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I knew it was going to happen soon, but I finally came face to face with Austin again. Can’t say I’m excited about it one bit. He looks the same, still built like a linebacker with that familiar scowl he sends my way any time were in the same vicinity as one another.

My problems with Austin span a hell of a lot further than loving the same girl and he knows it.

“You lost?” I ask, barely acknowledging his presence at the boys’ football practice Wednesday night.

“No. . . but I think you might be.” Austin glares at me, challenge in his stance, his hat pushed up so I can see his eyes. I want to knock his hat off his head on pure principle for not showing up on Saturday.

Keep your cool, man.

My stomach burns with the thought that Aly is still tied to him legally, and I need to keep my head for her sake, and the boys. They haven’t noticed him on the sidelines yet, and I’m not sure they will with Henry having them running drills in the far corner of the football field.

Rubbing my hand down the side of my jaw, I lean against the bleachers beside me. “No.” I make eye contact with him, my voice low compared to his. “I’m not lost. I’m right where I belong.”

“So what. . . you think you’re hot shit now? You think you’re the good guy because I fucked up?” He nods to the kids. “I know exactly what you have planned, Ridge. You think getting on her good side, and theirs, you can take over. I fucking knowyou,” he reiterates like it’s supposed to mean something. Sure, he knew me like a friend would, like a stepbrother, but he destroyed that when he went after what was mine in the first place. Like Cane and Abel. Or maybe not. . . I never read the bible, but I do know Cane killed Abel, and Austin’s fucking lucky I don’t pick up a rock and smash his goddamn head on pure principle. “Youcan’t. She was mine first, andthey’remine. You’re always going to be the fucking delinquent she can’t trust.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I give him a nod. “She may have your last name, for the time being, but I always had her first, andyouknow that.”

“Whatever makes you sleep better at night,brother.” He glares at me with cockiness. Smug bastard. “You’re just bent I took her virginity before you could.”

My obsession with Aly had nothing to do with me wanting her virginity. I mean, I did, of course I wanted that, but she wasn’t a piece of property to me. “Who’s to say you did get it?” I taunt, smiling.

I’ll tell you what, look at him, it’s got him questioning whether he knows the entire truth about us. For once it’s nice to turn this around on him, to have him question something. He has no idea how long I questioned everything growing up, knowing I hadn’t been told the truth by Brooks and Madalyn while Austin had.

Rolling his eyes, he twists away. “Get out of my face. I didn’t come here for this shit.”

What a tool. What the fuck did Aly see in this ass?

My lips twist into a smile, his words entertaining to me. Just like every other time we’re around one another, I’m fuckin’ baiting him, and he knows it. “What made you show up tonight?”

He snorts, his left hand reaching up to swipe his thumb over his nose. “Wednesday nights are my nights withmyboys.”

Like how he puts emphasis onmyboys? I don’t miss the meaning behind it.

And then he’s facing me, because he can’t stand not to ask. “Why are you back? You and I both know you have no business running that track or fucking my wife. Why don’t you just go back to Santa Barbara.”

I want to laugh. I want to burst out fucking laughing in his face. He knows given the first chance, Iwillfuck his wife. Soon-to-be ex-wife. The thing is, he doesn’t know if it’s happened yet and you better believe that fuckingkillshim. It doesn’t matter to him that he stepped out first. For a man, if you can call him that, like Austin, it matters that his wife might be. As if something precious was taken from him. In his eyes, I bet it’s seen that way. It’s entertaining he thinks this way, considering she was mine all along.

I can be a real fucking asshole when I want to be. Like now. I glance around, no kids within earshot. Safe to be an asshole. Leaning in, I wink at him. “I came back because your wife’s pussy was lonely.”

His stone-cold expression is controlled, but fading in some ways. His jaw flexes, and he lowers his hat. “I’m not in the mood for your bullshit.”

Not in the mood? He fucking approached me!

“Why’s that, Jacob? Backup quarterback not putting out anymore?”

His head bends forward, and he smiles, knowing I’d bring that up, his hand squeezing the back of his neck. “Fucked my wife lately?”

You know, I admire his bluntness.

“I wouldn’t call it fucking. I’d call it owning her pussy.” I move closer so my breath hits his face, my eyes trained on his, low, mean. “I had her in your bed once. . . .” I smile. Tilting my head, I make sure he’s looking at me. “Your. Bed. She was all over my dick. . . sofucking wetmy jeans were soaked.” I leave out which bed and the fact that it was in high school, but he has a visual now, doesn’t he? I do too.

His head spins, contemplating the truth to my words.

If you ask me, I think what pisses him off more is him knowing I can handle a girl like Aly. He can’t. He doesn’t know the first thing about getting her off.

A woman like Aly, she wants to be controlled in bed. She wants you pinning her down, owning her, worshiping her every desire. She wants to know you can handle her wild ways she never lets anyone see. It’s always the good girls who are the freaks in bed. Remember the bible thumper who deep throated me? Exactly.

Austin, he could never handle her, and it fucking kills him to know it.

His chest expands once, hauling in a breath, his jaw clenching with the action. “What is your problem, Lucas? You’ve always had it out for me.”

“I’m not the one with a problem.You are.” I shrug carelessly. “I’m just here to let you know she’s never going back to you. Lost your chance, man.”

“Keep her,” he barks, turning away from me like he’s had enough. And then he stops and turns his head, smugly mumbling, “I don’t want your sloppy seconds.”

“You should be used to sloppy seconds!” I yell after him, and he turns around. Stupid fuck. “Look who you’re with now! Brie fucked half the goddamn football team.”

He flips me off.

By the way, I’m part of the “other” half. Never touched Brie when we were younger.