Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

This motherfucker has lost his damn mind.

“It took you ten years to apologize to my mother about breaking the living room window. You ignored her for two years, Corbin. You pretended it didn’t happen until you just up and apologized.”

“I really don’t feel like taking a walk down memory lane right now.”

I start to leave, but the jackass takes another swing. This time I almost see stars when my vision dims. Blood pools in my mouth, and I flick my tongue against the split inside my cheek.

“The hell is your fucking defect, you psycho?”

“Fight me. Get pissed. Tell me what’s going on now instead of waiting until someone else puts a ring on her damn finger and realizes what she’s worth.”

My fist flies out before I can stop it, and it catches him right across the cheek, knocking his head to the right so hard that he falls with the momentum.

He stays on the ground, wiping blood away from his lip as he looks up at me.

“That’s more like it.” He slowly stands up, and I take a step back.

“You’ve lost your damn mind,” I growl.

He shoves against my chest with both hands, and I’m forced to take a few steps back.

“You’ve got more than that locked up in there. Come on. Get it out. I need you to wake the fuck up now. Time to be a man and stop being such a—”

I shove him off me and slam my fist into his side before he can finish that. His words end on an oomph, and he stumbles before gripping his side.

“Stop,” I warn him.

“No.” He looks at me like I’m the one who is crazy. “You always do this, Corbin. You think I don’t know why? I’ve had you figured out since we were kids. You abandon something when you think it can’t possibly get any better.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Oh no? Biggest example? Football. You were unstoppable. Everyone knew you were legend. The second college scouts came to recruit you, you shut down. You knew you couldn’t possibly be as epic in college as you were in high school, so you gave it up. Just like you’re giving up Ruby now at the first hurdle. You never stick with something if you feel it has peaked.”

“You’re wrong,” is all I tell him before turning around to leave, but he grabs me again. This time I dodge the shot he tries to nail me with, and I hit him in the stomach, wrenching out of his grip at the same time.

He comes up swinging, and I curse when I’m staggering and off balance because of the jab to my nose. I sniff and wipe away blood, while glaring at him.

“I’m not wrong,” he argues. “You’ve always pushed her away for some reason. Bullshit reasons. You’ve tried to sabotage it every time because you don’t want it to ever stop being good, but you want to control it. And you can’t.”

“You’re not making any fucking sense! Damn it, Mav. It’s not like I’m the one who created this fucked up situation we’re in. This wasn’t me!”

“No,” he says with a shrug. “You didn’t make Krysta your father’s secret love child. You didn’t make him hide her for eighteen years. That shit has nothing to do with you and Ruby as a couple, though. It sure as hell gave you no right to drive off and leave her while she dealt with it all on her own so you could go confront your mommy about your father’s indiscretions.”

He glares at me, daring me to deny it.

“Fuck,” I growl. Maverick doesn’t understand. “Trust me when I say Ruby deserves a chance to live without me holding her down.”

He snorts before shoving me back again, keeping himself between me and the exit.

“That’s such a copout. Stop being such a bitch.”

“I’m not!” I shove him off me once more, barely stopping myself from pummeling him just to shut his damn mouth.

We stand there glaring at each other, both of us on the verge of snapping. Finally, my shoulders sag, and I groan.

“Maverick, Ruby has always said I keep her from floating away, but the fucking truth is that I’ve been holding her down when she could have been flying.”

His eyes lose some of the hardness, but he surprises me with an unexpected punch to the gut. I double over, heaving for air and cursing him internally.

“Again, I call bullshit.” He walks a circle around me, while I try to catch my breath. It was such a punk shot, that I can’t recover right away. “You and Ruby… Dude, everyone sees it when you two are together. Even though you seem to try to keep things friendly instead of romantic, we all still see it. You fucking love her, and you push her away every time it gets real.”