Let me know as soon as you get home so I’ll know you’re safe. Okay?
Rhys smiled when his phone immediately vibrated with her response.
Almost there.
The creaking of door hinges brought Rhys’ head up. Ryan followed a thunderous- looking Max into the room. He tossed a cursory glance around before quietly closing the door behind him and clicking the lock in place. Rhys knew he should announce his presence, but the intense expression Max wore held him in place. It didn’t seem the time to intrude upon his grief. The plants and wooden barrier hid Rhys from view. In a small attempt to allow them some privacy, he went back to texting Mandy.
Don’t text and drive, but I want to hear all about your day.
The crash of glass shattering against the wall tested Rhys’ willpower and he leaned over an inch to get a better view while staying out of sight. Max ripped off his jacket and tossed it onto a nearby chair. He paced around the expensive piece of leather furniture, eyeing his shoes as he went. Ryan watched the fit of temper for a moment before interceding on Max’s third pass. Rhys understood both sides. Max was angry at the unfairness of life while Ryan wanted to fix things. It was what men did. If they couldn’t fix something, then they raged against it. Ryan cupped Max’s face between his hands, stopping the man from looking away as he whispered what Rhys imagined were words of encouragement.
There was something oddly familiar about the scene. A sense of déjà vu overcame him as he watched the pair. In an unexpected move, Max snagged the lapels of Ryan’s jacket and hauled him forward. Ryan accepted Max’s punishing kiss, absorbing the man’s anger and sharing his grief the only way he could. Rhys reevaluated his position, wondering once again if he should clear his throat or something, but it seemed an even worse time than before. Ryan moaned as Max backed him against the wall. The two halves of his shirt parted as Max’s mouth moved from Ryan’s lips to his chest, and Ryan tilted his head back. His eyes closed and a flush of arousal covered his skin. Even in his discomfort, Rhys recognized how masterfully Ryan twisted Max’s grief into passion, and as he looked on, the memory slammed into his mind with lightning clarity.
The room seemed hotter than usual as he fought to breathe. He’d been half insane since the moment he learned of his father’s suicide. His older brother, Dane, had given him some sort of anti-anxiety medicine right before Rhys had made the terrible decision to consume an epic amount of alcohol. The combination left him out of his head but had done nothing to cool his rage. How could his dad leave them? Even though he could hear Mandy saying his name, Rhys couldn’t control the fury boiling inside him. Blood dripped from his split knuckles, and the wall of his living room would never be the same again, but he’d calmed down enough for Mandy to touch him.
She held his face between her hands, forcing him to focus on her, but Rhys couldn’t understand a word she said. Even if the words wouldn’t penetrate his mind, the concerned tears in her blue eyes held him in check while the touch of skin on skin caused something primal to rise inside him. He had wanted her for too long. Control was not an option.
“I love you.” The look of shock on Mandy’s face did nothing to deter him. “I’ve always loved you,” he added as he buried his fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck and hauled her closer. “I need you, Mandy. Damn, I really don’t think I can stand another minute without you.”
Even before the final word left his lips, he was crushing her against him. Rhys spun until she was pinned between him and the wall.
Rhys’ heart raced and he barely resisted the urge to drop his head between his knees to stave off a rapidly approaching panic attack. The muscles in his stomach clenched as the entire night came rushing back. He’d not been gentle with her. The phone between his fingers vibrated. Drawing his knees up, Rhys draped his arm across them and dropped his forehead on it. Staring down at the face of his phone, he read the text on the screen without absorbing a word of it.
She tasted like something sweet he couldn’t identify as it mixed with the taste of the tequila he’d consumed. Her fingers fumbled with the button on his jeans as he shoved her shirt up. When she set his erection free, he lost the last ounce of sanity he had.
