Billionaire's Second Chance (Billionaires #16) - Jennifer Hartley Page 0,49

me?”

My blood was boiling. How dare he try to make me out to be the villain here when all that I had been trying to do was help them both. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “You think that I planned to impregnate your sister?”

“Well, how would I know?” he shouted. It was clear that his temper had already been pushed over the edge, too. “You never even told me that you were banging her. You two have apparently just been sneaking around here under my nose.”

“Watch your mouth,” I growled. “I haven’t been banging Clara. I care about her, you dumbass.”

“Say it again,” he threatened. “Call me a dumbass again and see what happens.”

I laughed, but not because I was amused by it, more so because he was being so ridiculous. “I’m twice your size, Scott. Don’t be stupid.”

With that, he threw the first punch, knocking me in the side of the jaw only because I hadn’t been prepared for him to actually hit me. I wasn’t going to hit him back, but I also wasn’t going to just stand there while he tried, albeit poorly, to beat on me. I grabbed him by his shoulder and flipped him over on the ground. Then I kneeled down over him to keep him from getting up.

“I am not trying to pick a fight with you, Scott,” I yelled.

“Stop it, you guys!” Clara screamed from behind me.

“No, you’d rather roll around in the hay with Clara than wrestle man-to-man with me,” he snarled.

“You’re being ridiculous,” I said as he struggled against me. Unfortunately for him, I was so much bigger and stronger than him that I could keep him here all night without even breaking a sweat.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I had feelings for Clara,” I said. “But you can’t talk to your sister like that again. There’s no excuse for that at all. None of this is her fault.”

“Ha!” he laughed. “Right. Because her thighs just spread themselves.”

Okay, that was it. I clocked him square in the face and left a split lip and bleeding mouth where my fist landed.

“Stop it!” Clara screamed again. “Both of you stop it right now!”

I reached down and grabbed the front of his shirt to lift his bloodied face up to mine. “You won’t ever talk to her like that again; you got that?” I growled.

He didn’t need to answer me. I could tell by his eyes that he was already feeling guilty about what he had said. He was in shock, like we all were, and was lashing out. That wasn’t an excuse for his shitty behavior by any means, but I knew he wasn’t going to do it anymore. I got up off of him and held down my hand to pull him up. Then we both stood there in a bloodied and beat-up stupor in front of Clara, who by this point was now back to being hysterical.

“You are both so stupid!” she yelled at both of us. “Here you are both saying that you’re trying to help me and protect me. What a bunch of bullshit! The minute that I actually need your help, what do the two of you do? DeShawn, you just stand there with your mouth hanging open as if you had no idea that having sex could make babies. And Scott, you start hurling insults at your sister as if I’m the town slut. You are both egotistical, hypocritical assholes who can’t see past your own selves. We should just sell this farm and be done with this fucking nightmare.”

“Clara, you don’t mean that,” Scott said, trying to calm her down.

“I sure as hell do. Who’s going to do all the work around here when I’m too pregnant to walk the fields? You?” Clara let out a mean little laugh. She was lashing out, too. She was hurt and scared, and I didn’t think any of us knew what to do with this.

“I’m done with it. I don’t want anything else to do with this farm or with either of you,” she said as she pushed past both of us and ran out into the hall.

I immediately went to follow her, but Scott put his hand up to stop me.

“Don’t,” he said. “Let her go. You’ve done enough already.”

Scott chased after his sister, and I was left standing there in the empty bedroom alone. For a minute, I tried to wrap my head around everything that had just happened. I tried