Noone responded to Braydon’s bitter remark, but Beau noticed the weary look inMack’s rugged, worn features.
Beauhad to wonder how often this happened. It wasn’t a secret that Travis and Gagewere married to each other and to Kylie, which in itself had brought about somerumors within town, but Beau knew no one had the balls to stand up to TravisWalker, so it was clear who the target had been.
Thegroup dispersed slowly, everyone moving over to the bar to settle their tabs,including Ethan who had remained silent the whole time. Beau wanted to ask himif he was all right, but he knew better than to approach him. For months they’dbeen doing this little song and dance, eye contact that spoke volumes, but nowords were ever said unless the other brothers were the ones doing the talking.Ethan had perfected the art of keeping himself distanced.
Beaupulled his wallet from his back pocket when Mack approached.
“Igot yours, man,” Ethan told Beau, surprising the fuck out of him. “Mack, I’llsettle both tabs.”
Beauknew he looked like an idiot, his mouth probably hanging open, but the simplefact that Ethan had said something to him in public had caught him totally offguard.
“Thanks.”It was the most he could offer. He couldn’t find any other words.
Ethandidn’t say anything more, but the hint of a sexy grin tipped the very edges ofhis lips. What the hell had come over him?
Notthat Beau really needed to know the answer to that question. Not yet anyway.
Infifteen minutes though, that was certainly going to change.
Chapter Twenty One
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“Careto explain what the fuck that was all about?” Travis yelled when they steppedout of Moonshiners and into the chilly night air.
Sawyerreined in his temper before turning to face his brother. Barely. At leastBrendon had the good sense to turn around and go back inside.
“No,I fucking don’t,” Sawyer bit out, yanking his arm out of Travis’ vicelike gripas he headed for his car. He didn’t want to fucking talk, he wanted to poundthe shit out of Jimmy Reardon. He wanted to repay the bastard for what he’ddone to Ethan all those years ago.
Shit,as soon as he heard Jimmy’s voice, the memories of that horrible night whenEthan called, and Sawyer had found him looking like death warmed over hadblindsided him. If anyone ever questioned whether that infamous red haze wasreal, well Sawyer could now attest to its existence. His vision was still hazyas the rage continued to simmer inside of him.
Didhe overreact? Probably. Did he draw unnecessary attention? Maybe. Did hefucking care? Not one goddamn bit. Sawyer would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Theappropriate response would’ve been to let the statement roll off his back theway Ethan had managed to do. Unfortunately, he wasn’t built that way. Thenagain, had it been anyone else, Sawyer knew good and damn well that Ethanwould’ve gone the distance to protect the victim of that hateful bullshit.
Itwas how they were raised.
But,when it came to the differences between him and Ethan, Sawyer would admit thathis younger brother possessed significantly more self-restraint. He envied Ethanand his ability to keep his head up with all of the bullshit that went onaround him on a daily basis. The fact that Ethan remained in Coyote Ridgeproved just how much his family meant to him. Sawyer wouldn’t have blamed Ethanif he had disappeared long ago, gone in search of a place that was much moreaccepting of him than this fucked up little town.
Thenagain, Sawyer wasn’t sure he’d know what to do if Ethan wasn’t there. Ethanmight be a loner, but he was still his brother and knowing where he was andthat he was all right was one of the most important things to Sawyer.
Andtonight, Sawyer had been strangled by the hatred he felt for Jimmy Reardon. Hewanted to pay him back for the hell he put Ethan through when he’d beaten himand left him for dead down by the lake. The only saving grace was that Ethanhad managed to call him. When Sawyer had arrived with Greyson in tow, he’d beenterrified that he was too late.
Whatthey found was a beaten and bloodied Ethan, his face so messed up he was barelyrecognizable. Greyson, being a paramedic, had wanted to get Ethan to thehospital, but Ethan had refused. Thankfully, aside from a few cracked ribs, amild concussion and a broken nose, they’d had to only worry about the bruisesthat had finally faded over time.
Well,that was all they had to worry about in thephysical sense. Ethan wasdamaged much more than that on an emotional level.
Still,to this day, Sawyer wasn’t sure how he’d managed to keep from killing Jimmy.He’d never talked to a soul about what happened. Well, aside from his father.He’d been beside himself with fear that night and calling Curtis had been hisonly option. But aside from that conversation, he’d never mentioned theincident to anyone, not even Travis.
Ofcourse, his dad informed his mother, which was only fair. She had been besideherself with grief and sorrow over what had been done to Ethan. And with heranonymous help, Sawyer had managed to nurse Ethan back to health. He was prettysure Ethan still didn’t know that their parents had found out. And he certainlywasn’t going to be the one to tell him.
Sawyerhad kept the events of that night all bottled up inside, and since that day,he’d kept his eyes on his brother. Ethan was tough, could handle himself nowthat he knew what to expect, but Sawyer hated the fact that he had to be on thelookout for dickheads like Jimmy everywhere he turned.
Sawyerpaced back and forth in front of Travis, his mind going ninety miles a minuteas he tried to calm himself down.
“Yougood now?” Travis asked.
No,he wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
