Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

“Rye has Brin,” Ruby reminds Kode. “And Tria loves you.”

“Not enough to fucking marry me, and who knows if Rye and Brin will last? I’m surprised they haven’t killed each other yet.”

“You proposed?” Ruby asks, surprised.

“No,” Kode growls. “She made it clear it was a pointless thing to do. And now that brooding bastard is going to be around. All the time.”

It gets harder not to laugh, and I bury my face in Ruby’s neck, letting her damp hair get me a little wet. She smells good enough to distract me, and I lose the will to laugh when my thoughts shift to getting her alone.

“You’re worrying for nothing,” Maverick says, still chuckling, and I force myself away from Ruby before I do something like drag her out of here or throw her over my shoulder.

“Her stepbrother!” Kode repeats, yelling louder this time.

“That shit only happens in romance novels,” Maverick says dismissively. “In real life, no one does that. That’s pretty damn gross.” He shudders dramatically for emphasis.

“It’s not gross,” Krysta chimes in, and all eyes swing to her. She quickly tightens her lips and slumps down.

Ruby is grinning, but not at Krysta. Her attention is focused on Maverick.

“You reading taboo romance, Mav?” Ruby drawls.

“My best friend is Rain. We talk all the time.” The words are rushed out of his mouth the second her question is out there, as though he had that answer loaded with his finger on the trigger and ready to pull.

She glances between us and rolls her eyes. “I swear…”

I shrug, not even apologizing for my closet chick flick fetish. I have plenty of other badass qualities to make up for my one vice.

Someone knocks on the door, and Krysta jumps as though she’s on edge.

“It’s open,” Ruby calls out.

A few seconds later, her father is walking into the room, making the space suddenly seem so much smaller. His eyes glare at me for a second, and I half wonder if Ruby has told him. But then his gaze softens as it drops to Krysta.

“Are you okay?” he asks her.

She tugs at her sleeve on her arm, and I watch the motion. I refuse to look at the bruises, because it’ll make me sicker than I already feel. I hate knowing the bastard walks away with a fee, as though he’s been rewarded.

“I’m fine,” she says softly, not meeting his eyes.

My eyes dart down to his knuckles, and I notice they look a little banged up. Is that blood? It looks like blood is on his shirt, but it could be dried ink or something. His blue shirt makes it hard to see the faint, dark spots are on his shirt near his hip.

His gaze shifts to Ruby. “I’ll take over your appointments for the next couple of weeks. You stay with her and get her settled in no matter how long it takes.”

Ruby nods, and he motions with his head toward the door.

“Take her outside to see Wanda. She’s trying to get a batch of brownies out—not fun brownies,” he says, shaking his head. “And she has some other dishes she cooked, too.”

I start to stand to help, but he glares at me, making me halt my steps. Ruby looks between us, but doesn’t say anything as she and Krysta walk out, leaving me with a raging bull staring at me like I’m the color red.

She fucking told him.

He reaches behind him, tugging something out of the waist of his jeans, and I stagger back. He’s going to shoot me?! The dick tattoo seems less scary all of the sudden.

His lips twitch, but the anger stays in his eyes as he pulls out a thick envelope full of cash.

“This belong to you?” he snarls.

The fuck?

“It’s actually mine,” Maverick says, sighing as he stands up. “I’m the one that paid him to disappear.”

Jim looks surprised for a second, but his anger returns as he thrusts the envelope of money into Maverick’s chest so hard that it forces him to stumble back and grunt.

“When some pussy bitch lays a hand on a girl, you don’t pay him for it.”

Maverick’s eyes shed the humorous layer he normally has in place. “I did it for Ruby; you know what they’d do to her. I was stopping a snowball before it rolled downhill.”

Jim sighs before running a hand over his bald head. “It’s been handled. Unless he has a death wish, he won’t dare press charges.”

That is blood. “What’d you do?” I ask curiously, remembering why I like Jim all of the sudden.

Jim’s cold smile slips into place. “I handled him the way you should handle pussy bitches.” He cracks his knuckles, and I swear the sound is painful. Then, as though it’s no big deal, he turns and walks away.

“I want to be him when I grow up,” Maverick says, feigning a dreamy sigh when his humor returns.