Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,93

excited. But this was Blaise’s brother, and this was a big deal. A mundo deal. And yeah, he was almost as hot as Blaise. The two together? Lethal.

“You remember my girlfriend? Bren?”

I nodded, trying to keep it cool.

Blaise’s shoulders were starting to shake, just slightly.

“Yeah. Bren. She’s nice.”

Now Cross’ lips were twitching. “Uh-huh. Yeah.”

I just smiled. That seemed the best option here.

“Okay.” Cross stepped back. “We’ll follow you guys, but I can’t guarantee Z and Jordan will play nice.”

Blaise’s eyes darkened. “Just keep to your side of the campsite, yeah?”

Cross’ face grew frosty. He didn’t answer, just walked back to the large truck. He climbed into the backseat, and I got a glimpse of his girlfriend inside.

I sucked in my breath. I’d forgotten how beautiful she was.

Blaise raised his window, eased the Wagon around, and we began to leave the lot. We were the last besides those two other vehicles. The others had followed Zeke.

“Who are Z and Jordan?” I asked.

“My brother’s moron friends.”

I jerked forward. “Wait! I remember them. The shorter one was a dick to me, asked if I had problems or something.”

“What?” Blaise turned to look at me sharply.

Oh, crap.

I felt the air in the truck roll with danger. Tension.

I swallowed, leaning back. A shiver went down my spine. “It was nothing. He just, well, he asked if I had problems socializing, and I do actually. I don’t think he meant it to be mean.” I lowered my voice, “You asked the same thing, Blaise.”

He bit out a hard laugh. “Yeah, but I give a fuck about you.”

He didn’t bring up the topic the rest of the drive, but when we stopped an hour later for provisions, he glared at the shorter guy that got out of the truck with Cross in it.

Zeke noticed too and nudged Blaise. “What’s up?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Blaise said under his breath, moving forward into the store.

Zeke glanced at me in question.

I hesitated. “The shorter one was kinda mean to me once. I might’ve mentioned it without thinking.”

Zeke’s eyes got wide. “Right on. Looks like we’re having a rumble tonight.”

Blaise had disappeared into the store, but I grabbed Zeke’s shirt, holding him back. “What do you mean?” A rumble didn’t sound good. It made my stomach churn. Really not good.

Zeke shook his head, a wry grin on his face. “Yeah, I’m sorry to break this to you, but your boy is protective. He’s going to call out Zellman, but knowing Blaise, he’ll probably try to do it a smart way.”

Oh God. “What does that mean?”

Zeke shrugged. “I don’t have a clue, but don’t worry. Blaise makes everything better. That’s what he’s like deep down. He settles things. It’ll be fine.”

That so didn’t settle me.

43

Blaise

By the time we got to the actual dune buggying site, we didn’t have time to go out.

We pulled in time to camp for the night. That meant we’d stay a second night. That was all good, but even though my brother was set up on the complete opposite side of the campsite, I still felt an itch under my skin.

Every time I saw him, it doubled in size. And it was worse now that I was actually trying to be civil.

Aspen. All this shit was for Aspen.

The dune racing was for us—but the girls, my brother, that was all for her.

As soon as we pulled up, we assigned the campers. Aspen and I got the smaller one since I didn’t want anyone perving on her while she was in bed with me. Bren and Taz came over right away. They followed Aspen toward the camper, but I had a word with Bren before she went in.

Once Taz ducked inside with Aspen, I nodded to where my brother and the other two dipshits stood. “Aspen told me what the pipsqueak said to her in the woods.”

Bren narrowed her eyes. “Pipsqueak? Really?”

I scowled. “If he says one disrespectful thing to her, all bets are off. I’m coming for his ass. You and my brother can lay down against me. I don’t care.”

Her eyes stayed narrowed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m letting you know. That’s all.”

“Fine.”

Taz and Aspen came out, and Bren stepped back from me. I morphed into a nice guy, grabbing Aspen’s hand and tugging her over for a soft kiss. I flashed Bren a warning look before the three of them headed off. My eyes swept the campground and found Cross staring right at me.

I wanted to raise my middle finger.

Stomping down my inner asshole, I