across them and onto the wrap-around dock. He walked around to the front of the boathouse where the terrace door was wide open. He took one step in, grabbed Peyton around the waist with his right arm, and knocked Loy Martin to the floor with his left hook.
“Stop this, Kane!” She struck out in anger, her fists slamming into his back as her feet kicked in every place but the one-thank goodness-that counts most for a man.
Loy never saw the second punch ready to strike a blow, and if he had, he might have screamed. Evan looked angrier than Kane. Braden caught his arm and held it high above his back. “I told you. We’re not going to jail tonight.”
Kane looked at the little goody bag on the coffee table. “Looks like you two planned on some fun, huh?”
“What didn’t you understand about what he did to your friend, Peyton?” Evan’s veins bulged in his neck.
Braden threw Loy his shirt. “You taping something here, Martin?”
“No. Hell, no. I’d never tape Peyton. At one time, I cared about her.”
“At one time,” Braden said “And how about now? Do you care about her now?”
Peyton wiggled against Kane’s grip. “Don’t answer them. It’s a trick question. If you tell them you still do, they’ll knock your lights out, and if you tell them you don’t, then they may just kill you for bringing me out here.”
Kane sneered. “She’s right.”
“Then can I plead the fifth and go?”
Evan narrowed his eyes on him. “On one condition.”
“I guessed as much,” Loy said. “What is it?”
“You give us a man’s word you’ll never lay one hand on her again.”
Peyton stamped her foot. Loy found the act particularly funny.
“You even act like them now. That’s a Kane and Evan Cartwell signature move. They don’t get their way, and they stomp their feet until they do. Tell me something, Peyton, are you already buying people off to get them to do what you want them to do?”
He shook his head and acted disgusted. “Don’t worry, I won’t be back for her. She’s already yours. The hell she must put you through. You three don’t know which one is going to get her, huh? What do you do? Take turns?”
Braden grabbed Loy’s shirt and pressed him against the wall. “Listen here, you little prick. We’re raising her as our own. We’re not fucking her or taking advantage of her in any way, and it’s because of that very reason, we’re not going to stand by and watch someone like you do it either.”
Loy flashed them his peculiar smile and then pointed at Kane. “Huh.” He rubbed his chin, “And here I thought Kane there kept it hard for Peyton. Hell, boys, maybe he has the hots for me.”
Peyton screamed when Kane released her. She saw the swing before Loy did, and once thrown, Loy landed on the futon bed. Evan immediately picked him up and tossed him out the door.
Braden grabbed him once they were outside and threatened him again. “Have you had enough? Wanna go for a spring swim or get the hell out of here tonight?”
Loy put his hands up in front of his face. “I’ll leave. I was out of line. It won’t happen again.” He didn’t even glance back as he ran like hell for his car.
“Peyton, not one word about this. Not one fucking word.” Braden walked by her and headed to the fridge. “You three can wait on me outside or sit here in complete silence, but I need a minute.”
By the hard-on Braden sported and the animosity lingering in the air, Kane imagined he might need more than sixty seconds. In fact, he might need a night’s worth of them.
Evan followed Peyton outside. “Are you always going to take off and blow the hell up when something doesn’t go your way?”
“Don’t talk to me, Evan.”
“Fucking immature, that’s what you are. A child. A fucking-ass child. Wanna know why I wanted a blowjob from Vicky?”
“I don’t care.”
“Sure you do,” Evan said. “It’s why you decided to call up Loy Martin and talk him into bringing you right here where we’d find you.”
“I didn’t think you’d come out here looking for me. I left my car at home, for crying out loud. You three are just so freaking paranoid that you plot my every move so you know what I’m going to do before I do it.”
“Oh, that’s the first smart thing you’ve said all night.” Evan said.
“Really? How do you figure?”
“Call it a satisfying hunch but, Peyton Storm, I don’t care when or where, one day you’re going to marry one of us and have all of us. It’s just a fact. Maybe Braden is still trying to figure all of this out but not me, certainly not Kane. You’ve been ours, lock, stock, and barrel since you moved to the ranch so yeah, I’m expecting it. All I can say is it’s your move, baby.” He picked up an empty beer can someone left there on their deck and tossed it into a nearby crate. “And I’m about ready for you to make it.”
Peyton shivered against the spring night air and wrapped her arms around her waist and cried. She turned away from the porch light and soon felt the arms of comfort draw her into an awaiting storm.
Braden held her tight against his chest, his arms tucked around her sides. His fingers began to loosen one button after another and his mouth hovered at her ear. “I’m not waiting, and I’m not stopping unless this time, you say no and you mean it. But you damn well better mean it when you say it.”
“I’m saying no.” Kane intervened and for once he didn’t have dark hooded eyes concealing the lust waiting or mischief dancing across his face. Concern lingered there and a lot of it.
“We’re not going home, are we?” Peyton studied Evan’s profile. He watched the road.
Evan always towered over everyone and even though he was tall and thin, many feared him. He worked out, tossed a lot of hay and his six-pack abs made most grown women drool. He wasn’t the most handsome of the Cartwells but because of the way he looked at a woman, many ladies around town considered him the sexiest.
“No, we’re not.”
“Wanna clue me in on where we’re going?”
“Clink.”
“Oh, that’s going to go over well, Evan. Real well.”
“Sid Jones is a friend of mine.”
“I know, and he now understands, no thanks to Braden, who I am and how old I am.”
“And with me by your side, he’s going to offer us VIP service and never breathe a word of it to anyone.”
“Kane’s gonna blow.”
“I’m more worried about Braden. Kane stopped a wheel I’ve been dying to see set in motion but he threw the wrong spoke this time. Braden will go home with blue balls from hell and once he finds out where I’m taking you, Kane will pay hell.” He chuckled and obviously liked the idea.
“I have school tomorrow.”
“Ditch it or go in late.”
“Evan, I’ve missed two days this semester. I never miss school. It’s going to send up red flags and-”
“Oh but Peyton, you’re over eighteen, remember? See the system doesn’t care now whether you’re in school or not just as long as you don’t totally disregard their attendance policy, and you haven’t. You’re an adult and you get to decide. See how this works? Don’t you love making your own choices?”
“Then I’m making one now. I don’t want to go to Clink and I don’t want to hang out with you tonight.”
“Too damn bad, baby. Eighteen doesn’t mean shit to me. I’m going to do what I should’ve done when I was seventeen.”
“You mean you want to screw me?”
“You mean this is news to you?” He slammed on the brakes right in the middle of the lonesome road. “It goes
