Page 22 of The Triple Threat

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

She patted my arm and then looked coyly at Norm. “Oh, I’m sure, sweetheart.”

I suppressed a shudder and turned back to Ellie and Carter, who were going at it again.

“You should be on my side,” Ellie cried. “I’m your sister and he disrespected me.”

“I am on your side,” Carter replied, glancing over at Dominic who was dabbing a handkerchief to his lip. “But you have a career and punching guys won’t look good if the hospital board finds out.”

“Hey.” I slapped a hand on Carter’s back. “No one is going to tell the hospital board.”

“Dominic might,” he snapped and turned to glare at me.

Ellie suddenly looked scared. It hadn’t occurred to me, but Carter was right. Dominic had been punched by a girl who had split his lip, not to mention the nice bruise I’d added to his cheek. Telling Ellie’s employers was just the sort of thing someone like Dominic would do. I decided to take control of the situation and moved around Ellie and Carter to Dominic and Miss. Watkins.

“Don’t you dare touch me.” Dominic took a step back and pulled Miss. Watkins in front of him – damn coward.

“I’m not, I’m here to make sure that this is the end of it all. You know what you did was wrong, cheating on Ellie and then coming back to rub her face in it.”

I looked at him and actually wanted to punch him again, but knew that wouldn’t help matters, plus he was hiding behind his woman and I couldn’t get to him.

“I didn’t rub her face in it. I’m entitled to drink in here.” Dominic winced as he dabbed at his lip again. “I was trying to be nice.”

“Winking at her when you’re wrapped up in another woman and then calling her frigid is nice?”

Miss. Watkins winced and took a half step away from Dominic. “You didn’t need to punch him, Hunter.”

“He disrespected my friend,” I said, realizing as I said it that it didn’t feel as weird as I thought it might by calling Ellie my friend. She’d always been Carter’s little sister, but that hadn’t been why I’d punched Dominic. “And to be fair, you both have, when you carried on behind her back. Not real good behavior from a teacher now is it?”

Miss. Watkin’s face reddened, and she glanced over to where Ellie was with Carter.

“You’ll hear no more from us,” she replied. “We’re only back in town to put my house up for sale. We won’t be back.”

“Pamela—”

Dominic grabbed her arm, but she pulled away from him and stopped him abruptly. “No, Dominic. I can’t afford to have any investigations into our relationship.”

A look passed between them and when Dominic nodded my pulse notched up a rate.

“Fuck,” I said quietly. “Sex with a pupil, Miss. Watkins, now that is naughty. As for you, Dominic. I had no idea you had it in you all those times at high school when you crashed and burned with the girls. No wonder you didn’t put any effort into it if you were already banging one of the teachers.”

I braced myself for the punch for disrespecting Miss. Watkins, but the cowardly piece of shit just dropped his head and muttered something about, ‘leaving this shithole of a town’ and then stormed past me with Miss. Watkins hot on his tail.

“Okay,” I said and turned around to face Ellie and Carter, the rest of our audience now gone and tucking into Penny’s grilled cheese. “All sorted. We won’t be hearing from them again.”

“You sure?” Ellie asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, now let’s get another beer and talk about the hospital fundraiser.”

Ellie’s eyes lit up and I couldn’t help but smile. She looked like an excited little girl. She knew this was my way of saying I’d help with her damn awful plan to get Carter and Bronte together, and even though I didn’t think it was necessary, it might be kinda fun. We never did get around to it though. Penny felt we were a distraction to bingo night, so were asked to leave, which meant one very unhappy Carter.

Carter wasn’t happy we spoiled his night in Stars & Stripes and was ignoring me. I’d been over to his apartment with a chicken casserole from Mom, but he’d opened up, taken it out of my hands and then slammed the door in my face. Even when I kept banging and ringing his doorbell for a full five minutes, it drew a blank, unless of course you counted his neighbor Valerie. She flung her door open and shouted a string of abusive words at me for a full minute before… slamming the door.

When I got to work and found no one had refilled the coffee jug, it added to my bad mood. I decided to order Carter a dildo online and arranged for it to be delivered to the veterinary clinic where he worked. That would teach him to ignore me just because I’d got us thrown out of the local bar.

Penny hadn’t barred us or anything like that, but she had told both Hunter and I to go home and cool off, and as he’d taken me there, Carter had to leave too. I think he’d hoped that Hunter might offer, as he went in the general direction of the street that we lived on, but he was out of there and speeding off in his truck quicker than Mrs. Abbot from the bookstore, on coupon day.

“Why has no one filled up the jug?” I grumbled to my friend and colleague Davis as he walked into the break room.