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I shuffled to the edge of the seat and tensed. I was no coward. If Cole wanted to deck me for kissing his sister, so be it. He couldn’t make me feel any crappier than I already did.

But he stopped behind Flint and jammed his hands onto his hips. “Fuck.”

Flint leaned back and looked over his shoulder at Cole. “This about last night?”

“You bet your ass it is,” Cole seethed.

That wasn’t good. Nor was the murderous fire in Cole’s eyes.

Nausea pooled in the pit of my stomach. Was my time with The Flintlocks over?

Just because I’d kissed Tia?

Fuck.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worst.

Chapter 15

LEWIS

“This is all over the Internet.” Cole ripped his cell phone out of his shorts and shook it at me. “Someone had a phone in that club last night and posted photos of you two online. The media are going to throw this in our face when they research your past.” He turned to Tia, who made her way toward the sofas with Slip. Worry etched into Cole’s brow. “They’ll drag your name through the mud, Tee. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

Wait. What? I closed my eyes. My head throbbed. This wasn’t about me?...Or the kiss? This was about protecting Tia?

“Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” Slip flopped onto the sofa next to Flint. “Why was I called to an emergency meeting at this ridiculous hour?”

I wrung my hands together, jiggled my leg, and kept my eyes on Cole, who still looked hellbent on leaping over the sofa and pounding me with a gazillion punches. There was no point in lying to Slip. Flint would tell him anyway. “Tia and I got high...and kissed last night.”

“No, we made out like wild, ravenous animals,” Tia said saucily as she sank onto the seat beside Slip. She wasn’t helping ease the situation.

“You what?” Slip’s eyebrows shot skyward.

Cole growled, balled his hands, and paced behind them. “I had to leave Violet’s for this. My cell phone wouldn’t stop pinging with media alerts.”

Sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I’d never hit the headlines for kissing someone before. This was another first. A first for all the wrong reasons.

Slip, however, laughed and hooked his arm around Tia’s shoulders. “You cheeky little devil.”

Tia raised one sexy shoulder. “It was some hot fun—”

That was an understatement. “But it shouldn’t have happened.” I slapped my hand across my chest. “Tia, I apologize. Things got out of hand. It won’t happen again. As I just told Flint, I’ve never wanted to change or play on different teams—not since I ran away from home.”

But as I caught her scent, I dropped my baseball bat, missed the ball and got struck out. I didn’t know what team I was on anymore.

“It’s okay.” She tucked her shiny hair behind her ear. “We were high. Drunk. Shit happens.”

How could she be so calm about this?

Or was she fucking acting?

She softened her voice. “I...I didn’t know you ran away from home.”

Cole stopped in his tracks. As he stared at me, his expression morphed from tensed turmoil to stressed concern. His shoulders slouched, and his tone dialed down a notch. “You ran away? Why?” He joined us on the sofas, taking a seat next to me. I told them everything—why I’d run away from home, about my family, and how I’d never meant to cause any issues. “Tia, I truly am sorry about last night.”

“Think nothing of it.” Leaning forward, and giving me an eyeful of her cleavage in her low-cut T-shirt, she rubbed her ankle. We’d danced for a long time at the club; I hoped it wasn’t too sore. Her tits jiggled as she massaged her heel. “You’re not the first guy I’ve made out with.”

Don’t look at her boobs. Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look.