“Somethin’ tells me that might not endwell.”
“What’s that?” Reese followed Brantley’s gaze toward the bar.
He saw Slade and his brother Spencer standing toe to toe, Slade’s finger stabbed into the younger man’s chest.
“I’m surprised Grady’s not here tryin’ to play referee.”
Reese only knew what he’d heard via the grapevine about the rift between the youngest Elliott brothers. And he’d only heard that much because Grady, the third oldest of the brothers, had been bitching about it one night at the diner after a nasty argument between Spencer and Slade in which Grady had ended up taking a fist to the jaw.
“I’m sure Grady’s fed up with their bullshit by now,” Reese told Brantley. “You know what started it?”
“You mean tonight?”
Reese nodded. He knew the major rift had to do with Spencer having an affair with Slade’s wife nearly a decade ago. To be fair, Reese wasn’t sure he would ever get over that either. Reese wasn’t usually one to take sides, but he was fully in Slade’s corner on this one. Family didn’t screw family over the way Spencer had. And sleeping with Slade’s wife had been the ultimate betrayal.
“If I had to guess, it has somethin’ to do withhim.”
Reese followed Brantley’s finger to where he was pointing to the bar. Atticus was standing there watching the pair of them, shaking his head in disbelief.
“What the fuck did he do now?” Reese grumbled.
“You say that like you’ve already determined him guilty.”
“Yeah, well. When the shoe fits.”
Brantley chuckled. “The fact that Spencer’ll screw anything that walks upright on two legs isn’t a secret in this town.” He tipped his beer bottle to his lips. “Knowin’ Atticus, he tapped into that and thought he’d hook him one for the night.”
“Why would Slade give a shit?” Reese wondered aloud.
“He hates his brother. Probably a knee-jerk response.”
Reese relaxed when Slade backed up a few steps. His lips were moving, but they couldn’t hear a word being spoken. Whatever it was earned Slade a middle finger when Spencer shoved his hand in his face.
“Son of a bitch,” Brantley growled when Slade shoved Spencer.
Reese was out of his chair a second behind Brantley. The brothers got in a couple of punches before they managed to pull them off each other, shoving them in opposite directions.
“You wanna do that, you take that shit outside,” Brantley snarled. “You don’t disrespect Mack’s place like that.”
Spencer wiped his bloody lip with the back of his hand and glared at Slade. “You need to get over yourself, asshole. It’s time for you to move the fuck on.”
Brantley didn’t allow Slade to say a word, planting a finger in his chest. “Not here.”
Slade nodded, his gaze following Spencer as he walked toward the door. The man paused to say something to Atticus. The room seemed to hold its breath as Atticus glanced at Slade and then back to Spencer. A second later, he was following the man out of the bar.
“He’s gonna fuck him over,” Slade snarled.
“Atticus is a big boy,” Brantley told Slade. “He can take care of himself.”
Reese figured no truer words had ever been said. He didn’t know much about Atticus other than the bits and pieces they’d learned while working to find Tobias Land and what little he’d picked up on the past couple of months, but he knew Atticus wasn’t the laid-back, happy-go-lucky guy he wanted everyone to think he was. He was hiding something. Pain, anger, Reese wasn’t sure. But it was damn sure something.
***
Atticus knew he was making a mistakeleaving with Spencer. He knew it, and he did it anyway.
Or, at the very least, he was considering it with his final decision weighing heavily on the getting laid side. For that to happen, he had to go with Spencer.
So why the hell was he even second-guessing himself?
