of his jeans and a scowl on his face that was aimed at Josiah.
It was the third guy who noticed me first. His gaze flicked over Josiah’s shoulder and landed on me. At first, his attention showed disinterest, then a light flashed behind his eyes, and his brows met in the middle. He swatted Easton, who shrugged him off, but the man wasn’t deterred. The second time he nudged his friend, Easton jerked his head around.
“What?”
The third guy hitched a chin in my direction. Easton followed the gesture, and Josiah turned around too. Three sets of eyes processed my sudden appearance in the middle of their argument, but it was the swirling mixture of sunburnt autumn leaves that stole my focus. Easton was fuming, and his eyes told a story that was not going to end well for me.
He stormed away from his group with me in his sights, but I held my ground. “You goddamn son of a motherless—” He didn’t finish the insult, but his knuckles popped, and his entire body vibrated as he breathed heavily, nostrils flaring. “I told you, I never wanted to see you again. You goddamn city folk think you can just come into our little town and stir shit up. That ain’t how it works around ‘ere.” He spat something else at me, an offense or a reason for why he was so mad, I didn’t know for sure. His words dissolved beyond comprehension the way they seemed to do, mumbled and jumbled together.
Instead of asking him to clarify, I thumbed over my shoulder toward my car. “I was just leaving, actually. Whatever little schoolboy fight is happening right now, I want no part of it.”
“But you are part of it,” he snapped. “In what universe did I give you the impression that we were negotiatin’ anything? And why would you spill my family business to that asshole?”
Josiah and the third guy joined us. Easton’s friend took a bodyguard stance at his left, arms folded over his broad chest, derision marking every inch of his face. The reporter, Josiah, was unaffected by the sheer volume of tension in the air. He wore a smirk and had an amused air about him.
Josiah’s smile was salacious as he took time licking a path along his lips and eyeing me the same way he had at the brewery the other day. “We meet again.”
Easton gaped and darted his eyes at the reporter. “See, you’re a lyin’ sack of shit, Josiah. You just said you never talked to this son of a bitch.”
I half admired the reporter’s cocky attitude under the circumstances. He didn’t flinch, shrugged, then turned back to me.
“Nah, it wasn’t like that,” Josiah said, eyes never leaving my face. “Me and him, we just”—he swung a finger between us and shrugged—“That’s all. There wasn’t anything else. Right?” he asked me.
I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Do you really think spillin’ my family’s financial situation is gonna win you points?” Easton asked me. “Did you really expect I’d be interested in anything you had to offer?”
I frowned, still puzzling out what Josiah had said while flipping my gaze to Easton. “Spilling your family’s financial situation?”
“Yeah.” The third guy jumped in, taking a stance beside Easton. “What kinda asshole are you? You couldn’t just take no for an answer? Had to go blab to this freak and get everyone thinkin’ things that ain’t true.”
“I didn’t talk to him.” I glanced at Josiah for back up, but the man hitched a brow and shrugged. “Tell him we didn’t talk.”
“We didn’t talk.” Josiah was taking far too much pleasure in tormenting Easton. He flicked his gaze at the irritated cowboy then back at me, adorning that flirty smile. “Well, we did meet over at”—he tipped his chin in the direction of the brewery—“and shared a few words, but it was all … you know. We didn’t talk about—” He nodded at the rolled-up newspaper in Easton’s hand. “Not once.” Another languid trail of his tongue along his lips as he arched a brow at Easton.
Easton scowled, and I bounced my gaze between them, more than a little confused by the lack of nouns in Josiah’s sentences. Something dawned on Easton, and his anger morphed. A flash of hurt crossed his face before it was flooded with disgust.
“Oh, I see how it is,” he said, glaring between both of us. He laughed humorlessly. “Why does that not surprise me? You’re both two peas in a pod. And I knew you were