“Hurry up already!”
I rolled my eyes and swung my red hair back over my shoulder, checking out my dress one more time.
It was a black strapless number that covered me from armpit to toes, dancing into a fluff of tulle and lace at my feet.
My feet were encased in high heels so high that I teetered on them even when I was standing perfectly still.
“Let’s go!”
I rolled my eyes and opened the door, heading to my impatient dad who looked as if he’d rather sit down on the couch next to my mom rather than go to dinner with me.
“You could at least act like you’re excited to take me somewhere fancy,” I teased my father.
He gave me an exasperated look.
“You know how I feel about these things,” he mumbled, scratching his head with annoyance.
I rolled my eyes and waved to my mother, who looked miserable on the couch.
She flicked up two fingers in a pitiful excuse of a wave and closed her eyes.
I grinned and followed my father out the door.
“You’re going to get whatever she has,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m hoping not.”
“You just kissed her on the lips,” I told him. “You’re totally getting it.”
He grinned. “I’ll never leave without getting a kiss. I’ve been doing it for your entire life and won’t stop just because she has a cold. That’s the whole point of the ‘in sickness and in health’ thing that I signed up for the day we got married.”
I got into the passenger side of the truck and pulled out my phone, snapping a picture of myself and sending it.
“Who was that to?” he asked.
“Saylor,” I answered. “She told me to send her a picture.”
“Why?” he asked. “You’re going to be seeing her in ten minutes.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. She asked. So I sent it to her.”
I giggled when I got a picture back.
Lock did not look happy to be getting a photo taken. Nor did he look amused by my sister-in-law’s attempt to take a picture.
“How much money are they trying to raise this year?” I asked as I put my phone into my bag.
Every year for the police banquet, they sold tickets to it and then donated the proceeds to whatever department most needed it. Tickets were two hundred dollars a pop, and I honestly wasn’t sure why so many cops were forced to go—cops like my father.
Luckily, the cops didn’t have to pay for their spots and plates, because otherwise they would’ve had some very unhappy people on their hands.
“No idea,” Dad admitted. “I think I missed that particular meeting.”
My lips twitched as we made our way down the long length of our driveway that led to the main road.
Dad didn’t seem in the best mood, so I chose to use the time that we had for the drive to catch up on a book I’d been really interested in reading, but hadn’t had time for.
By the time that we got to the banquet, I realized what a mistake it had been.
The book was good, and I’d rather curl up in my comfiest pajamas than go mingle with the area’s wealthiest people.
Alas, I knew how the banquet benefitted the Kilgore Police Department, so I chose to not be a total loser and pasted a smile on my face.
“Ready?” Dad asked as he held his hand out for me.
I nodded and took his hand, thankful that he’d stopped to help me across the uneven parking lot.
“I hate heels,” I admitted as we walked up the stairs.
Dad took them easily, waiting for me at the top as I took them much slower than he.
When I got to the top, Dad looked over my shoulder and nodded at someone.
I frowned and turned my head and nearly fell right down the stairs.
Because behind me was the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life.
The tall blonde man was looking debonair in a black suit. The only pop of color in his entire ensemble was his bowtie, which was hot pink.
His eyes looked black in the nearly dark night, and they were aimed directly at me.
I managed a smile, but only barely.
“Hello,” I said softly.
“Hi,” he replied, stopping two steps down.
Dad’s arm curled around my elbow as he helped me move out of the way.
“How’s life treating you, Hayes?” Dad asked the man at my back.
“Well,” Hayes replied. “Though, it’d be better if I wasn’t being forced to attend this.”
A shiver ran down the length of my spine.
His words sounded like everything I never knew that I needed.
Dark, sultry nights in a bed with the most unimaginable pleasure. A cooling breeze in the middle of a Texas summer. Dark velvet and chocolate.
Jesus, I was getting poetic over a man’s voice!
But holy shit, there was something very sexy about it.
I’d never heard a rasp quite like that before.
And the sexy drawl he had to it made me want to crawl into him and dissect the Southern accent.
I wanted to blurt out ‘where are you from?’ But barely refrained from making a fool of myself.
Instead, I smoothed my tongue over the front of my teeth and started walking, praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face in front of the sexiest man I’d ever seen.
That hope blew up and died the moment that I smiled at the man holding the door.
Ryan.
Son of a bitch.
My momentary inattention to the uneven ground had me nearly tripping and smacking my head on the concrete steps that led into the building that was hosting the event.
My father’s arm caught me before I could so much as fall a foot, and the man behind me, who had enormous hands, helped steady me.
“T-thank you,” I stuttered, looking at the man.
His eyes weren’t on me, though. They were on Ryan.
And he was glaring.
“Ryan,” Hayes said darkly. “You’re in the way of the door.”
Ryan smiled his charming smile, the one that he only pulled out when he was annoyed and felt like smiling would get him somewhere.
“Sorry, I’m waiting for my date.” He grinned.
