Ryder, Jay thought as he landed a blow in Lynx’s ribs.
Hands pulled at him as he and Lynx rolled around on the ground, trading blows.
“For fuck’s sake, Finch, pull your idiot brother off Jay!” Ryder roared. “Now!”
Jay was hauled upright. He shrugged out of the hold Ryder had on him to glare at the McAllisters.
“What would your adoring fans say if your pretty face was hurt,” Ryder said in a hard voice. “Now back the fuck off and behave like adults.”
“Fuck you, Duke,” Finch snapped.
Jay’s jaw ached, and he was fairly sure there was blood on his lip, but he wasn’t wiping it in front of them. Instead he got a good glare going on.
“I wanted to be with Blue when she told you, but she didn’t want that. I take responsibility for my actions,” Jay added,thumping his chest with his fist, “and I will support her and our child.”
“You got my sister pregnant,” Finch said again, jabbing a finger in his direction.
“Pretty sure she was involved,” Ryder said moving to stand at Jay’s side. “And it’s an insult to her that you two are behaving like cavemen, when this is 2026, not 1950!”
Jay hated the thought of Blue being vulnerable too.
They often called Jay the fifth Duke brother, and because he had no family, he’d always loved it. But he could fight his own battles, and this one was one of his making. He wasn’t having anyone else getting involved or hurt.
“Are we going to just keep beating the shit out of each other?” Jay asked. His jaw was throbbing now.
“Works for me,” Lynx snapped.
“And then what? Because that solves nothing, from where I’m standing. It’s done. Blue and I are going to be parents, and we need to deal with that,” Jay said.
The muscles bunched in the McAllister brothers’ jaws.
“I know enough about Blue that she’s going to be really pissed when she hears what you did and that you hurt him,” Ryder said.
“He didn’t hurt me,” Jay’s wounded pride lied. His jaw was on fire.
“You leave our sister to us,” Finch snapped.
“So if I tell Birdie, and she in turn tells Blue, you won’t mind?” Ryder asked.
The brothers didn’t look happy about that.
Lyntacks had always said that the timing of Tripp’s music, depending on what you were doing, had always been off. It was fair to say that was the case right now.
Jay wasn’t a rebel by nature. He usually conformed where he could, and when he couldn’t, he had a really good reason. Right then, he was done.
He had been thrown a huge curveball that had the power to change the trajectory of his life. He did not want to dance with the two men who wanted to beat him senseless because of it.
“Fuck this,” he muttered and started walking.
“What the hell are you doing, Jay?” Ryder asked.
“Rebelling,” he said and kept walking.
“Get back here, Haddon. We’re not done with you!” Finch called after him.
Jay raised both middle fingers over his head and kept walking.
It took ten minutes for Dan to find him in his cruiser, lights and sirens working to annoy Jay even more.
