What the hell just happened?

7

Rhett

When you play with fire, you get burned.

I knew the rules, and I saw the line. I wasn’t breaking them, and I wasn’t crossing it.

But damn if flirting with Ari hadn’t made me say things I shouldn’t even have been thinking. How many times did I have to tell myself she was off-limits before I got it through both my heads?

Standing next to the pool table with a hard-on, watching her walk across the floor to talk to her brother, my best friend, did the trick faster than you could say bad plan.

I knew what I had to do—end the game and get the hell out of this bar before I did something stupid, like get close to her again and catch a hint of the coconut scent coming from her hair. Or maybe it was her skin. I didn’t know, but the fact that I wanted to know firsthand was bad enough.

Shutting it down was my only option. A shaft of regret stabbed into me when I sank the eight ball and Ari’s expression deflated. It reminded me of how she’d looked when a kid in her class picked on her, and I had to go make threats to ensure it never happened again. Except this time, I was the one who caused it.

It made me an asshole. Not surprising, since that’s what I was good at being now.

“Here, I’ll put your cue up.” I took it out of her fingers, careful not to breathe again until I stepped away.

Heath held out Ari’s phone to her as I returned. “Your boyfriend texted. Might want to tell that douchebag to fuck off once and for all.”

Wait. A. Goddamned. Second. Ari has a boyfriend?

Her gaze slammed into mine, a thin veil of guilt slipping over her features. That answered that.

If my hard-on hadn’t already been gone, it would have died right then. Never again would I make the mistake of turning my attention on a woman who was involved with someone else.

Ari strode to Heath, yanked the phone from his grip, and unlocked the screen to read the text.

Even though I wanted to walk out the door, I followed them back to the table, and Heath took that as his sign to fill me in on the situation.

“You’ll never believe this jackass. He’s not nearly good enough for her. I don’t get why she doesn’t cut ties for good.”

Ari stiffened at his words. “You know I can hear you, right? I’m standing right freaking here.”

“Good. Then hear this—Carlos is bad news. You need to drop him.” Heath was acting like the protective older brother he’d been on occasion, but there was one difference now. His little sister wasn’t all that little anymore.

Ari turned her icy gray eyes on him. “When I want your opinion on my love life, I’ll ask you for it.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Besides, I was going to tell him we were over the next time I talked to him anyway. I was going to do it before, but I—”

“Didn’t have the nerve to break it off?” Heath asked.

“Look, I was busy, okay? This isn’t exactly something I can delegate to Esme or Erik and have them deal with it.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t suck it up and get him out of your life. For good.”

Heath’s adamant tone surprised me. This Carlos guy had to be an asshole for Heath to hate him this much. I would have said it was a case of no one being good enough for his little sister, but this felt different.

“Is he abusive?” I didn’t intend to ask the question, but it came out anyway.

Ari’s gaze cut to me. “No. Of course not.” Her eyebrow didn’t twitch, so I knew she wasn’t lying.

“Then what the hell is wrong with him?” There had to be something, otherwise Heath wouldn’t be talking about him like he needed killing. Even without having met the guy, I didn’t like him. No one was good enough for her. Especially not me.

“Look, I’ll deal with him when I feel like it.”

It was obvious from the finality underlying Ari’s words that the subject was closed. Heath didn’t look like he agreed, but he kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything else.

Ari’s fingers flew across the screen as she tapped out a text in response before shoving her phone in the side pocket of her purse, where Heath must have snatched it when the text chime came through.

“I think I need another drink. What about you two?” Ari grabbed the bottle and sloshed a measure of whiskey into all three of our glasses, but didn’t wait for me or Heath before tossing hers back.

If a text from this jerk-off had her swigging whiskey like that, the first chance I got, I planned to ask Heath for his full name so I could run him through all my databases.

Heath’s a cop. He would have already done that, I reminded myself. Except his detective skills had never been quite as good as mine. We were talking about Ari here, which meant a second look wasn’t going to hurt.

Besides, even though Heath wasn’t a top-grade detective, which was why he worked in internal affairs, his gut was solid and that was all I needed to know. Open season on Carlos was coming up.

8

Ariel

Three sheets to the wind wasn’t my normal state when leaving a bar, but when Heath laid off the Carlos issue, he launched into a trip down memory lane. It might have only been a year since he’d seen Rhett, but apparently that was sufficient time to require a rehashing of their High School Greatest Hits, or so I liked to refer to all their legendary exploits that got more impressive every time Heath told the stories.

After a second bottle of whiskey, I fumbled for my phone and dialed Carver.

“Yes, Ms. Sampson?”

“I think I need a ride soon. Probably a good idea.”

“Yes, ma’am. Of course. I’ll be there in under five minutes.”

“Thank you, Carver.” Both men were looking at me when I hung up. “What?”

“Who’s Carver?” Rhett asked with heat in his green eyes that I would have loved to attribute to jealousy, but even I wasn’t that intoxicated.

“My driver while I’m in town. He came highly recommended.”

Rhett let out a whistle. “Fancy. Someone’s come a long way from selling computer advice to the neighbors.”

It was the truth, but not something I focused on. My bank balance didn’t have anything to do with what kind of person I was, just how good I was at making money.