Unsurpassed

by Charity Parkerson

  The simmering anger, guilt and hurt he nursed brought him to his feet. The world seemed to slow around him as he moved toward the car. Drew lifted Aubree’s hand to his mouth, holding her gaze as he pressed his lips to it before opening his door. Aubree didn’t move and she kept her face averted as if she could no longer bear to look at him. It was one thing too many.

  Springing forward, Ryan struck, aiming for Drew’s jaw. At the last second, Drew pivoted to the left and Ryan’s fist swiped at empty air. Aubree leapt from the car as Drew snagged Ryan’s arm. His vise-like grip sent a sharp pain all the way through Ryan’s body as Drew twisted until Ryan hit his knees.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Ignoring Aubree’s screeched question, Ryan gasped against the pain as he fought Drew’s hold, but the man didn’t let up. Aubree attempted to push her way between them and Drew shoved him away. Shooting back to his feet, Ryan curled his fingers into a fist, preparing to strike again. Aubree stepped into his path. The giant fighter—who’d been seconds away from breaking Ryan’s arm—was rendered helpless by the tiny blonde woman as she refused to budge.

  Under any other circumstances, Ryan might’ve found Drew’s reaction funny. His inner debate was written all over his face. Drew was big enough to physically move her out of the way, but obviously too intelligent to try. With her palm flattened against his chest, Aubree pushed until Drew’s back was against the car. Ryan didn’t kid himself. He knew the man could plow right through her. He’d allowed Aubree to intervene. His eyes, however, told Ryan a different story. Ryan held onto his life by Aubree’s mercy alone. Apparently satisfied Drew would behave, Aubree turned her rage on him.

  “I cannot believe your fucking nerve. After everything you’ve done, you come to my house and pull this shit.”

  “Ask him what he did to Max,” Ryan said, interrupting her tirade. “Or do you already know?” he added, as another horrible thought hit him. He’d never considered her involvement, but then again, it had been her they’d hurt.

  When Aubree’s brow furrowed in confusion, a spike of triumph ran through him. He released a bitter laugh. “So, he hasn’t told you, after all.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at Drew. “What about Max?” His eyes went flat and any doubts Ryan had over the identity of Max’s attacker fled.

  Ryan could feel his jaw ticking as he bit down on his anger. “He’s been in the hospital for the past week. He was found unconscious behind the gym. He has a concussion, six broken ribs and a hairline fracture in his collarbone. His spleen ruptured and there was some other internal bruising. He’s refusing to cooperate with the police and there is no evidence to point at anyone, but I know who he was supposed to meet there,” Ryan said tilting his chin in Drew’s direction. Aubree opened her mouth as if to defend him, but her teeth snapped together and she turned on Drew.

  “Your knuckles.”

  The two words brought about a world of change in Drew’s expression. Ryan was rendered speechless at the powerful emotion written on the man’s face as he stared at Aubree. “He put his hands on you,” Drew said between clenched teeth. His nostrils flared, and Ryan braced to intervene as Drew took a step in Aubree’s direction, but he merely brushed Aubree’s hair away from her face before gently taking it between his hands. “Nobody puts their hands on my wife. The thought of anyone hurting you…” He trailed off as if choking on his words and shook his head.

  “Wait. What?” Ryan asked, grasping to absorb what he was hearing.

  Aubree clutched Drew’s shirt appearing almost desperate to hang onto him. “How did you—”

  Drew cut his eyes in Ryan’s direction. “There were tiny eyes watching.”

  “I didn’t want you to know.”

  “You should have told me,” Drew said, and even Ryan could hear the pain behind the statement. “I’m your husband. You should have trusted me to keep you safe.”

  “Hold on. Hold on,” Ryan said, unable to stand any more. “Max hit you and you married this guy?” He shook his head in disbelief as the pair continued to ignore him, and Aubree’s voice turned almost pleading.

  “I trust you always with everything. It was never about that.”

  “Then why didn’t you say anything? The moment Max got physical, you should have come straight to me. Scratch that. The first time he showed up at your job, you should have said something.”

