Apparently, my lovely bride had just figured out we were both about to slip-slide from scalding water straight into toxic quicksand.
Whether involuntarily done or not, she twisted the wedding band on her finger and the slight action given our silence immediately drew Jaxon’s attention.
“Did you know there were some pretty risqué pictures recovered from the sim card you provided, Donatello?” Jaxon’s question was all about goading me.
“Yeah, they were of me. Weren’t they?” Emmeline refused to shy away from anything any longer. I had to admire her chutzpa.
“Yeah, they were. Now, I can’t imagine you were simply doing a little strip tease in your kitchen with open blinds unless you were doing it while knowing you were being watched. Would that be the case?”
“What the fuck are you getting at, Jaxon?” Her question was pointed and all I could do was smile.
“You know, maybe a hot lover.” He moved two inches so he could more clearly see me then in an effortless, slow and steady move, shifted his gaze to my left hand. Taking a giant step backwards, he pressed one hand against his heart while whistling. “So, let me ask this question. The two of you were at this little church where you encountered a group of the bad guys. Begs the question. What were you doing there?”
I wasn’t certain if Emmeline was prepared to grab the elephant in the room. She twisted her body so she could look me in the eye, her eyebrows lifted in curiosity as to how I’d handle the question.
Alexander was staring over the vehicles toward the road, both hands in his pockets.
This wasn’t a ‘let me explain’ kind of moment and I wasn’t that type of man. “Jaxon. As your sister said, she wants… no, she is going to live her life the way she chooses. That’s her right and you need to honor her request.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Emmeline snapped, her patience gone. She lifted her hand toward him, wiggling her finger.
“Yes, we were married in that little church, Jaxon.” My words needed to be direct.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t shock in my buddy’s eyes, which was almost immediately driven into anger. “You were what?”
“Married. As in taking a vow to spend the rest of our lives together. You should know what that means since you just married the love of your life.” Maybe I was a little too cavalier about the situation since he was genuinely shocked, but so be it.
Pretending to toe the family line about who she could date and who she couldn’t had seen its expiration date.
Emmeline was mine.
All mine.
Maybe my arrogance prevented me from expecting Jaxon’s reaction, which was why when he took two long strides toward me in record time, I didn’t react involuntarily or voluntarily.
He cracked his fist against my cheek with enough force that anguish exploded like white lightning from my temple to my chest.
That didn’t prevent me from reacting as I would if anyone had hit me.
I punched back.
Jaxon was tossed to the ground, immediately jumping up and throwing his body toward me. When he tackled me against the Charger, we both threw several brutal punches to the gut, ignoring pain and the absurdity of fighting like children.
“Stop it!” Emmeline yelled. “Stop it right now.”
As if two hot-blooded males with an overabundance of testosterone would stop based on the whims of a woman.
I shoved him backward and we both took a boxer’s stance, our hands fisted and moving around as if we were prize fighters. I threw a savage jab. Jaxon followed suit. We ended up on the side of the road wrestling like teenagers.
Punch after punch, we were apparently serious about killing each other.
“Stop it!” she called again. “You’re being childish.”
Her demand went unheeded.
“Enough.” Alexander’s single word wasn’t said with anger, but it was gruff and loud enough both Jaxon and I stopped beating the shit out of each other.
“Get up,” Emmeline directed. “Both of you. This is ridiculous.”
