“What’s goin’ on with the task force?” Ethan prompted.
The question had Slade glancing around to find Atticus, realizing the man hadn’t returned from the bar. The moment he saw him, his jaw tensed, and his back straightened.
“Problem?” Beau asked, clearly picking up on Slade’s sudden mood shift.
“Oh, hell no,” Slade bellowed, shoving his chair back from the table when he saw Spencer talking to Atticus.
He felt Ethan’s and Beau’s eyes on him as he stormed across the crowded bar toward the two men who were standing too fucking close for Slade’s liking.
“What the fuck is this?” Slade asked, glaring at his brother.
“What’s it look like?” Spencer’s countenance was as sweet and innocent as ever. “Just two guys gettin’ to know each other. You have a problem with that?”
Slade didn’t miss the slight edge to his brother’s tone when he asked the question.
“Fuckin’ right, I do,” he countered hotly.
Spencer grinned. “Is this a new development, big brother? Last I knew, you were straight as an arrow.”
“Fuck you. This ain’t about me, and you fuckin’ know it.”
“I think I’ll give you two a minute.” Atticus’s green eyes shifted between them.
“No,” Spencer said firmly, his eyes narrowed. “We don’t need a minute.” Spencer looked at Atticus and smirked. “I was thinkin’ maybe we could get outta here. It just got a little too crowded for my taste.”
Slade never looked away from Spencer when he said, “He’s gonna fuck you over, Atticus. It’s what he does. Just ask my ex-wife.”
Spencer’s lip curled. “He’s a grown man. He don’t need you to fight his battles.”
“Perhaps you should tell him your interests shift based on who’s available. For the record, Jenniferwasn’twhen you fucked her.”
A vicious laugh escaped his brother. “Man, I was just tryin’ to prove a point.”
“What? That you could fuck her? Or that you could fuck me over? ’Cause you did both,little brother.”
A careless shrug preceded Spencer’s, “It wasn’t intentional. She was hittin’ on me.”
“So it was innocent. You just took what was bein’ offered?”
“Damn right, I did. I needed to know just how far she would go to fuck my brother over. Look on the bright side. It all worked out. She left you for an old man anyway.”
Yeah, Jennifer had left him for a guy nearly twice Slade’s age, but that didn’t change the fact that his own brother had fucked her while Slade had been married to her. He hadn’t learned about it until Jennifer decided she was leaving. At that point, she had no problem cutting Slade off at the knees. Telling him all about the night she spent with Spencer had done the trick.
Truth was, Slade had expected Jennifer was cheating more than once during the three years they were married. He’d even suspected she’d done so when they were dating. But Slade had let it slide because he’d loved her. Or at least he thought he had. He was starting to think it was nothing more than an obsession since he seemed prone to those.
No, what shocked the shit out of him was that his own brother could do that to him. Slade would forgive Jennifer long before he would ever forgive Spencer. And it would be a cold day in hell before he accepted an apology from Jennifer.
“You really do need to get over yourself, Slade. That was nearly ten fuckin’ years ago.”
Yeah, but the blade from that betrayal was still lodged to the hilt in Slade’s back.
“Now, where were—” Spencer looked around.
It was then Slade realized Atticus had disappeared.
He couldn’t help it. He laughed. Served Spencer right.
Chapter Six
