you knew her as well as you think you do, you’d already know that.”
“She’s in your bed.”
“She is, absolutely,” I confirmed. “And what we do there is none of your fucking business. But I’ll repeat, I am not fucking Adalynn.”
“Fuck!” A voice boomed from behind me.
Good goddamn.
I didn’t need to turn to know Jasper Walker had entered the room.
“There a reason the two of you are shouting so goddamn loud I heard you from the parking lot?”
I didn’t doubt Jasper heard more than I wanted him to hear, but I doubted he heard because we were shouting. It was likely because Jasper had well-honed fatherly instincts that pinged when one of his children was in distress. Seeing as two of his offspring were involved, that ping would be huge.
I remained rooted, my gaze locked with Jason’s, unwilling to back down even with Jasper in the room, until Addy’s brother understood I was serious. I gave zero fucks what Jason thought about me. It was going to suck, losing the budding friendship, suck more if he decided to fire me, but I wouldn’t stand for him being a prick to Addy—that included him being an ass when she wasn’t around to hear it.
“Jay, man, stand down,” Nick muttered.
Unwilling to budge, Jason didn’t stand down. Further, he continued, uncaring his father was now in attendance. Or maybe he felt that now that Jasper was in the room, he’d have backup therefore he was emboldened.
“Adalynn cannot survive a man like you.”
“A man like me? Tell me, Jason, what kind of a man do you think I am?”
“The kind that doesn’t know how not to fuck. Tell me, Trey, how hard was it for you to play my sister, hook her deep, and have her bending to your demands? Shy, sweet, innocent Addy in your bed. How convenient—Belview pops up, hurls some insults her way, doesn’t like you intervened so he makes his displeasure known, and voilà, you have the perfect excuse to move her in. Hook her deeper. But tell me, when you use up all that innocence, get bored, and cut her loose, where does that leave my sister?”
“Way over the line, cousin,” Carter’s voice rumbled.
It took a full minute to beat back the driving urge to strangle Addy’s brother. That minute was filled with complete silence. Not a single man spoke, including Jasper. When I got a lock on my temper and my body’s natural response to eliminate the enemy—in this case, the enemy being Addy’s family—I exhaled, but otherwise didn’t move.
“I see you don’t know your sister at all. No one bends Adalynn to do anything she doesn’t want to do. I can see how you might think that, since you’ve run roughshod over her all her life, and being the type of person she is, she likely caved to you without much argument. Don’t bother denying it because she begged me not to bring this to the table because she knew you and everyone else would take over, boss her, and trample over her. Those were her words.”
I drew in a deep breath. “So, tonight when you’re thinking about what a motherfucker you were to your sister, think on that, too. There’s not a damn thing convenient about Belview hurling insults at your sister, think about that tonight, too. You okay with some asshole shouting at your sister in the middle of a café, talking shit to her after he fucked her over? Fucked her over in ways she never told you about. But she told me. You can stand there and look at me like I’m scum, and my guess is you think that because of my reputation—”
“You fuck anything that moves,” Jason cut in.
“I do? I’d like to think I’m a little more discriminating than that. The fact is, I know how many women I’ve had—I was there. Wanna know who wasn’t? You. If my sexual history is what your problem is, let me help you with that. I have fucked a lot of women—a lot. I was single, my field was open, and I enjoyed the fuck out of a variety of women on a variety of different continents. So with all that experience, I can assure you I know the difference between a woman I’d fuck and Adalynn.”
Matt tightened his grip on my arm but I wasn’t done. “Straight up, Jason, she’s your sister, I get it, you want what’s best for her. But I also do not need your approval. I don’t want there