Page 21 of Tiger Betrayal

“Look lady, I have a woman. She would kick your ass if she saw you hitting on me—”

“Mars! Your name is Mars. You’re Stellan’s brother.”

The man looked absolutely shocked, and released the door handle, allowing the door to swing closed. “You know Stellan?”

“Yeah!” she said excitedly. “I saw a picture of you in his house.”

Mars blinked hard and his dark eyebrows arched up. “I’m sorry. None of those words made sense. You’ve been to his house? And he has a picture of me?”

“Yeah. Hanging up in his hallway.”

The man just blinked at her, completely frozen in front of the shop.

“Well, this has been weird.”

“I’m Laramie,” she introduced herself, juggling both the drinks and the sack lunch in one arm as she offered her hand for a shake. “I work here. With Stellan. Your brother.”

Slowly, he unfroze and shook her hand hard enough to grind her bones. “Geez. You boys sure are strong,” she said politely as she shook out her aching hand.

“Oh. Sorry,” he mumbled. “So, you…you work with him?”

“Yep. He will be out any second now. It’s our lunch break.”

Mars glanced down at the food and drinks she held pressed against her stomach. “And how long has he worked here?”

Red flag. Laramie frowned. “I’m not sure. You’re his brother. You should know.” Although to be honest, she’d kind of been worried that Mars and Dame were dead. Stellan sometimes lumped them into the past tense. She was really relieved that wasn’t the case. “Is Dame alive?” she asked, just to make sure.

“Uh, yes. Why? Did Stellan say he was dead?”

“No. I was just curious. Well, he’s out in the shop if you want to sit in the waiting area. You’ll be able to see him through the window.” She was rambling because she didn’t know how to excuse herself from this strange conversation. Did Mars know anything about Stellan? Why had he asked how long his own brother had worked here? Something was off.

“Okay, bye,” she rattled on. “It was nice to meet you.” Mostly strange to meet him, but okay.

The door swung open, and Stellan shoved Mars back in a blur. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he demanded, eyes flashing a fiery gold.

“You won’t answer your damn phone!” Mars barked.

“So you stalked me?”

“We’re supposed to be meeting up this week, and you’ve ignored all of our attempts to contact you. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Leave me alone!” Stellan barked out. “How did you even find me?”

“Well, Dame put a tracker on your truck.”

“What?” Stellan gritted out in a snarling voice that lifted chills up Laramie’s spine.

“Look, your girlfriend said—”

“She’s not my girlfriend! I work with her.” Oh, the vitriol in Stellan’s tone made Laramie drop her gaze to the concrete as she absorbed the sting of his rejection.

“Then why does she smell like you?”

“Because we fuck. That’s all it is and I don’t need you making this into a bigger thing than it is! None of my personal life is any of your business. You have your mate. Dame has his. I can fuck whoever I want. This week, it’s her.”

She felt slapped with every insult. And that’s what it was. She was just some plaything.

It hadn’t felt like that until now.