On the Rocks

Page 29

  “Let me have tonight,” he asks.

  Taking a deep breath, I say, “Sure. ”

  Brody stands up and walks to the door. I hesitate for a minute, and then follow him. When we step into the hallway, I ask, “Do you want to talk to me about this? Talk through any concerns?”

  Shaking his head, Brody gives me an impassive look and doesn’t answer my question. “Look Hunter… I know what you’ve done for me—what you’ve given up. If I can help you, I will. I’m just trying to sort through some internal shit, and that’s best done alone. ”

  “Okay,” I tell him. “Understood. ”

  But I don’t understand shit about my brother.

  Brody starts to turn to head back into the bar area, but then turns around. “How does Gabby fit into your decision-making process?”

  “She doesn’t, apparently,” I tell him. I see his eyes go dark, so I immediately add on, “I mean that she’s told me not to factor her in the decision. She fully supports whatever I want to do. ”

  His eyes lighten back up, and he gives me a small smile. “But you’re still going to factor her in, right?”

  “Of course I am,” I tell him with a smile.

  Brody just gives me a stiff nod and heads into the bar area. I follow behind him, immediately assaulted with the roar of four men laughing. When I turn the corner, I can tell immediately it’s coming from Henry Coursier’s table, and I smile internally to myself. The guy is a one-man, walking-comedic show.

  As I approach the rear of their booth, I hear Henry say, “…I’d almost consider it, because come on… what a pair of tits. ”

  Shaking my head, I snicker at the man and his dirty mouth.

  Then I hear another guy say, “And she has a fine ass, too. Just imagine seeing her bent over a sawhorse every day… you’d walk around with a perpetual hard-on. ”

  Another round of laughter fills my ears, but suddenly, I’m not thinking this conversation is so funny anymore. Suddenly… I have a feeling I know who they are talking about, and I am not appreciating this conversation.

  Then Henry Coursier puts a nail in his coffin when he says, “It’s all moot. No way am I going to offer that job to a f**king woman. I don’t care how great her tits and ass look in a pair of jeans. She’s got no business working in a man’s field. ”

  Rage such as I’ve never felt before filters through me. I f**king see a red cape waving in front of me, and I’m a f**king charging bull. I turn the corner to their booth and immediately see Henry Coursier’s fat f**king face go pale when he sees me. He’s sitting on the inside but that doesn’t stop me.

  I reach over the man sitting next to him and grab Coursier by his shirt with both fists, hauling him out of the booth and across the table, knocking over glasses and lunch plates in the process. Everyone sitting there is so stunned that they don’t even make a move as food and drinks spill onto their laps. I hear Brody behind me say, “Oh shit. ”

  Then I’m dragging Henry through my bar. He tries to rip away from me, so I merely grab him around the back of the neck with one hand, using my other to twist his arm up behind his back. He whimpers like a little f**king girl.

  When I hit the front door, I give him a solid push and he goes flying through it, landing on his ass in the gravel parking lot. Henry looks at me in fear because I barrel toward him, again… fucking bull… enraged.

  Leaning down, I grab him by the shirt and pull him to his feet. I hear the door open behind me, and people rushing out to the parking lot. I vaguely hear Brody say, “Don’t do it, Hunter,” but that’s the last thing I hear before my arm cocks back and my fists connects viciously with his jaw.

  He sags to the ground, and I reach for him again to pull him up. That’s when Brody’s arms wrap around me from behind, pinning my own arms to my sides. He growls in my ear, “Let it go, man. ”

  “Get the f**k off me, Brody,” I yell. “I’m going to murder him. ”

  Henry Coursier starts to sit up, rubbing his jaw. His lip had split with that one hit and blood dribbles down his chin. When he sees Brody has a hold of me, he decides to man up and sneers, “What’s wrong, Hunter? Can’t handle a little truth about your piece of snatch?”

  “You f**king piece of shit,” I roar and pull free of Brody, lunging toward Henry, who starts to crabwalk backward to get away from me.

  Brody tackles me from behind, grabbing around both of my legs, and we both go crashing into the gravel. Rocks dig and cut into my skin, but I barely feel them. Fury is still blistering inside of me, and I can only think of getting to Henry and beating the shit out of him for what he said about Gabby.

  “Stop it,” Brody hisses in my ear as I try to throw him off me. “If you keep going, those other guys are going to jump in. Then I’m going to jump in, and then I’m going to get my parole revoked. You want me to go back to prison?”

  And just like that, I go still. Brody’s words hit me hard, and there’s no f**king way I’ll ever put my brother in danger like that. Besides, I can get Henry Coursier on his own some other time and kick his ass.

  “Okay,” I say. “I’m done—now get off. ”

  Brody stands up hesitantly and offers me a hand. When I reach out to take it, I see my hand is pouring blood from a gash on the side of my palm, presumably made by a rock.

  When I stand, I wince and look down at my legs. There’s a hole in one knee, and I can feel there’s a cut in there somewhere too.

  Looking down at Henry, I say, “Get the f**k off my property and don’t ever come back around. I catch you alone at any time in the future, you best be sure I’m going to finish what I started. ”

  “Fuck you, Markham,” he says as his buddies help him up from the ground.