“Well, wait outside of the fucking doorway,” Hayes muttered. “We can’t get through.”
I would’ve laughed had I not sensed the tension that was boiling at the surface.
If I laughed, I wasn’t sure if it would bring Hayes’ irritation my way or not. And there was no way that I wanted that man’s irritation.
Now, his desire? Yeah, I’d take that.
But he looked downright scary when he glared at Ryan.
Ryan, who was beginning to look uncomfortable.
“Ryan,” Dad said. “Good to see you.”
My dad could lie with the best of them.
My dad wasn’t pleased to see Ryan.
And neither was I.
I wanted to ask him why he’d bothered calling to see if I was free tonight when he obviously had plans and a date.
But I chose to keep my mouth shut.
Honestly, that was the best way to keep my cool when it came to Ryan McMillan.
Ryan finally moved out of the doorway just as I heard a click-clack of heels, and I crossed through the door and looked over my shoulder to see Ryan’s date make her way up to him.
“You know him?”
The growled question was directed at me, and I shivered.
“Yes,” I paused. “Unfortunately.”
“Ryan and my girl used to date before Ryan decided to pursue his baseball career. He broke up with her the day that he got drafted,” Dad told him.
Hayes grunted. “Well, you dodged a bullet with that one. My stepbrother is a douche.”
My mouth fell open.
“You’re that Hayes?” I gasped, coming to a complete stop in the middle of
the opulent foyer. “He said you were a POW.”
Prisoner of War. Missing and never to be found again.
Hayes’ face completely shut down.
There wasn’t an ounce of nice guy there. Only a blank mask belonging to a man who very clearly did not, under any terms, want to talk about anything that had to do with being a prisoner of war.
So noted.
“Annnnd, that’s my cue to take you and run,” Dad said. “Let’s go.”
I looked at Hayes once over my shoulder to see him staring at his feet, lost in thought, and knew that I’d put my foot in my mouth.
When we were in the banquet hall, Dad pulled me to the corner and looked at me as if I was nuts.
“You need to learn to use that thing between your brain and your mouth. It’s called a fucking filter,” he growled.
I threw my hands up in the air.
“I didn’t know it was something we didn’t discuss!” I argued. “How was I supposed to know that? Jesus Christ. I was just making sure it was the same guy. But hells bells, the way Ryan described it, he was gone for a long, long time. They assumed he was dead. They even had a funeral for him.”
My dad winced.
“Hayes has PTSD. He’s on the SWAT team. He functions… but I don’t think that he’s over what happened. He was a prisoner of war for a long time. Just… be gentle with him, Ares. He’s not like me or your brother,” he said.
I instantly felt bad.
My father was right.
He wasn’t like my dad or my brother. Two of the most outgoing and peoplely persons out there.
Me? I wasn’t a people person. I put on a good act, almost had to when I was at work seeing as I was the counselor, but the moment I got home I practically folded into myself.
In fact, right here and now, having to deal with all of these stuck-up people—and Ryan who was most definitely not the same Ryan when I had dated him—was making my head hurt.
I knew that I’d have a headache by the time we got our first course brought out.
“Sorry, sorry,” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to offend him.”
My dad would’ve replied but just as he opened his mouth to do that, my brother came up and scared the absolute crap out of me.
I screeched in surprise, my entire body jolting, and barely managed to catch my dress before the whole damn thing slid right the fuck off.
“Jesus Christ, Lock.” I punched him. Hard. “You almost made me flash everyone in the whole fucking room!”
Lock laughed but held his arm where I punched him. “That hurt!”
I bared my teeth. “It was supposed to, fucker.”
“Let’s go find our seats,” Saylor ordered. “I hear they have chocolate at the table.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“We’re in the back right corner,” I said. “That’s what my ticket stub says anyway.”
Saylor headed that way with me right behind her.
My dad and Lock got sidetracked by a group of men that wanted to talk shop, and when we arrived at our table, I nearly came to a sudden, bone-jarring halt to find not only Ryan and his date there, but also Hayes. The man I just offended to the point where he closed up like a virgin’s legs.
Jesus Christ.
This should prove fun.
I took the seat that was farthest away from Ryan, but also not in his line of sight as long as I didn’t lean forward. Unfortunately, the seating arrangement also put me directly across from Hayes, who watched me move.
I swallowed hard and took my seat, urging Saylor down next to me.
“Talk to me,” I hissed. “Make it better.”
She frowned. “Make what better?”
“Who’s your friend?”
I gritted my teeth and spared Ryan a glance. He was leaning backward so far that he was threatening the integrity of the chair legs.
“This is my brother’s wife, Saylor,” I answered him, going for polite but coming out more ‘constipated.’
“Who is that?” Saylor whispered.
“That’s my ex,” I explained in just as low of a tone.
“And who is the man that’s staring at you like you’re his lunch?” she pushed, her eyes flicking to Hayes and back.
I chanced a glance in his direction to see his eyes on me.
