Page 65 of When the Ice Melts

“Dibs?” Darius’s pulse was racing. What was this guy accusing him of?

“No more fun with my chick.” Brian chuckled as if this were the funniest thing ever.

Professional or not, he couldn’t take it. Darius slammed on his brakes so suddenly that Brian’s head jerked forward like a marionette’s and the car behind blared its horn. Darius ignored it. Let him be rear-ended! He didn’t care at this point. He unsnapped his seatbelt and leaned across the console. “Let’s get one thing very clear.” His hands were shaking so badly now that he clenched them into sweaty fists. “I have viewed Addisyn as a very good friend and a wonderful woman.” He took a deep breath. Well, more like a gasp. “I have never treated her with anything but honor and respect. I’m not that kind of guy.”

He gestured to the door. “The hotel is two blocks down that street. Maybe you would prefer to walk the rest of the way.”

Brian glared at him a minute. Darius focused his gaze and leaned a little closer. “Sure. Okay.” Brian held up his hands as if in mock surrender, then opened the door and hopped out into the rain, retrieving his luggage from the back seat.

Before he closed the door, he leaned back in and threw one last dart. “Just remember to keep your honor and respect and friendship to yourself. I won’t have your hands on my girl.” He slammed the door and marched off down the sidewalk.

Darius slowly reentered the line of traffic and began driving again. All that revolved in his mind was the horrible truth: Addisyn loved another man. A man who was the antithesis of him.

And she was a successful almost-Olympian. A brilliant, talented young woman who’d found relief from small-town boredom by flirting with a naïve Canadian hick.

He gritted his teeth. His chest was throbbing with a horrible pain. With as much speed as he could build up in the narrow streets, he drove as fast as he could to a wooded stretch of road. Then, he pulled off onto the shoulder, leaped out, and threw up.