“Yet you pursued me,” I snap, and he lets out a low chuckle, his tongue swiping over his teeth before he speaks.
“And yet you never stopped to wonder why,” Travis sneers, stepping closer to me. “I mean, come on…”
“Hate to break it to you, Travis, but you’re nobody’s first choice.”
“I had my mouth on you right here on this farm on our first date. Didn’t have to try too hard, did I?”
His smugness makes my blood boil, and I want to claw the look right off his face. But I bite my tongue because the bastard isn't wrong, and I hate that more than anything.
“You think I don’t notice the way my dad watches you?”
“What?”
“I saw it the night we met, and I’ve seen it every time you two are in the same room since.” He stops just inches from me, so close that I can feel the heat of his breath. “Must kill him, knowing his son’s got the one thing he can’t touch. Bet he lies awake at night thinking about it.”
Wow. Fucking wow.
A laugh erupts out of me before I can stop it. I brace myself on the back of a chair, my head falling forward as my shoulders shake, and I gasp for breath.
“Is this funny to you?” he spits out.
“Oh god, you have no idea.” I wheeze, my body convulsing withlaughter. I barely register him moving before his hands are on me, yanking me upright.
“Why the hell are you laughing?”
Still breathless, I swipe at my eyes and tilt my head back to meet his furious stare. His face is red, and his jaw is clenched so tight I swear I hear his teeth grind, and when he finally lets me go, his fists tremble at his sides like he’s one wrong word away from losing his shit.
“Because…” I breathe, still grinning. “It means that all these months of being bored out of my fucking mind with you, I could’ve been riding your dad instead.”
His nostrils flare, his whole body locking up like he’s barely keeping himself from putting his fist through the wall.
“You think he’s the better man? I took you.”
A laugh rips from my throat as I shake my head. “Yeah, because I never once believed somebody like him would want me. But you? You obviously did.”
“Don’t think you’re special, Piper. My dad would get balls deep in anything with a pulse if they looked his way.”
“Clearly…” I drag the word out, relishing the way his face starts to twist. “He did fuck your mom, after all.”
The crack of his hand against my face explodes through the kitchen like a gunshot. Pain lashes across my cheek and whips my head to the side with enough force that it makes my teeth rattle. The burn spreads like wildfire, my ears ring, and for just a second, all I hear is my own breathing.
And then it sinks in.
The asshole actually fucking hit me.
My vision tunnels to a pinpoint of red-hot rage. There’s no hesitation, no second-guessing. I rear back, pouring every ounce of hatred, every shred of humiliation, and every moment I’ve wasted on this pathetic excuse of a man into my right fist. Bone meets bone in a sickening crunch, and I’m almost certain I feel his nose cave beneath my knuckles. His head snaps back, a garbled sound rips from his throat, and all I feel is satisfaction. Because no man puts his hands on me and walks away with his nose intact.
Chapter 12
Christian
It’s beena long ass day. I’ve been out delivering trees from dawn until dusk, my back is aching and my fingers are numb from the cold. All I wanted was to walk into my house, kick off my boots, and maybe pour a drink. But that thought dies the second I step through the door.
Travis is slumped over the sink, blood dripping into the basin and smearing across the kitchen counter like a scene out of a backwoods bar brawl gone wrong. Tissues are scattered everywhere, all of them soaked through and useless. I rush over, clutching his head and tilting it back to assess the damage, when I catch sight of Piper sitting at the kitchen table.
She’s leaned back in the wooden chair, one leg draped casually over the other, her arms resting loosely at her sides. There’s a calm to her that isn’t calm at all, and those eyes are pure wildfire. Green and burning, filled with a quiet rage so controlled it’s breathtakingly beautiful.
“What the hell happened to you?” I demand, peeling Travis’s trembling hand away from his face. There’s blood everywhere, and beneath my fingers, I can feel the swelling, the telltale signs of bone out of place.
