Sawyer Donnelly is glaring at me, and if looks could kill, I’d be six feet under already.
“Sawyer, shut up! You’re making a scene,” Kat hisses. She reaches for my hand, but I shift away, lifting my hands up in a defensive gesture instead.
“Sorry, Sawyer,” I mumble. Wrong thing to say yet again, given the glare Kat whips my way. I guess that’s fair; he’s not the one who deserves an apology. But adrenaline is pumping through my system and my entire body wants to flee.
“He’smy date, you overbearing asshole,” she shoots at her brother.
God, she’s on fire. And it’s a beautiful thing to witness, Kat in all her glory, standing up for me. So why are all my instincts screaming at me to run?
“He might be your date, but that doesn’t give him the right to paw at you,” Sawyer fires back, alternating his glare between me and Kat.
Leo and Serena make their way over with Kat’s oldest brother Max, and my need to get out of this situation intensifies.
“What’s going on, guys?” Serena asks.
“Sawyer’s being a goddamn neanderthal, that’s what,” Kat says, venom dripping from her words. For now, it’s directed at her brother. But I deserve it, too.
Or at least I will.
“We’re just friends. It’s nothing.”
The second the lie leaves my mouth, I want to take it back. My heart feels like I just ran it through a fucking meat grinder. She’s so much more than that. She’s everything.
“What?” Kat whispers, just barely loud enough for everyone to hear. I can’t bring myself to look at her. Instead, I keep my eyes locked on Sawyer Donnelly.
“Just friends?” he growls after a minute of staring intensely at me. I nod, my fists clenched at my sides as I will my body to stay where it is and face him.
“Then why is our sister leaving in tears?”
That breaks my focus. My head whips around just in time to see the back of Kat’s head, Serena’s arm wrapped around her shoulders as they leave the room.
“Fuck.” To my surprise, my urge to run is replaced by a stronger one — the urge to follow her and beg for forgiveness. Not that I deserve it.
“Yeah. So, yet again, I’m gonna ask why the hell your hands were all over her, and what did you do to hurt her?” Sawyer steps closer to me, close enough I can see a vein jumping in his neck.
“This isn’t the time or place,” Leo interjects, sliding between us. “Take a step back, Sawyer, and calm the fuck down.”
There’s a moment of tense silence, then thank fuck, Sawyer listens to his cousin. He gives me one final glare before pivoting and storming away.
Max looks at me, his eyes troubled. “I don’t know you well enough to pass judgment, Hunter, but I don’t like seeing my sister upset. So, whatever the fuck just went down, it’s not okay.”
“Max, can you just go make sure Sawyer doesn’t do anything stupid?” Leo asks his cousin calmly. “I need to talk to Hunter.”
The oldest Donnelly nods slowly before following his brother. Leo turns to me, but I’m frozen. Locked in place, staring at the door Kat just left through, wondering how the hell I let this go so wrong. Maybe I should let Sawyer beat the shit out of me, like he obviously wants to.
Now that, I deserve.
“Callaghan. What the goddamn hell was that?” Leo starts in a harsh whisper.
“Leo, I…”
“Shut up and listen, Hunter.”
My mouth snaps shut.
“I don’t buy that ‘just friends’ shit for a second. And if I’m right, you need to fix this. Because Sawyer and the other boys will calm down. They talk a big talk, but Kat knows how to handle them. Unless you hurt her for real. Then all bets are off, and it won’t be only the Donnelly brothers gunning for you.”
Leo Talbot is an intimidating man when he wants to be. And right now, every inch of him is glowering down at me with full force as not only my superior, but a man who cares about the woman whose heart I just destroyed.
