Page 25 of Oathbreaker

Banks cocks his head, staring at me like I’m an idiot. “You know he blamed himself, right? He still thinks that if he’d re-enlisted with you, it might not have happened. That he should have been there—wherever you were when you died—and had your back. Like always.”

Of course, Dash thought he could have prevented it. It would never cross his stubborn mind that he probably would have died with me, assuming we were on the same assignment.

Guilt and fury and shame course through my veins. “Fuck!”

I whirl, punching the wall with all the strength I have. The pain in my hand is intense enough to make me dizzy and I momentarily weave, needing to brace myself on the same wall I just tried to assault.

“Guys, please.” Briar’s voice is a whisper as she moves to my side, steadying me. “Can we all just go talk?”

“I don’t think—” I cut myself off because I’m not ready to talk about the details of my decision back then. Certainly not in front of a stranger like West.

But I owe it to them.

Certainly to Briar.

Especially since I absolutely despise the way West is hovering, watching—like a man who’s protecting his property. I can respect it, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do everything in my power to make it stop.

Briar is mine.

Since the night she admitted she had feelings for me. The night she told me she wanted me to be her first, that she’d been waiting for me to make a move. When I didn’t, she took matters into her own hands.

I fell in love with her then and I still love her now.

No way in hell I’m letting some playboy hockey stud take her.

Although, if possession is nine-tenths of the law, I’m screwed.

Nine

Briar

We’ve all shifted to the living room and take our seats.

Or Colt, West, and I have sat, him in an armchair, me on the couch, West at my side, providing a human shield between me and my brothers.

“Dash wouldn’t have hurt me,” I say softly of him stepping in between us in the kitchen.

“He looked ready to commit murder,” he says, no hint of apology in his words before his expression gentles and he cups my jaw. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, baby. Not ever.”

Unbidden, my eyes slide to the side and my heart thuds hard at the look in Colt’s eyes.

Then West’s fingers on my jaw flex and my gaze jerks back…

And guilt.

Because he saw me looking.

“West,” I whisper.

“Later,” he murmurs, kissing my forehead.

I nod, knowing I have a fuck-ton of explaining to do, a la I Love Lucy or not.

God, Colt with his ill-timed sense of humor.

It’s like he has a death wish.

Hell, who am I kidding?