this asshole.” He hooked his thumb at me. “He fucked my girl.”
“She wasn’t your girl at the time,” I said, getting pissed. He shouldn’t be airing private business about Lotus publicly. And besides that, what was between Lotus and me was bigger than the bullshit lines he wanted to draw around her.
“Ah.” Koa’s dark brows rising, he glanced at Diesel. “Reminds me of how you were when you first started out with Hollie.”
“You never had a shot with her,” Diesel said.
“Keep telling yourself that.” Grinning, Koa ambled past us.
“Good luck, dudes,” Diesel said, following Koa out of the room.
Saber slammed the door behind him and grabbed my shirt, shoving me into it.
Peering down at him, I didn’t even react. “Giving you that that play.”
He pushed his angry face close to my chill one. “Stay away from Lotus.”
“Or else, is that it?” I said, just to irritate him.
“Right, but I’ll add this in with my warning.” He hit me with a sucker punch that landed in my breadbasket.
It had some power. I expelled some air, but that one punch was all I let him have before I came at him. Shoving him off me, I sliced him with a perfect undercut as his arms went wide. It knocked his head back and stung my knuckles some as it connected with his jawbone.
“Fuck you,” I said, watching him swipe a smear of blood from the edge of his mouth. Must have bit his tongue. “Fuck you for disrespecting her. Fuck you for this high-handed bullshit. You got one punch in. I did too.”
Basic dive-bar etiquette. I’d had plenty of lessons in places like that out on my own.
“We’re even now,” I said, “but we’re not fucking band brothers or any of that shit.”
“Guess not.”
“Could’ve been before this bullshit play of yours.” I gave it to him straight like Lotus would. “You’re too fucking bossy, man. It grates. Not a good atmosphere for being creative as a band. You want more songs like Cork and I cranked out together, then you need to acknowledge that there are other people’s thoughts, feelings, and priorities in this band that matter besides your own.”
“I know that.” Saber’s eyes narrowed, darker brown than mine but without the green.
“Yeah? What do you know about me other than that you don’t want me near Lotus? Or about Cork, really, other than him being your girlfriend’s brother?”
Saber didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect him to. There was nothing he could say.
What does he really know about Lotus? He bossed her around like he did me and everyone in the band. Worse, he treated her like she was a thing, not a treasure.
“I don’t like you,” Saber said, working his jaw. “And you don’t like me. So, how do you propose we fix things so we can at least work productively together?”
His tone was different now. Letting off some steam seemed to have taken the edge off his anger. I could relate. He was my brother. We’d inherited the same temper from our piece-of-shit father.
“I don’t dislike you,” I said calmly, dialing back my anger, and that was the absolute truth. I just didn’t like Saber for her.
He scoffed. “Right.”
“We started off on the wrong foot. But there’s a big patch of common ground, us liking music and our freedom. Room for us to work together there.”
“I agree.” Saber nodded. “So long as you keep your distance from Lotus.”
“Brother.” I meant the endearment for real. He had a thing for her. I understood the fascination because it was one I shared. “Lotus isn’t something you own. She’s a person, her own person. It’s up to her who she wants to spend time with.”
I might not know a lot of shit about women beyond how to get them in my bed and make them happy for the short time they were there, but I did know Lotus.
He frowned. “You do understand that she’s with me.”
“Yeah,” I said. She was with him for now.
“Sorry I sucker punched you,” he said huskily, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’m going to let Lotus decide who she wants to spend her time with. Not because of anything you just said, but because I think that’s what she wants.”
He reached out and I clasped his hand, recognizing the gesture as a peace offering.
With Lotus out of the equation, I could grow to like my brother. He wasn’t perfect, but who was? But you had to admire someone who could swallow their pride and admit when they were wrong.