Page 39 of Smokin’ Situation (Masked Men of Sage Springs #3)

Tristan

What the actual fuck , was the only thought in my brain as I stared at Rhey in the middle of the gravel drive, my brother’s hands possessively holding her waist while he whispered in her ear.

She looked downright panicked, and I suddenly felt like a gigantic fool.

How could I not have seen this coming? Of course, the woman who’d seemed like my perfect match had been fucking my brother for who knew how long. Because that was just how my fucking life worked.

I find someone who finally made me feel like I might have some purpose in my life, and she just gets ripped away. By my spoiled, emotionally stunted brother, who took nothing in his life seriously.

Taking a deep breath, I tilted the bottle in my hand toward the ground and poured out the beer I hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy.

Calmly walking toward the front porch, I placed the bottle on the railing and turned for my truck.

I could catch up with my family later. Right now, I needed to leave before I exploded.

The anger was right there, barely restrained beneath the surface, and I knew I’d say something I’d regret if I stayed here and had to watch him touch her.

Without looking in their direction, I made a beeline for the driver’s side door, my hand pausing on the handle when she called out to me.

“Tripp?” Her broken voice had my fist clenching at my side. “You’re just leaving? ”

“Why are you calling him Tripp?” Jayden laughed, and I glanced up, watching her attempt to extract his hands from her waist. “And why do you give a shit if he leaves?”

“Because I—”

He didn’t relinquish his grip on her, and I saw red, cutting her off. “Get your fucking hands off her. She doesn’t want you to touch her.”

Jay’s eyes widened as he looked between the two of us, his eyes lingering.

I knew he could sense the tension; my squared shoulders and clenched jaw, letting him know I meant every word.

Then his eyes went to Rhey— Annie— with her arms wrapped around her chest like she was holding herself together.

Her heartbroken look gutted me, as the realization came that my reaction was hurting her more than his.

“Why wouldn’t she want me to…?” he trailed off with a frown, looking down at her. Her watery eyes met mine, and I shook my head, removing my hand from the door handle.

He reached for her shoulder, but I growled when she flinched.

“I told you not to fucking touch her.”

He spun, marching toward me with a look I was very familiar with drawn across his smug face. “And why wouldn’t she want me to touch her, Tristan ? Last I checked, she was my friend, and a whole lot fucking more. Since when do you speak for her?”

“Jay, stop. We need to talk,” she pleaded quietly. I hadn’t even noticed her follow us to the far side of the truck.

Glancing toward the house, I saw Reid and Hazel just inside the front door, attempting to give us privacy. But I knew if Jay’s voice got any louder, the rest of the family on the other side of the house likely wouldn’t extend the same courtesy.

“No, Annie, I want him to fucking answer me. Why are you so concerned with me touching her? Cause I’ve done a lot more than just touch her waist or her shoulder, and she never had a problem with it before.”

“Jay,” she hissed, stepping in my direction, her eyes pleading. “Don’t. ”

“It’s none of your business why, but you need to take a fucking hint. When a woman removes her hands from you and says stop—you fucking listen.”

His eyes narrowed as he stepped forward, his chest brushing against mine.

My knuckles cracked loudly when my fists tightened, trying to hold back, but I was still on edge from the flashback this morning and would happily punch my brother in the fucking face if he so much as breathed in her direction too heavily.

While neither of their names had actually been mentioned, I could connect the dots that she was the girl he’d been hooking up with. She may have been his months ago, but she wasn’t anymore.

“Did you fuck my girlfriend while I was out of town?” he growled, grabbing a fistful of my shirt collar.

Glancing past his face, I locked eyes with Rhey, and almost fucking laid him out when I saw the tears streaked down her cheeks.

“Who I fuck is none of your business. And the same goes for her. You may have been involved with her, but you don’t own her, and you better treat her with some god damned respect.”

His face turned red, and I knew he was about to blow, but I wasn’t about to let him disrespect her because he had his fucking feelings hurt.

Or more likely his ego, because I still wasn’t convinced he actually had feelings for her.