  I don’t even respond but reach into my pocket and pull my Jeep keys out.

  “Where are you going?” Brody asks.

  “To go see Gabby,” I tell him, sick to my stomach that I need to tell her exactly what happened. This shit will be out over the gossip waves in about five more seconds, and she needs to hear it from me. I need to be there when she finds out about this… because it is not going to go over well.

  “At least go home and get cleaned up first,” Brody says. “You look like a nightmare. ”

  I don’t respond but throw myself into my Jeep, peeling out of the parking lot before Coursier and his crew even make it to their cars. But Brody’s right… I need to get cleaned up first before I go see Gabby.

  Gabby opens her door, smiling at me brilliantly. I soak it in, knowing that look is not going to be around much longer.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks brightly. “Not that I’m complaining. ”

  I step inside but before I can say anything, she sees the bandage on my palm. Taking my hand gently, her fingers trace the outside edge. “Oh my God. What happened to you?”

  “Got in a bit of a fight,” I tell her quietly. “Got a minute to talk?”

  “Sure,” she says with worry as she leads me over to the couch. She sits down, patting the seat beside her, and turning to face me after I plop down.

  I don’t know any other way to say this other than to just say it. “You’re not going to get the Coursier project. ”

  Gabby blinks hard, and her mouth draws down. “Oh. ”

  She’s silent for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, and her gaze drops to her hands, which are clasped in her lap. My fingers itch to take her in my arms, and I will, but I need to get the rest of it out first.

  “He’s not giving you the bid because you’re a woman. No other reason than pure bigotry. ”

  I watch her carefully as what I say sinks in. She stares at her hands, her thumbs twirling around each other, and I’m poised to grab onto her if she breaks down.

  Instead, she looks up at me, her eyes sorrowful. “Is that how you hurt your hand?”

  “Yes,” I tell her. “His jaw hurts more, I can guarantee you. ”

  “You hit him because he’s not giving me the job?” s
he asks in wonder, along with a little bit of censorship. I start to relax, because Gabby seems to be taking this better than I expected.

  “No, I hit him because he’s a pig, and he was talking about your tits and ass to his friends. ”

  “Oh,” she says again, and her gaze drops once more to her hands. I’m prepared… at the first sign of a teardrop, or a tremble of a lip, I’m lunging for her.

  Her mouth opens slightly, and she… snickers?

  Loudly.

  Then she snorts with laughter and claps her hand over her mouth as her eyes raise up to meet mine, crinkled in amusement. Then she lets loose, falling back against the armrest of the couch, laughing hysterically and clutching her stomach with her hands.

  My jaw hangs open, and I think to myself, That’s it. Gabby’s gone off the deep end. Time to pull out the straightjacket.

  She sits up after a few more chortles, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes, which are now indeed wet with tears… from f**king laughter.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask her in confusion.

  Gabby leans forward suddenly, crawling across the couch to me, and slithering her way right onto my lap, where she straddles me. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she leans in and kisses me, giggling once more. “I just think it’s f**king adorable that you would get in a fight to defend my honor. ”

  “Seriously? You think that’s f**king adorable?” I ask as my hands come up to grip her waist.

  She nods her head with her bottom lip pulled between her teeth, staring at me intently.

  “I don’t want to be adorable,” I tell her. “I want to be f**king macho… like a knight in shining armor. ”

  Gabby giggles again, and it’s the best sound in the entire world. She leans in and kisses me, sweetly at first, but the minute my fingers sink into the flesh at her hips, she opens up and gives it to me hot and wet.

  I groan, then she groans, and then I flip her on her back, settling in between her legs. I kiss her hard while I clasp her tight to me, ignoring the dull ache from the cut in my palm and the gash on my knee. She responds just as hard, pushing her h*ps up into me and moaning into my mouth.

  “I love you,” she says against my lips, and my entire world flips upside down over her sweet words. She pulls slightly back to look at me. “I love that you defend me, and that you were worried about me, and that you wanted to come and tell me in person, because I know you, Hunter. You wouldn’t want me to hear it elsewhere. Only while you were here in front of me so you could hug me if I took it badly. ”

  I stare at her, awash with love, and f**king hot as hell with desire at this moment. But mostly love for my girl.

  “Are you really okay about that?” I ask as I lean down and rub my cheek along hers.

  “Yes,” she whispers. “I’m fine. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, and I’m sure I’ll hear it again. ”

  “You’re amazing, Gabs. Most women would have been in a dither over that. ”

  “A dither?” she asks incredulously. “That’s f**king adorable. ”

  Laughing, I push my h*ps against her so she gets another taste of the hard-on that’s about ready to bust out of my pants. “Let’s see if you think I’m f**king adorable when I’m making you scream in pleasure. ”

  “Bring it on, baby. Bring it on. ”

  So I do.

  21

  Knock, knock, knock.

  Vaguely, it comes to me through the darkness that someone is knocking. On the wall? On the door?

  “Fuck,” Hunter groans beside me and I come awake, realizing I’m in his bed. The knowledge that I’m na**d and wrapped in his arms makes me feel warm and snuggly, and I push back against him, wiggling in closer.