Tearing his mind away from the past, Rhys leaned his head against the wall. Feeling numb, he looked on as Max went down onto his knees and Ryan dropped his chin to his chest to watch. A tattoo covered Ryan’s torso, and Rhys couldn’t make out what it was, but he absently noted it continued down his body and over his hipbone. The man was built like a fighter, but Rhys didn’t think he’d ever seen him before today. He was doing his best to concentrate on anything except his own thoughts, or what the pair of men across the room were doing. Funnily enough, he knew he could look anywhere else, but he couldn’t rip his eyes away. It was the expression Ryan wore as he stared down at Max pleasuring his body. It was more than sexual.
She smelled like strawberries. It was the only thought penetrating his lust. Her moans filled his ears. Her eyes were unfocused, but she didn’t look away as her orgasm hit and she squeezed his cock with her inner muscles. A drop of blood appeared on her shell-pink bottom lip from where he’d bitten it.
“I love you.” The words rang out from across the room clearly enough to yank Rhys from the memory of Mandy’s heat. He could barely see Ryan now with Max boxing him in with his arms braced on either side of him on the wall, but Rhys recognized it had been his voice. Max touched his lips to Ryan’s briefly before a sound somewhere between a growl and sigh escaped him.
“I really want all these goddamn people to leave.”
“Do you want me to tell them to go away? I’m not above making a serious ass of myself if it will make you happy.”
Max released a low chuckle. “You make me happy. You are the only fucking thing in this world that matters to me.”
There was a tension-filled moment of silence where even the room seemed to hold its breath as the pair stared each other down. Ryan was the first to break. “Just not in front of Drew, I take it?”
Max pushed away from the wall with a frustrated snarl. Rhys caught a flash of hurt crossing over Ryan’s face before he dropped his gaze, carefully concentrating on buttoning his pants and shirt. Max scrubbed his hands over his head.
“I froze, okay? When he demanded my side of the story, I didn’t know what to say. He caught me off guard, but I’m not ashamed.”
“Yep. Gotcha,” Ryan said, sounding devoid of all emotion.
“Goddamn it, Ryan,” Max roared, crowding him against the wall again. “I swear I am not ashamed. I don’t know how to be his brother and I sure as hell don’t know how to talk to him about how I feel,” he admitted as he leaned closer. “I love you so damn much,” he added as he opened his mouth over Ryan’s. Rhys’ chest tightened at the words.
The blaring light streaming through his bedroom window felt like an axe landing in the center of his forehead. Luckily, the smell of the coffee wafting from the cup Mandy set on the bedside table didn’t cause his stomach to churn. There were smudges underneath her eyes. She smiled when she noticed he was awake. “It lives,” she said quietly as if she realized how much his head hurt. She leaned over him, smiling, and his eyes locked on the cut on her bottom lip. Reaching up, he brushed his fingers over it and caught sight of the dried blood on his knuckles. He felt sick after all.
“What happened to your lip? Please tell me I didn’t hit you?”
An odd look crossed over her face, and her voice came out sounding strained. “No. You beat up your living room wall. The lip is my fault.”
Relief washed through him. “Thank God. How did I get home from the bar? I don’t remember a thing after the first hour.”
Mandy turned her face away and fidgeted with the cup of coffee. “Dane called me and I picked you up.” Eyeing her white t-shirt and pajama pants, he guessed she’d been in a hurry to get him before he did something stupid.
“Did you show up in this?” he asked as he toyed with the hem of her shirt.
Watc
hing her profile, he saw her swallow hard before answering. “Yeah.” She gazed around the room. “If you’re going to be okay, I need to go home and change. I’ll be quick so I can take you to the funeral home today in order for you and your bothers to, you know…” She waved her hand. He didn’t want her to leave, but the knowledge she would be with him while he helped make his father’s final arrangements soothed him. She brushed her hair over her shoulder and he could swear she blinked back tears.
“Are you okay?”
Mandy nodded. “I’m just worried about you.” She punctuated her answer with a fake smile, and he knew it was for his benefit. He vowed he’d be stronger for her.
He was such an ass. She must have been devastated. The walls began closing in on him, but he noticed the door now stood open and the men were gone. He started to push himself from the floor when Aubree’s head appeared over the edge, causing his heart to jump into this throat. “There you are. I saw Max and Ryan leave.” A luminous smile stretched across her face. “Were you treated to a show?”