He may have been throwing a tantrum right now, but he seemed more concerned with me touching something he perceived as his than how his behavior was affecting her.

Not that I was much better, because I was prepared to leave her here with him a few minutes ago. Maybe I wasn’t any better than him.

“Maybe she likes it when I disrespect her,” he hissed, and I growled in response, shoving hard against his chest until he stumbled back. Rhey quickly stepped to the side as his body moved backward, so he didn’t knock her over.

“Maybe you need to fucking watch it before I kick your ass. ”

“Like you could, old man,” he taunted, lunging in my direction, but Reid was suddenly there, catching him around the waist and hauling him backward.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Jay?” he growled, dragging him toward the porch. “Can we not pick fights in the front fucking yard on a holiday? Do you know how much shit you’d be in right now if our mothers heard you talking about Annie like that?”

“But he…”

“But he, nothing, you fucking asshole.” Reid dragged him up the steps, pinning me down with a look that would have been frightening had I not been as angry as I was right now. “Get your asses inside this house before someone hears you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with him,” Jay hissed, fighting against our cousin’s hold. They may have been of similar build, but Reid was scary when he was mad.

“You don’t have a fucking choice,” Reid growled, pushing him inside when he got to the front door. “The two of you are going upstairs to talk before you turn this into a three-ring circus, and you’re both going to calm the fuck down and work this out before I let you leave the guest bedroom.”

Hazel stomped toward me, pushing past and knocking her shoulder against mine, as she headed toward Annie. She was crying beside the truck, and I instantly felt like shit as I watched her friend wrap her arms around her.

They disappeared out of sight just before I turned and followed Reid as he pushed my brother up the staircase, thankful the people in the backyard hadn’t noticed Jay’s dramatic hissy fit.

“Do I need to find one of those huge T-shirts our moms used to shove us into together as children until we could get along? Cause I’ll stuff your asses into one if I have to.

” Reid marched my brother down the hallway with a tight hold on the back of his shirt and pulled open a door at the front of the house, hopefully out of earshot of the people in the backyard .

“Why am I the one being manhandled?” Jay whined, bracing one hand against the door frame and trying to shrug off Reid’s tight grip. “I’m the innocent one here.”

Growling, I fought the urge to use my foot to get him inside and pointed. I was about to lose my shit.

“Because you were raised better than this,” Reid hissed, shoving my brother inside. “What you just did to Annie was disrespectful as fuck.”

“But she—”

“She didn’t know who I fucking was, dipshit.

” And since I honestly hadn’t given a shit who warmed my brother’s bed, I hadn’t put the details together.

Until now. “And I thought she was just a bartender you hired to run your booth at the festival. You never talked about her, how was I supposed to know what kind of arrangement you two used to have?”

“Used to?” He rounded on me as soon as I followed him through the doorway, shoving his palm into my shoulder.

“Yeah, used to, asshole. When was the last time you two were together?”

He paused, a line forming between his brows. “It’s…been a few months. But that’s your fault too, because you have been sucking all the oxygen out of my place for the last few months.”

“Thanks, asshole,” I muttered, pacing in front of the window. “Nice to know how much of an inconvenience I was to you while I was recovering from nearly dying.”

Glancing out the pane of glass, I could barely make out where Rhey was still wrapped around Hazel with her head down behind a few of the cars. Fuck, I wasn’t even sure what to feel right now.

“That’s not…” he sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face roughly. “You know I was okay with you staying there, but I couldn’t exactly invite her over to fuck with you there. I’m not a total asshole.”

“You sure about that?” His mouth opened and then closed again as he swallowed down whatever answer he was about to shoot back at me. “Cause you’re acting like one right now. ”

“Well,” Reid interrupted from the doorway. “Now that you two are talking instead of yelling, I’m gonna leave you to it before people come looking for us. Try not to kill each other.”

“No promises,” I shot back, and our cousin shook his head, quietly pulling the door closed.

This wasn’t the first time he’d had to referee a blow up with one of my brothers.

The Harding men were short-tempered and competitive, which didn’t always make for the most level-headed conversations when one of us was riled up.