  Aubree reached up, touching his hands, before drawing them away from her face, and linking their fingers. At the move, Ryan caught a flash of her wedding rings and the air left his lungs. “You’re everything to me,” Aubree said. “Do you know what I would do if the roles were reversed?” She dropped her chin to her chest and took a deep breath before meeting Drew’s eyes once more. Ryan almost took a step back at the fierce look on her face. “I would kill someone if they touched you. That’s why I didn’t say anything. I knew you would hurt him, but in the end, it would be you who would lose everything. I couldn’t watch Max limp away while you lost your career and reputation. You’re worth a hundred of him. How could I let such a thing happen?”

  When Drew responded, his voice came out sounding as if he were chewing on gravel. “I love you more than any of those things. Don’t ever keep something like this from me again.”

  After a moment, Aubree nodded and Drew’s eyes fell closed showing his relief over her acquiescence. Shock sat heavily on Ryan. As much as he didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, the truth was in the powerful emotions hanging in the air. Max had physically hurt Aubree in some way. Even though Ryan’s mind rejected the notion, as her husband, Drew had done what he knew how to do to protect her.

  Without a thought to his own safety, Ryan moved in and wrapped his arms around Aubree’s shoulders before anyone could protest. “I didn’t know. I swear,” he told her quietly. He didn’t wait for a response. Their once beautiful friendship was dead and nothing anyone said would change things. The single option he possessed was to walk away and hope, one day, Aubree would no longer hate him.

  The muscles in Drew’s chest flinched as he physically held himself back from ripping Ryan’s arms away from Aubree’s shoulders. The blank expression on her face kept him in check. She endured Ryan’s touch but she didn’t welcome it. Without another word, Ryan walked away and climbed inside the red Chevy Tahoe across the street. He didn’t drive away. Drew had wasted no time marrying Aubree and after making good on his promise to give Trina an awesome Christmas, he’d stolen Aubree away for a full week of solitude. All the while, he’d hoped this problem would disappear before they returned, but if didn’t, then he’d spent a week of bliss with his new wife before serving whatever sentence he landed. In spite of everything, Drew was willing to meet Ryan halfway. If Aubree wanted to keep him as a friend, she could have him as a friend and nothing more, or Drew would kill him.

  “Should I tell him there is no reason for him to leave?”

  Aubree shook her head at Drew’s question. “I don’t want him here.” Before he had time to enjoy his relief over her answer, tears filled her eyes, and Drew couldn’t breathe any longer. With everything she’d been through, he’d never seen her cry, and Drew made a terrible discovery. He couldn’t handle it.

  “I’m so sorry,” she gasped out. Drew wrapped his arms around Aubree, clutching her tightly to his chest in part for comfort but also because her tears scared the hell out of him. A shudder ran through her. “I can’t believe Trina saw everything. I feel like such an awful person. I didn’t know what to do. She must’ve been so scared.”

  Drew snorted. “You’re not an awful person and you shouldn’t worry so much about Trina. The fact she was the one who witnessed everything is the best thing that could have possibly happened to you. That little girl was planning Max’s downfall like a pro. She’s going to give some man hell one of these days.”

  Aubree let out a watery laugh before sobering once more. “You really almost killed him.” Drew’s grip tightened even more until she gasped, reminding him of his str
ength, and he was forced to loosen his hold.

  Rubbing his hands over her back, he did his best to make amends. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget how easily I could hurt you, but it’s as if I think if I hold onto you tight enough, then it will keep you with me once you figure out I’m too much of everything. It scares the hell of me to think I might wake up from this dream and find you gone.”

  “Not going to happen,” she said sounding fierce. He kissed the top of her head to let her know how much her words meant to him.

  “I need you to know, I did try to do things differently. If I’d gone straight to Max after leaving the hospital, I would’ve killed him. Of that, I have no doubts. Instead, I tried to calm down, and I went to see my dad.”

  Aubree pulled back and met his gaze appearing shocked. “You did?”