Rhys winced at the question. “Unfortunately, yes.”
She snorted with laughter at his answer. “I’ve been in the middle of one of those episodes. It was pretty hot from what I recall.”
Rhys concentrated on brushing the dust from his clothes as he stood to hide his surprise. Aubree’s confession cleared away a thousand questions in his mind but added a few more. He decided on an innocent one. “How did you know I was back here?”
Aubree settled onto one of the barstools and waved her hand dismissively. “I saw you come in here, and I started to join you before Max stormed in. Once Ryan closed the door, I figured I’d better wait. When they left, I put two and two together. This place is like some sort of black hole of cell service, and—believe it or not—I’ve hovered back there to make a call before myself. Did you get Mandy?”
Her question reminded him of the waiting message he’d not really seen earlier. He glanced at the screen again before answering. “Yeah. She just got home from work.”
Resting her chin on her hand, Aubree watched him for so long he barely stopped himself from fidgeting. When her question came, it was almost a relief. “You are sick with wanting her, aren’t you?”
Although Rhys had known in the back of his mind it would take an amazing woman to have captured Drew the way Aubree had, he was still in awe. He could tell she wasn’t judging or digging for information. She understood. After a moment, he nodded. “She’s the one.”
“Then it’s time for you to shit or get off the pot.”
A bark of laughter escaped Rhys. “My grandmother would have loved you. She used to say the same thing all the time.”
“She sounds like she was a smart lady. Seriously, though, you need to move in on Mandy before she gets away. Surely you don’t think no one else is interested?”
“I have a plan,” he said, telling himself it wasn’t a complete lie. He did intend to force her hand this weekend, especially now.
“Is it of the five-year variety?”
He shook his head in disbelief at her snarky comeback.
Drew appeared in the doorway with Ryan and Max in tow. “There you are. I’ve been looking for the two of you. I even enlisted help,” he said pointing at the men behind him. Rhys shot a panicked look in Aubree’s direction but she didn’t as much as flinch.
“I dragged Rhys outside with me for a few minutes. There’s too much testosterone flying around in the house. It’s not good for the baby.”
Rhys’ phone vibrated, saving him from choking on her blatant lie. He stared at the screen, reading the message three times before the horror of what he was seeing set in and his temper burst out.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Aubree jumped at his outburst. “What?”
“Goddamn it, I have to go. I’m sorry.”
“What?” Aubree repeated. “What’s happened?”
Stuffing his phone in his pocket, he pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes until he saw stars. Dropping his hands, he met Drew’s gaze across the room. “Dane is at Mandy’s house tearing the place apart.” He could hear the bleak note in his voice. He sounded tired even to him.
“I’ll go with you,” Drew offered without hesitation. “What about Aubree? You don’t want her there.”
Drew switched his gaze between him and Aubree. Rhys could see how torn he was. He wanted to help but he equally didn’t want to leave Aubree with Max. Rhys rushed to settle the matter. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve dealt with Dane alone many times.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Aubree argued.
Max cut into the conversation. “We’ll take Aubree home.”
There was a moment when Rhys thought Drew might pop a blood vessel, before he snarled. “Like hell.”
“They won’t hurt me, but if you’re worried over it, I’ll just go with you two.” Aubree was trying to be helpful, but her timing was awful, as far as Rhys was concerned. Max looked away as if her words physically hurt him. She was absolving him of guilt, but it didn’t seem as if he felt he deserved it. Drew was eyeing the room like a caged animal, and Rhys didn’t have time for their shit.