“I just don’t understand how you two could do this to me?” he hissed, and I rolled my eyes. Always the fucking victim, and he knew it pushed all my buttons.

“Are you in love with her? Or just fucking her?” I growled, pinning my brother with a look that even had him shrinking back.

As the baby of the family, Jay had spent half his life getting what he wanted because he thought he deserved it. Well, fuck that shit. I wasn’t giving this up without a fight. I wasn’t giving her up without a fight.

She wasn’t some toy he’d claimed first and refused to share. She’d never been his. Not really. Not in any way that mattered.

Not in the way I felt every time I saw her.

I’d been where he was. Feeling possession of a woman that I couldn’t—or wouldn’t—commit to. I’d had my fair share of friends with benefits over the years. You weren’t unmarried and closing in on forty without having been in relationships, friendly, physical or otherwise.

But I’d also seen a few of those same women fall in love with someone who wasn’t me. And I didn’t act like a jealous little prick and selfishly hold on to someone when I couldn’t give them what they needed.

And there was one thing I knew for sure. Annie deserved to be loved. And I was gonna be the undeserving fucker who gave it to her. Gave her the part of me I’d never truly given to someone else .

Sure, I thought I’d been in love once or twice. But not like this. Not to where I wanted to tear my fucking baby brother to shreds at the thought of him going anywhere near her.

“Oh, so you steal my girlfriend while I’m out of town and suddenly I’m the bad guy?” he scoffed.

“I didn’t steal anything, you selfish little prick. She told me about this guy she’d been hooking up with who would never be more than a friend. Wasn’t aware that made her your girlfriend.”

He paused, tilting his head as he looked up. “She told you about me?”

“Well, yeah. Rhey—Annie—is really fucking loyal. She wanted me to know that there had been someone else before we took things too far. I thought she was your fucking employee, not your hookup. Although I guess with your track record, I’m not sure why I’m surprised.”

“And what did she tell you about the guy she’d been with?” His tone wasn’t accusatory, and it gave me hope that maybe he’d listen to reason.

“That she’d been in a situationship—whatever they’re calling it these days—with a guy she’d known since high school, but she didn’t have feelings for him beyond friendship.”

He nodded, looking down. “And you didn’t think to exchange names?”

“Why the fuck would I want to know the name of the guy whose hookup I was falling for?”

He nodded absently, staring at the ground for a beat before he returned his gaze to me. “You’re falling for her?”

I shook my head and saw his fists instantly ball at his sides. “Not falling, dude, fallen . I’m already there. And if that means you hate me, then so be it, because I know you don’t love her. You haven’t loved anyone since—”

“Please don’t say her name,” he choked out, turning away from me and thrusting his fist toward the wall. I laughed humorlessly as he shook out his hand, cursing under his breath .

“And that’s how I know you don’t love Annie, because otherwise you wouldn’t give a shit if I mentioned—”

He turned toward me, glaring as I held my hands up and clamped my mouth shut. But when the tension drained from his shoulders, I knew I’d made my point.

“Maybe you’re right. But she’s still my friend. She deserves someone who loves her. If you hurt her, I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Aw…it’s cute you think you could do any damage with those fake pretty boy muscles you like to post all over the internet,” I chuckled, knowing it’d rile him up.

“Didn’t stop your girlfriend from holding onto those muscles while she rode my…”

He trailed off laughing when I growled and lunged at him, wrapping my forearm across his throat with my lips at his ear. “Say another word, fucker. I dare you.”

“Word,” he choked out, laughing as he ducked out of my hold.

He turned to face me and nodded at the window.

I followed his gaze and saw the flash of the taillights of a Jeep headed down the gravel drive away from the house.

I wasn’t sure whose car that was, but I knew Rhey was inside it right now.

“Well, don’t just stand there, dumbass. Go after her. If you love her, go fucking tell her.”

Without hesitating, I pulled the truck keys from my pocket and headed for the door, my brother’s amused voice following me into the hallway.

“And I’m the one who’s a dipshit…”