  Drew slowly nodded. “At first, I thought I’d let Max have his way, and then maybe I wouldn’t be as angry when I went to see him.” Drew scrubbed his hand across the back of his head. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but I guess I thought it would take the fear out of my anger. I didn’t want him to ever come to you with anything again, but it did nothing but give me more time to stew over it. I kept picturing him—” Drew broke off, unable to give a voice to the things he saw inside his mind. Aubree attempted to soothe him with her touch. She smoothed her hands over his chest before moving to his shoulders and down his arms then repeating the motion. The sun glimmered off the diamond on her finger. He’d bought her the ring while they’d been in Monterey. He covered her hand with his, holding it in place against his chest. Her eyes were red-rimmed but dry and the blue of her irises stood out even brighter than usual. A thousand worries over how she might feel about him now rushed to the surface. However, after a moment of simply watching her, a tiny smile touched her lips. He knew they’d be okay.

  “Just so you know, being married to me is a huge responsibility. I have expectations.”

  Aubree pressed her lips together, but in spite of her best efforts, a dimple appeared in the corner of her mouth. After a moment, she managed to rearrange her features into a serious expression. “Is that so? Well, this I have to hear.”

  He bit back a laugh at her tone and barely managed a solemn nod. “I fully expect you to let me have my way in all things. In exchange for your cooperation, I promise to be the biggest freak in bed you’ve ever heard of.”

  A chuckle escaped Aubree before her eyes turned calculating. She closed the space between them, pressing her body against his. “Don’t think I won’t call you on your boast. I totally have a few ideas.”

  “I knew you would,” he said, lowering his mouth to hers.

  * * * * *

  It took Ryan fifteen minutes to decide what to do. He’d exaggerated a bit when he explained Max’s hospital stay to Aubree, not about the extent of his injuries, but Max had gone home the day before yesterday.

  Turning the key in the ignition, Ryan pulled away from the curb. His anger over the knowledge of what had really happened the night of Max’s attack carried him all the way to front door of the apartment he shared with the man filling his thoughts. The moment he stepped through the entryway, all Ryan felt was disappointment. Wearing a white cotton t-shirt and a loose pair of workout shorts, Max was sprawled out across the couch nursing his injuries, as he’d been instructed to do for the next four weeks. Ryan realized in that moment, exactly how much he’d done for their friendship. He’d lied, schemed, hurt people he cared about and broken the law. After all those things, Max couldn’t even be honest with him.

  Kicking the door closed behind him, Ryan tossed his keys on the table before moving to stand over the man he suddenly felt he knew nothing about. The look of resignation on Max’s face said more than anything else could have, as he waited silently for Ryan to explode. Instead, he sat down on the edge of the coffee table near Max’s head, bracing his elbows on his knees while trying to decide what to say. Unable to think of a single thing that would define how he felt, Ryan settled on simply wanting to hear the truth.

  “I just had an interesting chat with Drew.” Max looked away, confirming his guilt. “Tell me,” Ryan demanded, hearing the bite in his own words.

  Max kept his eyes locked on the corner of the room as he cleared his throat uncomfortably. He opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture before dropping them again. “I wanted my dad to get the closure he needed, and it was important to me for you to have the woman who means so much to you. I’ve spent so much fucking time trying to give everyone everything while pretending like it means nothing to me.” Max gestured helplessly again as if he didn’t know how to explain. “I begged Aubree to talk to Drew. She told me she was in love with him and wouldn’t use his feelings for her against him. I saw everything slipping away. I kind of snapped, and it was like I wasn’t me any longer. I pushed her and she hit her head.” Max’s eyes fell closed and Ryan could feel the man’s disgust in himself. “The way she looked at me.” Falling silent, Max shook his head. After a moment, he cleared his throat again. “Anyhow, when I agreed to meet Drew behind the club, I took one look in his eyes, and I thought, thank God I don’t have to do this anymore. Unfortunately, I woke up in the hospital and realized it is never going to end.”

  Ryan stared at the fading bruises on the left side of Max’s face and contemplated making the right side match. “Really, Max? What the fuck?” He exploded before he realized it was going to happen. “Is she that important to you? Did losing Aubree mean so much? Does it mean everything to you for your father to get the chance to assuage his guilt over his mistakes that you would do this to yourself?”