“Oh for the love of,” Rhys growled, cutting off his own curse. The picture of Dane terrorizing Mandy rose in his mind and something inside him snapped. Slamming his fist down on the wooden surface, he caused everyone to jump, but he had their attention. “This is fucking ridiculous. I don’t know the whole story and I don’t care. What I do know is I have to go, and your stupid bullshit is standing in my way. Aubree, you cannot go to this, my brother is crazy. Drew, I’m fine to go alone. I can call for a ride, but if you’re going, then your wife will be fine with Max. Max, quit being a pussy. Drew couldn’t care fucking less if you’re in love with Ryan, and as a matter of fact, the knowledge would go a long way to smoothing things over. If Drew understands anything, it’s how insane being in love with someone makes a person. Does everybody have it? Can I fucking go now?”
Halfway through his speech, Aubree covered her mouth as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and Max had frozen up like a block of ice. A look of confusion passed over Drew’s features before everything seemed to fall into place inside his mind, and he merely looked stunned. Ryan was the only person in the room who appeared unaffected by it all. Rhys realized he was probably one hell of a poker player.
Drew gave a decisive nod. “All right, let’s go.” He leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Aubree’s lips before shooting a hard look at Max. “I’m trusting you here. Don’t make me sorry.” Without waiting for a response, he headed for the door, waving for Rhys to follow.
* * * * *
Knox kept one eye locked on the road as he dug around in the console searching for the ringing cell phone. He hated technology. When he finally managed to snag it, he flipped on the hands-free speaker.
“Hello?”
“Hey man, it’s Max. I hate calling you with this shit, but Dane is over at Mandy’s tearing her place apart.” Black spots floated across Knox’s vision. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” Knox said, gripping the wheel until he thought something would snap. “Do you have an address for me?”
“Um, hold on.” He could hear a muffled conversation going on in the background before Max’s voice came through clear again. “Aubree has it. Are you ready?”
“Yep.”
Max rattled off an address, and Knox drove across the median when he realized he was going the wrong way. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll take care of it.”
The calm note to his voice belied the rage seething under his skin. Knox had given up on Dane years ago, but this was too fucking much. Traffic moved at a snail’s pace, adding fuel to his anger. Several times, he considered running a few cars off the road when they didn’t move out his way quickly enough. By the time her apartment building came into view, he was grinding his back teeth to pulp and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears.
The two parking spaces
in front of her door were already occupied. He recognized Mandy’s car as one and the other was a black Range Rover, which appeared to be brand new. The doors of the SUV and the door to Mandy’s apartment stood open. Before Knox could find a place to park, Drew appeared in the doorway with his arms around Dane as he hauled him outside.
Pulling into the first empty spot, Knox watched the show, torn between helping out and wondering why Drew was there. He didn’t see Dane’s car, and he assumed the expensive Range Rover belonged to Drew. After a few minutes of Drew going nose-to-nose with Dane, his brother went limp. Damn, he hated this shit. He’d spent so many years physically subduing their father every time he went into an alcohol- or drug-induced rage. If Drew had this, then more power to him. Knox would not waste another day on it. The sun glimmered off Mandy’s hair as she appeared in the doorway, dragging his gaze her way. Knox’s mouth fell open in surprise when her fist landed in the center of Dane’s face.
Relaxing in his seat, Knox felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. It didn’t seem he was needed after all, but he’d wait to make sure she was safe all the same.
* * * * *
If Drew was the least bit concerned over breaking every traffic law known to man, Rhys couldn’t tell. He’d shut down his emotions again, and Rhys couldn’t get a read on him any longer. On the other side of the spectrum, when they arrived at Mandy’s apartment it was to find Dane as crazed as only a person with a ton of drugs in his system could be. Mandy’s door stood open and her screams could be heard even with the doors of the SUV still closed. Dane sprang away from Mandy wild-eyed as Rhys cleared the entryway. His short blond hair stood on end and sweat coated his skin.
“You said you’d be here,” Dane accused. His gaze bounced from wall to wall as if he searched for an escape. “She said you weren’t. I thought she was lying. I just wanted her to stop lying.” Dane’s voice rose with each word.
Mandy appeared unnaturally calm. Rhys’ heart twisted at her expression. She was gone. He knew the countenance all too well. He saw it each time he looked at Knox. It was total mental blockage of the world.
Undaunted (No Rival Book 2) Page 3