Page 124 of Rock Giant

“Xane has a bust lip that he’s probably not going to forgive you for before the century ends, and even if he does, Dani won’t.”

Yeah, and he was honestly more worried about that lil’ hellcat than he was Xane.

“I know you all think that I’m fucking nuts.”

Ash slid him another sidelong glance, before returning his attention to the windy road.“I don’t, actually.Leastways, no more than normal.You’ve always been a bit unhinged.Tying the knot with some lass on a whim’s hardly the wackiest thing you’ve ever done, and a deal less life-threatening than most of them.To be honest, I kinda anticipated the current situ at least a week ago.The whole keeping it in your pants and taking your lead from her thing was never going to last.You might be mostly chill, but you’re also fucking possessive over some shit.Mostly pint-sized lasses.”

“I’m not possessive.”And Jodi wasn’t pint-sized.

A smile crooked Ash’s lips.“Not over meaningless shit, no.You’re never gonna have a meltdown over a missing bit of kit, but when it comes to people you care about, that’s another matter.Then you’re pure grizzly.And before you go denying it, I’ll remind you that I saw at least six seasons of the Paul and Elspeth show.You still can’t shake the hold she has on you, even now, after all the shit she pulled.”

“She’s a friend, and she lost—”

“I know.I know all the ins and outs of the story, Paul.Point I’m making is that considering you’re like that with her; it was always a given you were going to be a downright mean fucker regarding your missus.”

“She’s not my missus.”It made his stomach ache to assert that and brought an uprush of acrid bile to his mouth.

Ash chuckled.“Is.Even if she hasn’t realised it yet.And I’ll note you now have the ink to prove it.”

Paul’s gaze settled on the newly inked trinity knot encircling his wrist, as he recalled how intently Jodi watched him as the artist worked.Then, the feel of her smaller hand in his as he kept her still while she had her own variation on the theme inked onto her virgin skin.He thought that’d meant something to her.Clearly, he’d read too bloody much into it.Symbolism might be woven into the warp and weft of his being, but that evidently wasn’t the case for her.

“Dare I ask what happened?”

He shrugged.“What makes you think something did?”

“Mate, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

He chewed that over.After Spook, Ash was probably the least likely to blab.“It doesn’t really matter what happened.She’s his.She made that plain.”Had done so every time he’d presented her with a choice.Every time, she chose Nash.Every fucking time.And fuck if that nonsensical fact didn’t make his nose sting.

He wondered what had happened to his shades.They were no longer tucked into his top pocket.

“Tough break.”

“Yeah.”He sure as hell didn’t care for it, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it.He was wise enough in the ways of the world to get the message when a woman told him to naff off.Sure, she might not have put it quite so bluntly, and her actions didn’t exactly pair up with what she’d said, but—.

“What did Ronnie say to set you off?”

Paul shook his head.“He was just being Ronnie.”

“You guys have seemed a bit...I dunno, not off exactly, but scratchy with one another since Equinox.He say something about your missus that’s got your hackles up?”

Paul let the missus reference go, seeing as she remained the mistress of his heart, even if she wasn’t on board with them getting all connubial.“I let him blow me, okay.And that stays between you and me, Ash.Don’t you even share it with Jeopardy Mouse, okay?”

Ash took his hand off the wheel to scratch at his jaw and then demand a sweetie from the dashboard tray.Paul obligingly unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth.Ash kept his counsel until he was done with chewing.

“At Equinox?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Paul shrugged.“It was on offer, and I’m not exactly getting balls deep every night like the rest of you.”

“There was a field full of lovely ladies a few hundred metres walk away.”

“Yeah, well at the time that was a few hundred metres further than I fancied wandering.”

“Right,” Ash drawled, clearly sceptical.“So, you did what multitudes of BushBabies dream of doing and popped the Bushie cherry.”