Page 23 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

Gage shrugged, but I noticed the way his jaw ticked as he stared at my brother.

“We had an agreement,” Patrick said sharply.

“Yeah, when we were eighteen.Things change.”

“So it seems.”

I didn’t miss the way Patrick’s words were laced with venom, but my mind was racing as I tried to keep up.

“What agreement?”I asked, looking between the two of them.

What felt like minutes went by without anyone speaking, forcing me to raise my eyebrows and stare at them until one of them gave in.

“We made an agreement that you were off limits,” Patrick said, looking from Gage to me.

“I’m sorry—what?”

“When we were eighteen, we made an agreement that you were off limits,” Patrick repeated.

“Why?”

“Because you were my little sister, and I didn’t want to see you get hurt.I knew that Gage had a way with getting whatever he wanted from girls, and I didn’t want that for you.So, we made an agreement that you were off limits.”

“Oh my God,” I muttered with a heavy sigh as I pressed a finger against my temple and rubbed it.“Pat, we’re not kids anymore.I’m not some sixteen-year-old girl who needs her brother to protect her from his friends.I’m thirty-six years old with a child, for God’s sake!”

“That doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about you, Jules.You think you know him, but you don’t,” Patrick objected.

“Really?We’re going to go there?”Gage said, his eyes narrowing.

“What?You don’t want my sister to know what you did?”

Patrick turned to face Gage again, taking a few steps until they were standing chest to chest as Gage pushed off from the counter.

“Doyoueven know what I did?Or are you still going by what Melanie told you?”Gage cocked his head to the side as he stared at my brother.

“Fuck you.I told you not to ever speak her name again,” Patrick growled as I stepped out of the way.

I had no idea what was going on, but I knew this wasn’t going to end well.

“And I told you to go fuck yourself if you think you have any control over what I do.”

“Like fuck my fiancée?”Patrick spat out, making me flinch.

My eyes widened in horror as I looked past Patrick to Gage, whose jaw tightened as he glanced at me.All it took was that split second of being distracted for Patrick to land a blow as his fist made contact with Gage’s eye.

I gasped and stepped out of the way as Gage threw a punch at Patrick, hitting him in the ribs.Before I knew it, they were both going at it with fists flying and curse words louder than the dishes they had knocked to the ground.

A few minutes later, my father came storming into the room, the vein in his forehead protruding as he looked at the mess they’d made in a matter of seconds.

“What in the world has gotten into you two?”he scolded, looking at them as they stepped away and wiped the blood from their faces.

I covered my mouth with my hands and stared in disbelief.

“Your mother is trying to get Daisy settled in, and the last thing she needs to see is all of this bullshit.You two get this cleaned up right now.Julie, come say goodnight to your daughter.”

I nodded as my dad shook his head at the guys and stormed out as quickly as he came in.

I could feel both of them watching me as I stepped over the broken glass and walked away, not bothering to look back.