strolled in from the other side of the building where the ambulance trucks were located, both wearing the wide, satisfied smiles of men who’d woken up wrapped around a warm woman that morning.
With a laugh that was too amused for my liking, Preston filled them in and I had to ball my hands into fists for a minute to keep from screaming at the looks all three men shot my way. “Nate thinks she might be mad, and he doesn’t know why since they both had a ‘real good time.’”
I pointed at each one of them, all my friends and brothers in arms. “If any of you even thinks about laughing, you’ll be walking funny for a week.”
Jase shook his head, looking sad and sympathetic. “I thought you were the brother with all the game. How disappointing,” he said in mock dismay.
“I have plenty of game, thank you very much. I mean, usually, I do, but something about her makes me constantly say and do the wrong thing.” I hated to admit it, but dammit, I didn’t like how she seemed to be going out of her way to avoid me. Like she didn’t want anything to do with me.
Three pairs of eyes bounced around the room, an eager gleam lighting all of them. “Oh.” That was Ry, giving me his best poor bastard look, which I hated. “So, you like her.”
“No.” I shook my head vehemently because I didn’t like Mikki, not like that. “I mean, she’s all right, but I don’t like her, like her.” I didn’t like anyone like that, it just wasn’t how I was wired.
“Then why the hell do you care so much?” Leave it family to never pull any punches.
But it was a fair question, and I didn’t have an acceptable answer. “Because I don’t like that she’s treating me like I’m a bad guy.” I couldn’t stop thinking about the look she’d sent me last night before shutting the door in my face. It was equal parts disgust and disappointment, the same look my mother sometimes graced me with. It stuck with me long after the chicken dinner and two—okay, three—beers were gone.
Preston smiled and clapped me on the back, a sympathetic, commiserative smile on his face. “You poor, poor bastard.”
I shook off his hand; I didn’t want his sympathy. “Whatever you’re thinking, quit it right now.”
Ry barked out a laugh and stepped up beside me, handing me the items that needed to go into the shared fridge. “No offense, dude, but you are the bad guy here. Did she ask you for anything at all?”
That night, all she’d asked for was more. “No,” I sighed, because she really hadn’t.
“So, why did you leave? Were you worried she might start planning your wedding?”
I glared at Ry’s affable smile, and he only grinned wider.
“Nope.”
“See? Bad guy. You got what you wanted, now she’s not talking to you. Be okay with that.”
I knew he was right, dammit, but I didn’t like it. “I’m not okay with it.”
“Too bad,” Jase put in. His voice had lost all humor and his tone was serious. Gravely serious. “Either make it up to her or leave her alone. Bo likes Mikki, and she’ll gut you for screwing with her, and there won’t be a damn thing I can do about it.” His tone and his smile suggested he would probably sit back with a beer and popcorn and enjoy the show. “It’s also okay if you like Mikki, too.”
“I don’t,” I growled, and I knew my mistake right away. The denial came too quick and Jase was there, ready to pounce.
“You do,” he insisted in that tone he used to boss people around when they were in shock or too upset to answer. “And that’s all right. There’s nothing wrong with liking a girl,” he pointed out, an amused smile slowly spreading across his face, “it’s the natural way of things, big brother. It happens to all of us.”
“You forgot about dear old dad?” My brother was younger than me, so he didn’t remember how Mom had fallen apart when she’d finally gotten sick of his cheating ways and kicked him to the curb. “Married six times and cheated on every last one of them, probably getting ready to walk number seven down the aisle.”
“That’s him, not you. Please don’t tell me you’re too stupid to realize this?” Jase must have mistaken my silence for stupidity, because he went on, his tone exasperated as hell. “He is his own