Page 2 of The Bad Brother
“Take it outside.”
I press my boot heels into the crooks of his elbows, grinding their joints into the hardwood floor. “And?”
Teeth gritted against the tears that are prickling against the corner of his eyes, Billy shakes his head, his dirty blond hair scrubbing against the dance floor. “No weapons.”
I press my boot heels a little harder. “And?”
Billy swallows hard before forcing himself to look at me.
“You fight winner.”
“I fight winner.” I say it loud enough so the whole bar can hear me. It wasn’t that loud. It’s so quiet in here, I can hear every single one of them breathing. “Is that what you want, Billy? You want to fight me?”
His color slips again, bleary blue eyes widening to the point I’m sure they’re about to pop out of his head. “No, sir.”
That’s right.
No, sir.
No one in this place wants a piece of me because they know I’ll make them choke on it.
“That’s a relief,” I say, aiming a wide, deceptively friendly grin in his direction. “Because if you wanted to fight me that would mean we can’t be friends anymore.” I shake my head like the thought upsets me. “I’d hate to think you and I had to stop being friends because you were stupid enough to get caught with your dick in some creeker’s mouth in my parking lot.”
I ignore what they’re all thinking but are either too smart or too chicken shit to say out loud.
I’m a creeker.
No matter how long I’ve lived on this side of the river, how many times they get drunk in my bar, or how scared of me they all are, that’s what I am.
A creeker.
And they all know it.
“No, sir.” Billy shakes his head again, eyes still bulged out of his head. “I mean, yes, sir.”
“Good.” Slowly killing my smile, I let up on the pressure I’m putting on his elbows. “Now, repeat after me—I fucked up.”
Swallowing hard, Billy opens his mouth. “I fucked up.”
Looking up, I find the redhead still standing a few feet away. “What’s your name?”
Shifting from one boot to the other, she looks aroundlike she’s not sure who I’m talking to before she figures it out and answers me. “Summer.”
Giving her a satisfied nod, I look down at Billy again. “Summer was right to break up with me.”
Billy stares at me for a second before he remembers what we’re doing. “Summer was right to break up with me.”
“I don’t own her.”
His entire body tenses and I’m sure he’s going to make me drag him outside and put him through the side of someone’s truck. Like I said it out loud, as soon as I think it, Billy relaxes. “I don’t own her.”
“She can dance with whoever she wants.”
Rebellion over, Billy nods his head. “She can dance with whoever she wants.”
“If I start shit in his bar again, Jensen Barrett is going to shove my head up my own ass.”
Swallowing hard at the thought, Billy looks away in an attempt to save face. “If I start shit in his bar again, Jensen Barrett is going to shove my head up my own ass.”