  A sad smile touched Max’s lips, taking Ryan by surprise. “You’re so fucking blind. I mean seriously God damn stupid blind,” Max said with a snort. “I don’t want Aubree at all.”

  Ryan couldn’t do anything except stare at Max in disbelief. A thousand arguments came to mind. As he tried to decide which one to use first, he was blasted by the memory of the night they spent with Aubree. Her tight heat surrounded his cock while her cries of pleasure filled his ears. Her wet blonde hair clung to her chest as she rested her head against Max’s shoulder. The closed expression Ryan was accustomed to seeing on Max’s face was gone as he rocked against her from behind. A flush rode high on Max’s cheeks and his lips parted on a gasp. He was the ultimate picture of aroused male, moments away from release. His eyes— Ryan viciously cut off the memory. He couldn’t shut out the man who was silently watching him now. Max was right. He was so fucking blind.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Max looked away at the question. “What would you have had me say?”

  “Anything,” Ryan answered immediately before his anger caught up with him and he added, “Anything at all would’ve been better than this fucking silence. Did you really think you couldn’t say a single goddamn thing to me?”

  Showing some life for the first time since Ryan walked through the door, Max met his gaze, and his eyes shined with fury. “And what, Ryan? What damn difference would it have made?”

  Something inside Ryan snapped in the face of Max’s anger. “This,” he growled, pushing away from the table and snagging Max by the neck. Ryan caught a flash of surprise passing over Max’s features, as he yanked him forward, and opened his mouth over his. It wasn't the first time they’d kissed. Just as Aubree wasn’t the first woman they’d shared, but it had always been more of a heat of the moment, everyone in this bed right now is turned on sort of thing. This was different. This was Ryan accepting all the things he’d refused to see over the years. The desperation he’d felt to have Aubree was his need to have her as an excuse for what he really wanted. A sound vibrated from the back of Max’s throat causing Ryan to go hard. He’d forgotten, or purposely blocked out, the memory of Max’s taste. Now he couldn’t get enough. Tightening his hold on the base of Max’s neck, Ryan swore he felt his jaw crack as he ate at Max’s mouth.

  Max gave back as good as he got until he
attempted to drag Ryan even closer, and he gasped in pain. Ryan jerked away. “Fuck. I forgot.”

  “Don’t care,” Max said between deep breaths as if he were attempting to push past his injuries.

  “I care. I don’t ever want to hurt you.” Ryan held Max’s stare trying to make him understand exactly how much he meant the words. In spite of the deep incision down the center of his abdomen and the cracked collarbone, Max’s eyes were completely focused. “Damn. I forgot what it was like to have your full attention,” Ryan breathed. Gripping the back of the couch to keep from leaning too much weight on Max’s wounds, he dipped his head again, capturing Max’s lips once more. He needed to leave the man alone and let him recover from his injuries. Ryan realized he simply wasn’t capable of it as he sank his teeth into Max’s bottom lip.

  Max buried his hand in Ryan’s hair, growling against his mouth. “To hell with this babying me shit. I’m not dead yet.”

  “Fuck you, you bastard. You don’t get to leave me,” Ryan argued, giving into his anger over Max wanting Drew to kill him.

  Max snorted. “Well, you’re doing a pretty good job of trying to kill me now. At least take this fucking shirt off.” Ryan leaned away, pulling the shirt over his head. Amber irises moved over his body, pausing at each of Ryan’s tattoos, and his dick throbbed at the way Max was looking at him. “I changed my mind. Put it back on.”

  A husky laugh fell from Ryan’s lips as he recognized exactly how turned on Max was. “No.”

  Max’s nostrils flared as he took a steadying breath. The muscle in his jaw began ticking. Unable to resist tormenting him further, Ryan swooped in again before he could argue. Max met him halfway. He sucked on Ryan’s tongue in such a way that Ryan’s balls drew up tight and he wondered if he would come from their kiss alone. Without giving Max any warning, Ryan reached down, and shoved his hand inside the workout shorts. As he slid his fingers down the silky skin of Max’s erection, he groaned and Ryan stroked his shaft swearing the pleasure was his own. Tearing his mouth away, Max gulped for air. “Damn you. I have four more weeks of this torture.”