hard to say,” Toby said, leaning in to look at Jamie’s face.
“I’m not answering any of your questions. I have more important things to talk about.”
“More important than you being used as a punching bag?” Anthony’s words were chilly, as was the look in his eyes.
“Christ, Jamie,” Toby said. “You said it had stopped. What happened to make you—”
“Look, just leave it, will you? I need to tell you something else. What I do when you’re not with me is my business.” Jamie saw the hurt his words put in his friends’ eyes, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t done talking yet. “You both have wives now, and lives to live. Let me live mine.”
They stared at him for long seconds and he withstood it, even as he wanted to shuffle his feet.
“You think because we are married and in love with our wives, we are no longer invested in your life? That you don’t matter, and the past that we have shared is suddenly no longer important?” Toby said, his tone solemn.
Hell.
“You became our business the first day we walked into Blackwood Hall, and will always be so,” Anthony said. “We are brothers, and our wives have no bearing on that.”
“Of course they have bearing on that,” Jamie snapped, not even realizing until now that he was feeling cast adrift. “They are your sole focus now, as they should be.”
“No,” Toby said. “Absolutely not.”
“Agreed. You,” Anthony jabbed him in the chest hard, “are stuck with us, and I want the truth right now. Have you been fighting again?”
He’d never been able to lie to these two.
“Speak,” Toby snapped.
“Fine, yes.”
“Why?”
“Look—”
“Why?” Anthony said again, but this time in a low growl.
“I enjoy it.” It wasn’t a lie exactly. He did enjoy the fight, but when his demons were howling at him, he needed to do something to push them back down inside. Fighting did that, more so than just any form of exercise.
“What’s going on? Why did you feel the need to fight? Why did you not come to us?” Toby asked. “Was it after the ball, which we both attended, so you could have talked to us there.”
“There are just some things I need to do alone,” Jamie said. He saw her then. Lady Alice was walking the path nearby, and her eyes were on him. They widened briefly as she passed.Did that mean she wanted to speak to him?
“We don’t keep secrets from each other,” Anthony said.
Jamie snorted. “You don’t actually believe that, do you? You had secrets, such as the extent of your gambling.”
“If you feel the need to fight again, I want you to tell one of us,” Toby said before Anthony could speak again. “We will be there in support.”
“I won’t need you, because I always win.” Jamie said the words with a cocky smile, hoping to lighten the mood.
“What do you want to tell us?” Anthony muttered, clearly still annoyed.
“Not here. But soon. Right now, I need to speak to Lady Alice.”
Both his friends raised their brows at that.
“Not in that way; it’s to do with her brother. He was a Blackwood boy. But I need your women to help me get her alone.”
“Why?”
