My heart picks up speed as we pass the Devil’s Bend welcome sign. I’m antsy to begin, but I can’t say I have a plan. “I should have a plan.”
“Ominous,” Kelsey says.
“Yeah.” I ease my foot off the accelerator. I should probably give them a chance to opt out. “I’m going to get revenge on the guys who hurt me.”
“A wedding and a revenge spree.” Dizzy claps her hands. “This is the best weekend ever. I’m in. Where do we start?”
“I don’t know.” It sounded awesome in theory, but how do we do this without getting caught? Or worse.
“We need to be logical about this.” Dizzy grows still, serious. “What’s the end goal? Do you want them to hurt? Or do you want them to pay?”
“Pay.” My heart skips a beat, but I don’t. “They hurt me, then convinced the whole town I was to blame. I want every single person in Devil’s Bend to know what truly happened. I want them to have to live with the judgement I’ve felt every time I come back here.”
I want to send them a message like the one those bastards sent me. They deserve it.
36
Riot
Fuck my life.
One serious woman is harder than a string of one-night stands. I stomp across the yard from the house to the barn. If Kelsey had been standing there, listening to my conversation with Ro long enough to pass judgement—and not overreacting to what was essentially an innocent peck between friends— she would have heard me tell Ro that I’m not interested in anything happening between us.
Instead, she’s making mountains out of the smallest issues. What the hell is that about? And she won’t come out of the bedroom.
When she locked the door in my face I was tempted to bust the damn thing down.
I’m here with her because I want to be. Because she’s the one I want to be with. Just because I haven’t told anyone outside ofmy brothers or posted it all over social media yet doesn’t make my commitment any less real.
Relationships—real ones—are hard.
My jaw is so tight my teeth ache, and my head feels like it’s starting to crack down the middle. I need a drink and a joint. I don’t care what Rebel thinks I should be doing.
West is already in front of the bartender. If anyone is having a worse night than me, it’s him.
“Doing all right?” I clap West on the shoulder as I join him in hunkering over the bar and watching the server pour a couple fingers of whisky into a tumbler. “That was brutal.”
“What was brutal?” There’s a dare in his eyes.
“Dizzy...” I glance over my shoulder to see if the new law enforcement on my case is still here. “And the agent.”
He steeples his fingers and taps the tips of his pointer fingers together in time with the tic under his eye. “Nothing happened.”
“We don’t need to talk about it.” I sure as shit don’t want to talk about Kelsey’s ultimatum. I’m still bristling. Thinking about it makes me grind my teeth. Sonatina has been bothering her. That woman is making me look like an asshole. But Kelsey’s my best friend. She’s known me too long to think that’s the kind of guy I am.
The server adds water to the tumbler of whisky.
I can barely stand Sonatina at this point. I sure as shit don’t want to fuck her. I’m taking her calls because she’s Carmine’s daughter, and my fucking stalker has decided she’s a target. That’s all. I’m not flirting with her. She’s ruining my fucking day.
I gesture at the bartender to make me the same. I don’t drink a lot, or care what I drink, as long as I have a nice blunt available. But when it comes to supporting a brother in his hour of need you show that support by drinking what he’s drinking. “Our brothers would prefer to drink it straight out of the bottle.”
“Our brothers are heathens.” He picks up the glass when she puts it in front of him and takes a drink. “I have a more refined palate.”
I draw the tin out of my back pocket and start playing with it, needing to do something with my hands. “So, you and Dizz—”
“We’re not talking about it,” he says coolly before draining his drink. He indicates to the server that he’d like another.
“No, I know we’re not talking about it. But in a general roundabout sense... you’re dating your sister.”