Luckily, before I could answer, a waiter came by and asked what everyone wanted to drink.
When the man got to Hayes, Hayes said one word. “Whiskey.”
I swallowed hard, chancing another look to find his eyes still on me.
“And you, Miss?” the waiter asked me.
I licked my lips. “Ummm, whiskey sounds great!”
Whiskey sounded awful. I hated whiskey. Why did I just say that?
“Excellent choice,” the waiter sounded surprised by my order.
Don’t worry buddy, I was, too.
“When did your brother get married?” Ryan asked, looking confused.
I ignored him, my eyes scanning the room.
Since when did he care about my brother?
In fact, my brother and he did not get along. I was fairly sure he really didn’t care that my brother was now a married man.
“Ares?”
I gritted my teeth and turned to stare at Ryan.
“Yes?” I asked through gritted teeth when he waited for me to acknowledge him.
“I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Brooke.” He gestured to the woman next to him.
I gave her a smile and a wave. “Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Ares. This is my sister-in-law, Saylor. That man right there is Hayes, Ryan’s step-brother.”
Since I hadn’t seen Ryan introduce Hayes once, and I really didn’t want Ryan’s attention focused on me anymore.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
“I know who Hayes is,” Brooke said softly. “It’s nice to meet you, Ares. Saylor.”
I gritted my teeth and looked away, really wishing I’d said no to my father when he’d asked me to join him today.
“So, did you find a job?” Ryan asked.
I would’ve beat my head against the table if I thought it would help.
Ryan would just find it amusing to know that he was annoying me.
“Yep,” I said, then turned to Saylor. “I have to go to the bathroom. Want to come?”
Right when she would’ve answered, Lock arrived. “She just went. Go by yourself.”
I rolled my eyes and did just that, but not before pulling a lock of my brother’s hair as I passed.
“Ow,” he muttered, glaring at me over his shoulder.
I stuck out my tongue and moved swiftly across the large ballroom.
I smiled at people I knew and avoided the eyes of those that I didn’t.
By the time that I arrived at the bathroom, I wished I never would’ve said I needed to go.
I’d been stopped by no less than five people wanting to talk to me.
Making it to the bathroom, I made quick work of going—I mean I was in the bathroom. I didn’t pass up opportunities to go. One never knew when the opportunity would arise again.
By the time I finished, and I was making my way back out the door, I’d been at least ten minutes.
Seeing Ryan waiting for me outside the bathroom didn’t surprise me in the least. I ignored him and rushed forward, taking a hard left and bypassing him completely.
“Why are you here with him?”
The hissed question had me turning to stare into the darkened hallway.
“With who?” I asked, confused.
“My brother. I saw you come in with him. Saw y’all talking. He doesn’t talk to anybody,” Ryan said. “So I know that you have something going on.”
I would’ve rolled my eyes, but I knew that he wouldn’t like it. And it would keep me there even longer than necessary. Nor did I bother to correct him on my status with his brother not being what he assumed. What did I care if he thought we w
ere together or not?
“Umm,” I paused. “What’s it to you?”
I mean, correct me if I was wrong, but I was fairly sure that I’d gotten dumped by the man.
“It’s my business whether you get with my brother or not,” Ryan said stiffly, sounding pissed.
I rolled my eyes and continued out of the darkened hallway, not interested in having the conversation there.
More so, it really was none of his fucking business. The last time it was his business was about ten minutes before he’d gotten drafted. When he’d taken me as a date to a dinner, where we’d celebrated his getting drafted.
“Ares, stop,” Ryan hissed, pulling me to a stop in the shadows.
I gritted my teeth and ignored his hand that would’ve once sent butterflies exploding in my belly.
Now it only sent anger spearing through my veins.
I yanked my arm away and glared at him. “Make me.”
When I would’ve once again started off, he did make me stop.
I glared when he caught my arm again, this time tightening his hold.
I wouldn’t be escaping with the same move again.
“Let. Me. Go,” I ordered. “Now.”
“Hayes is bad news, Ares.” Ryan ignored my order. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ryan, let me go!”
Ryan narrowed his eyes. “He’s not right in the head, Ares. No joke. He’s not.”
I growled. “If you don’t let me go, I’m going to scream.”
He growled and let me go, and I barely resisted the urge to rub my arm where he’d been squeezing.
Logically, I knew that he hadn’t meant to hurt me.
He’d never been rough before and actually hated it when he saw my brother do what brothers did—i.e., hurt me just to see me cry.
So I didn’t say a word about how my arm now stung.
Instead, I turned on my heels and walked back to the table, thankful that he hadn’t stopped me.
I arrived at the table and sat down with a growl of frustration.
My brother and dad were talking to Saylor and Brooke, which suited me just fine. If they paid attention to me, they’d see that I was pissed. Then they’d assume that the asshat was to blame and would start something of it.
Ryan sat down seconds after I did, wrapping his arm around Brooke’s shoulder and pulling her in tight to his chest.
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