That overrides my desire to be literally anywhere else. “What are you talking about? Shiloh’s a good girl. It’s surprising as fuck.”
Abel snorts. “You’ve always had tunnel vision when it comes to that woman. She’s not an innocent, and Monroe might be a gigantic pain in the ass, but she’s magnetic.”
“Monroe’s also happy to stick it to you however she can.” Eli doesn’t look up from his phone. “No wonder she’s set her eyes on Shiloh.”
“No one fucking asked you.”
Abel gives me a long look as if weighing the venom in my voice. I know I should tone it down, should just let shit go, but I don’t know how to. I don’t even know where to begin. “He’s right.”
“I’m aware of that,” I grit out.
“Then stop fucking around and handle your business.” He glances down the hall and then back at me. “Everyone knows you’re sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms because you’re scared of your Bride.”
“I’m not—”
“It makes us look weak.”
I welcome the surge of anger and push off the door. “Who the fuck are we looking weak to, Abel? It’s no one’s business where I sleep.”
“Wrong.” He slides his hands into his pockets, every inch the arrogant prick. “All of our brothers are doing their duty—except you. You don’t think Monroe’s running to tell her mother how weak the Paine brothers are when the man she’s handfasted to avoids her? When he can’t fucking handle her?” Abel shakes his head slowly. “You know better.”
He’s right. I hate that he’s right. “Mine your own goddamned business.”
“This is my business. I didn’t fight and win so you could get cold feet now. Handle your shit, Broderick. Or I’ll do it for you.”
My verbal brakes disappear. “Won’t your happy little relationship go up in smoke if you fuck Monroe? That’d be a shame.”
Abel moves so fast, I never see it coming. He grabs the front of my shirt and swings me around to slam into the wall opposite the door I was just leaning on. The impact rattles me, and it rattles me worse when he jerks me forward and slams me back again. His face has gone cold. “I don’t need my cock to handle the Monroe problem, Broderick. This is a big house. Lot of stairs. Be a fucking shame if she fell down them and snapped that pretty neck of hers.”
I stare at him. We’re the same height, but he’s got more than a few pounds of muscle on me. That’s not the only difference between us. Abel is ruthless in a way I’ll never be able to match. He’s not bluffing. I swallow hard. “You’d risk breaking the treaty by killing her.”
“Fuck no.” He barely lets me get a breath out before he continues, “But accidents happen, and we can’t be liable. It’s a known fact that she likes to slip her handler so she can get into trouble. It’ll be a pain in the ass to deal with the fallout, but better that than have her making one of us the laughingstock of Sabine Valley. Our position is too precarious to allow it, and you’d realize that if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to look around and take stock of the situation.”
“What the fuck, Abel?”
“Abel.” Eli is there, taking my brother’s shoulders and pulling him off me. Or at least trying to. “That’s enough.”
My brother gives me one last shake and releases me, stepping away and sliding his hands back into his pockets. He shrugs off Eli’s hands, but gives the man a look so sexually charged, it makes me mildly uncomfortable. When Abel speaks again, he sounds cold and perfectly composed. “No need to get so emotional, Broderick. If you’re not willing to solve the problem, then I will. I’ll do what I always do when it comes to our people—clean up their messes. Your mess this time. You’re welcome, by the way.” He turns and strides down the hallway, Eli easily falling into step beside him.
Trust Abel to cut to the heart of the situation without a shred of mercy.
Figure this shit out, or Monroe dies.
I should be grateful. She’s the enemy. Not to mention the whole seducing-Shiloh thing.
Except…
Shiloh’s right. Monroe was only nineteen when that shit went down eight years ago. She was heir, yes, but she’s not the one who made the call to ally with Eli’s father in his attempt to wipe our family off the face of the earth. I doubt she was part of the raiding party, either.
She might be a pain in the ass and an Amazon, but neither of those things should be a death sentence. And as much as the thought of her and Shiloh together makes me feel twisted up and fucked in the head, that isn’t a death sentence, either.
Damn my brother for backing me into a corner. I can’t in good conscience sit back and let Abel take care of things in that particular Abel way.
Which means I have to do as he said and get my house in order.
That starts now.
I glance at the door. Or, rather, it starts in the morning.
I don’t sleep. Of course I don’t. My brain is too busy running a montage of devastating and infuriating images behind my eyes. Shiloh and Monroe. In bed, making each other orgasm until they’re too exhausted to continue.
As a result, I’m already frazzled as fuck when I dress and head down to Monroe’s room, far too early to be polite. It doesn’t matter. I can’t find anything worse than what I walked in on last night.
Worse…or better?
I take a deep breath and knock on the door. The barest pause and then Shiloh’s voice emerges. “Come in.”
I don’t actually expect to find them still fucking, but it’s jarring to find both women sitting on the bed. Shiloh is wearing her customary jeans and plain top. Monroe has changed into jeans and another oversized top that should dwarf her figure but somehow manages to
