“Ladies, ladies.” Randy stepped into the foray escorted by Colton. “Let’s calm this down.”
“Can she do that? Take the ducks?”
I jerked at the sound of Kinsley’s voice next to me. “Probably not,” I muttered.
Agatha jerked in our direction. “What are you two whispering about? Your next soiree?”
I froze.
Kinsley recovered faster than I did and snorted. “Soiree? What are you talking about, Agatha?”
“We all know you’re sleeping together!”
Every single person in the area froze.
“Do you now?” Randy drawled, covering for us. “Don’t you think it’s time for your meds, Agatha?”
“Oh, shut up, Randolph!” Mabel said. “You know your granddaughter is seeing your grandson’s best friend! You’ve been keeping it secret like we have! Don’t deny it, you traitor!”
Everyone in the immediate area froze.
At least that’s how it felt.
Especially when Colton approached me.
“Colt—” Kinsley said weakly, taking a step forward.
He ignored her, his gaze laser-focused on me. “Is that true?”
I had no fucking answer for him.
“Yes!” Agatha shrieked in the background. “They’ve been—”
“Shut up, Hagatha, you shit-stirring old coot!” came Rosie’s sharp tone as she rejoined the group.
“Rosie, I swear I will—”
“Is it fucking true?” Colton ground out every single word as he glared at me from barely five feet away.
Tori stepped forward, shoving me out of the way. “Of course it’s not.”
“I didn’t ask you, Tori.” Colt changed his trajectory until he was mere feet from me. “I asked Josh. I asked him if it’s true that he, my best friend, is sleeping with my sister.”
Kinsley’s blurred form appeared in my peripheral. “Colton—”
“Yeah.” I steeled myself for his response. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I heard her gasp before I felt the rock of his fist connect with my jaw in a sharp burst of pain that radiated throughout my entire skull. I staggered back and dropped to my knee, grabbing the side of my jaw.
Shit. That hurt like a motherfucker.
And you know what?
I deserved it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – KINSLEY
rule twenty-two: sometimes the only response to dating is, “oh, shit.”
“Colton!” My brother’s name escaped my lips as I pushed past my friends and into the circle that had apparently formed in the retirement home and kneeled next to Josh. He was cradling his jaw. “What are you doing?”
“You’re sleeping with him?” He turned on me with eyes that were pure black.
Eyes that belied his hurt through the anger.
Eyes I couldn’t lie to.
This was my brother, damn it.
All of it, all the secrets and all the lies… this was it.
This was the moment.
The grand reveal.
A fucking duck parade and a bunch of old angry people.
Awesome.
I said nothing in response. There was nothing I could say, really. Colt already knew the answer, and I could see that in his eyes, even as I let go of Josh and stood up.
My brother took a step toward me, pure anger radiating from his eyes. “Kinsley, I asked you a fucking question.”
“Enough.” Grandpa hobbled up next to me. “You will not talk to your sister this way.”
“Grandpa—”
“Boy, if you’re gonna tell me I can’t tell you what to do, I got a cane that’s gonna beat some reality into your backside,” Grandpa said in level tone that held just a terrifying amount of threat in. “This ain’t the time or the place for it.”
No shit. There were fifty old people plus a bunch of others all watching us like their favorite soap drama had come to life.
It kinda had, to be honest.
“Are you okay?” I whispered to Josh, cradling the side of his face again so I could check on him. “Let me see.”
“Kins… I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.” I tugged away his hand and looked. Colton had hit him so hard it was already bruising. I wouldn’t be surprised if he needed to be checked over by a doctor, given the swelling that was forming in the mere minutes since the contact, either.
And it made me mad.
So fucking mad.
We’d joked about this, but I never thought my brother would actually do this to him. Never thought he’d actually punch his best friend in the jaw for this.
My nostrils flared with my anger, and I didn’t care that everyone was staring at me. It’d be all around town by dinner, so who cared?
Not me.
“Kinsley,” Saylor said in a soft voice. “Think about this—”
I shoved past her when she tried to stop me. This was my brother; my fight. “What is wrong with you?”
“Un-fucking-believable. You bang my best friend and ask me what the problem is!” Colton laughed dryly, shoving his head in his hand.
“Colton William Lane,” Grandpa growled. “You will remember your manners, or I will beat them into you.”
I passed my stalwart of a grandpa and stopped barely three feet in front of my brother. We glared at each other for the longest minute before I said the words that were boiling up inside me.
“Hit me, too.”
He stared at me. “Are you fucking kidding?”
“No. If you can hit him, you can hit me.” I jerked my chin up in defiance. “It’s true. All of it. So go ahead. You asked me a question, and I’m answering it. It’s true, Colt.”
He stared at me for what felt like forever. The betrayal I saw in his eyes churned my gut, and the guilt that spread through my body like a wildfire physically hurt.
I knew he wouldn’t hit me.
But I kind of wanted him to.
“Don’t,” he said, holding up one finger. “Don’t talk to me.”
Then he turned, stalking off in the direction of the gate that led to the parking lot. I moved to follow him, but Kai blocked me, his tall frame towering over mine.
“Don’t.” His voice was soft as he rested his hands on my upper arms. “You’ll only make it worse right now. Let him calm down.”
I swallowed and dropped my gaze. Rationally, I knew he was right, but that didn’t mean I wanted to.
I felt absolutely awful.
I knew it would hurt him when he found out, but he wasn’t supposed to find out like this. Not surrounded by half the damn town when he was
