Page 70

Annie, one of the older women who had been working at the pub since its inception, stopped in her tracks and spun around, looking me over closely.

“More than that,” she said. I took a step back, trying to escape their collective gaze. “That’s a girl that got the good D.”

“That right?” A deep masculine voice accompanied a pair of strong hands that clamped down on my shoulders, forcing me to look up. At first glance, I thought Hayden had decided to ignore what I said, but that sharp grin was all Hunter. “Hay Bale looked after you good, did he, Jamie?”

Chapter 32

Hunter

I woke up late the next day with a sour gut and an even sourer head. Not from a hangover this time, I’d only had one beer, but the aftermath of rejection was apparently even worse. I blinked, staring at my ceiling and seeing it, the minute Jamie walked, then ran away.

Fuck.

Everything I’d said, she’d said, and then Hayden said replayed over and over in my head until I got out of bed and wandered down to the bathroom. As I took care of business, the quiet of the house settled over me. Hayden had gone out this morning, probably surfing.

Because he can’t stand to see your fucking face, I thought.

I stared into the mirror as I washed my hands and saw why. I had a face like a smacked arse, and that wouldn’t do. This was always going to be a suicide mission, trying to get Jamie to see us as more than Millie’s brothers. I just didn’t expect to flame out that fucking fast. My feet shuffled across the floor as I went into the kitchen and started making a coffee, only for the front door to slam open.

Here we go.

I closed my eyes, sucking in a breath as the sound of the kettle boiling drowned out Hayden’s steps. Time to gird my loins and prepare for battle. Hay Bale mighta been out surfing all day, but half the time the adrenalin of that just got us pumped up more, rather than calmed us down. No doubt Emo Boy was ready for round two of the fight we had last night. I dropped the teaspoon in my mug, fixed a smile I didn’t feel on my face, and turned around, only to have it wiped away seconds later. My brother was sporting the kind of grin that only came from getting laid long, hard, and completely satisfactorily.

What the fuck…?

I think I just muttered that as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing a cup and making his own coffee.

“Where did you get to?” I asked, but I already knew.

“Went surfing.”

The fuck, he was going to play that game, was he?

“After that, dickwad, because unless Kelly fucking Slater decided to drop into our shitty local break, you wouldn’t come in here looking like that.”

“I went round to Jamie’s to try to fix your mistakes,” he said, trying for serious and failing. Did I look like that when I was giving him shit? Because I had no idea how he stopped himself from punching me in the face most days if I did. Prick looked like the cat that got the cream.

Jamie’s cream.

“And how’d that go?”

“Good.”

“That’s it?” I demanded, reaching over to flip the kettle off when it boiled. “Good?”

“Good.” I watched him pour his coffee and mine, and when my teeth started grinding together, his grin widened. “Really, really good.”

“So fucking help me, you need to quit it with this Cheshire Cat bullshit and start being a whole lot more forthcoming,” I growled.

“I sorted things out,” he replied more seriously. “It's not perfect. Jamie’s still very, very skittish.” His frown was a relief when it came. “I’d love to know why. I mean she was going out with one dickhead after another…”

Our hatred of Jamie’s ex-boyfriends was something that united all three of us brothers. How a beautiful girl like her ended up with such deadshits, I had no idea.

“But all you need to know is she’s poised to run. Move too fast, talk too much, and we’ll lose her,” he continued, shooting me a meaningful look.

“But sex isn’t off the table.” I meant that as a joke, but the acid edge to my voice turned it to something harsh because her faint floral perfume hung around him like a cloud. “That isn’t going to send her running.”

“Sex seems to be something else altogether. Jamie splits sex and love real well.” He rubbed at his forehead. “Like during…” My brother shot me a wary look, seeming to remember who his audience was. “There was something completely uninhibited about her, but afterwards?”