Something was wrong. Very wrong. Cataclysmically wrong.

And I knew what that wrong was.

And I wanted my feet to take me to the stairs so I could sort it out with Ty in private but I was so terrified of what I’d done and his reaction to it I couldn’t get my feet to move.

“I’ll talk to him,” Julius muttered but I still didn’t move though I saw him at the stairs because I was still staring at them.

And I stared at them feeling my breath stick in my throat, my heart beat hard and fast in my chest, my palms itch and my blood race, hot and frantic in my veins.

Then I saw legs and heard Ty rumble, “Not your gig, brother.”

“Walk, listen to me –”

“Not your f**kin’ gig,” Ty cut him off, rounded the stairs and came straight to the island.

On it he slammed down rolls of cash.

“Fifty K. Your pay. I’m outta here, you got an hour to get your sweet ass outta my house.”

Yes. Yes. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Cataclysmically wrong.

And I knew what it was. And I knew by his face he meant every word.

Still, I whispered a shaky, “What?”

“You played me, Lexie, you... f**kin’… played me,” he growled, leaning into me. “Goin’ to Tate and Deke behind my f**kin’ back. Spreadin’ for me to keep me distracted. Your pu**y’s got no chain?” he asked, his words pummeling me then he leaned back and clipped, “Bullshit. Just as heavy as all the f**kin’ rest.”

Each word hit me like a blow.

“Ty, I –”

“Played me,” he finished for me then lifted a big hand and jabbed a long finger at me on every “you”. “You did not rot in that f**kin’ place for five years. You do not got a skin tone that makes you a mark. You like black c**k but takin’ black cock, babe, does not make you black. You do not get to call the plays with this shit.” He jerked his hand back and his thumb to himself. “I do.”

“Listen to me.”

“Time to listen to you, Lexie, was f**kin’ weeks ago before you spread your f**kin’ legs, just like f**kin’ Misty and f**kin’ played me.”

His words hammering me, the blows so vicious it felt in places my skin had split open, I still found the strength to shake my head and take a step toward him saying, “Please, lis –”

“Do not get near me, bitch,” he growled and I froze, my eyes locked to his, the blood going so fast through my veins it felt like I was burning alive. “An hour,” he bit off. “I come back, you are out. You aren’t, Lexie, I’ll put you out.”

Then he turned, rounded the island and prowled to the door.

Then he was gone.

An hour later, so was I.

Chapter Fourteen

Shattered

Ty

Ty Walker opened the backdoor to his house and walked in to a big, seriously pissed off black man with tree trunk legs planted apart and beefy arms crossed on his chest.

He knew he’d get that when he got home.

He also didn’t give a f**k.

He closed the door and looked Julius right in the eye.

“She gone?” he asked.

“You are one serious dumb f**k.”

“She gone?”

“Oh yeah, brother, she’s gone.”

Ty Walker’s jaw clenched so hard he was lucky it didn’t freeze shut.

He jerked up his chin and headed to the stairs.

He was nearly there when Julius spoke.

“She loved you.”

That was bullshit. She didn’t.

She did, she wouldn’t have played him. She knew what playing him would do. She knew, he found out, she’d be right where she was now, wherever the f**k that was, but wherever it was, he did not f**king care.

Walker kept moving to the stairs.

Julius kept speaking.

“You broke her.”

Ty rounded the railing and tried to shut him out.

Julius kept at him.

“Never seen a woman break like that.”

Fuck, the man needed to shut the f**k up.

His foot hit the first stair.

“Shattered,” Julius called after him.

Walker kept moving.

He hit his room and stopped dead.

Right in the middle of the bed was fifty thousand dollars in cash and four jewelry boxes.

Four.

She’d even left her wedding rings.

He stared at them then he closed his eyes tight and dropped his head.

Then he opened his eyes, moved to the safe in the closet, opened it and went back to the bed. He stowed the shit, closed the safe and kicked himself that he didn’t come upstairs with the f**king bourbon.

* * * * *

Two days later…

“Yo, Ty!” Wood called him, he looked from the belly of the car he was working on and across the garage to Wood who was turned, looking out a bay.

Walker’s eyes moved that way and then he moved out from under the car when he saw Tate stalking his way.

Fuck.

Tate stopped five feet away.

“Lexie needs a couple of hours to get the rest of her shit outta your house. For reasons I’m guessin’ you get, she does not want to ask you herself and she does not want you there,” he stated.

“Tell her to name the time and I’m gone,” Walker replied instantly.

Tate stared at him like Julius stared at him for an entire day any time he saw him until he’d connected with his man and went back to California – like he thought Walker was one serious dumb f**k.

Then Tate jerked up his chin and started to go.

“Jackson,” Walker called and Tate stopped. “Tell her the safe will be open. She’ll know why. And tell her she’s plain stupid she doesn’t take what’s hers.”

“Great, I’ll continue this junior high bullshit and tell her that, Ty. You got anything else I should whisper to her at recess?” Tate asked, pissed as all hell, not at his errand, not doing this for Lexie but because he was pissed at Walker. And he was not hiding it.

“Nope,” Walker answered.

“Terrific,” Tate muttered, turned and stalked away.

Walker moved back under the car.

* * * * *

Three days later…

Walker worked out hard and he worked out long then he returned home late, giving Lexie plenty of time to do her thing.

He parked the Cruiser by the Snake in the garage. Then he took the stairs, braced for what he would find.

But when he got to the top of the stairs, it was all there. The pitchers, the snow globe, the frames, the crock with the spoons in, the fruit bowl, the KitchenAid, the toss pillows.

Fuck, she didn’t show.