Page 21 of The Triple Threat

Miss. Watkins leaned down and pulled at Dominic’s hand. “Come on, let’s get out of this mad house.”

Dominic grunted and groaned as he pushed to his feet. Once he was standing, and Miss. Watkins had an arm around him, he threw me a glare and pointed a shaky finger at me.

“You’ll pay for that, Delaney, I promise you.”

I threw my hands up in surrender and rolled my eyes. “I’m fucking petrified.”

“Dominic, come on,” Miss. Watkins said as she pulled him toward the door.

“You’re all a bunch of crazy people. I’m glad I got out of here.”

“You should never have come back then,” Ellie said and took a step forward.

“As for you, you stupid, frigid little bitch,” Dominic snarled.

I made a lunge for him, but Ellie pushed in front of me and beat me to it, punching him right on the nose.

“Shit!” She stamped her foot and shook out her fist. “You fucker.”

“For God’s sake, Ellie,” Carter groaned. “You said that you wouldn’t fight him.”

Ellie’s eyes went wide as she cradled her hand. “He called me frigid. I’m the best sex he’ll ever have.”

Her words and the way she stamped her foot and glared at Dominic was pretty sexy. I couldn’t help but notice my dick perked up.

“And you,” Carter continued and pointed at me. “What the hell did you hit him for?”

I shrugged, but I knew it was the look on Ellie’s face when I told her she deserved better than Dominic the Douche. She’d looked so grateful, as if she hadn’t believed it up until that point. When he’d taunted her with a wink, well the red mist kinda clouded my judgement.

“Oh, Hunter honey, you’re such a hero.” I turned to see both my aunts had pushed through the crowd of people gathered around us. I knew they must have missed most of the excitement because like clockwork whenever the final number had been called by Mr. Parker, they both went off to the bathroom. Janice-Ann told me it was because of the anticipation of hope that they could win the big prize that made them want to pee. Like everything they did, they did it with twin synchronization – one needed to pee, they both needed to pee.

“You haven’t hurt yourself have you, sweetheart?” Lynn-Ann asked.

“No, Auntie L,” I said as I flexed my hand. “But I think Ellie might have.”

Ellie still had her punching hand cradled in the other and was arguing in hushed tones with Carter.

“Well, you got the first punch in I heard, so well done you.” Lynn-Ann reached up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek, quickly followed by Janice-Ann. I told you twinchronisity as Pop liked to call it.

“I’m not sure I did the right thing,” I said and glanced over to see Dominic being comforted by Miss. Watkins, while he groaned in pain against her chest. “Maybe if I hadn’t Ellie wouldn’t have either.”

“I damn well would,” Ellie snapped, pausing her conversation with Carter.

“How the hell do women do that?” I asked. “Have a conversation with one person but listen to another.”

Ellie and my aunts all grinned at each other and shrugged.

“Anyway,” Janice-Ann said as she linked her arm with mine. “We just wanted to let you know there’s no need for you to take us home. We’re going back to Brewster’s room at Sunny Years to play poker with him and Norm.”

I looked over to where Brewster Whittaker and Norm Carmichael were grinning and waving their fingers at my two aunts.

Shit what the hell was in the water that made the older folks in this town act like teenagers at an after-prom party?

“How you going to get home?” I asked, glancing at my cell to see it was almost nine-thirty.

“Norm will bring us back on his scooter,” Lynn-Ann replied as she patted the back of her perfectly set silver hair.

It was three miles from Sunny Years to our ranch and Norm’s scooter was only big enough for one person to ride. Did he even have headlights on it? I thought about protesting to my aunt, but she already wore a look of grim determination.