“Yes, Sir,” he drawled sarcastically.
“That’s it. I’m calling the cops.” She’d just started her short march back to the feed and seed, when the door buzzer at the convenience market next door resounded. And out walked the fellow who could’ve easily been the man of her dreams. Instead, he was an easy reminder of her worst nightmares.
* * * *
Jax had known from the moment Brianna had flipped out. The vehicle behind them reminded her of someone. That someone was the man walking past Brianna with a smirk on his face and too much damn attitude in his cocksure swagger.
Responding quickly, Jax leapt from her car. At the same time, Flint left the vehicle also. Before he could approach the stranger first, Jax pushed him back and swung a protective arm in front of Brianna, pushing her aside as well. “Get Brianna home. We’ll meet you there.”
“Do I know you?” the fellow asked.
“I don’t think so.” Jax balled his fists together, slightly aware of his knuckles popping.
In his periphery, Jax noticed their truck. Tyler had the truck in reverse and seconds later, he whipped it ninety degrees and stopped in front of them. He slammed the gearshift up, jumped out of the truck, and said, “What’s up, big brother? Problem here?”
Tyler’s cool confidence was the main reason why the Jackson brothers stayed away from the bar scene. When a man saw Tyler coming, they didn’t have to wonder if he knew how to fight, they could automatically assume if he’d ever lost one, he went down swinging.
Brianna’s car doors slammed behind them and a minute later, Flint sped out of the parking lot. With Brianna gone, Jax could breathe easy. He’d throw his weight around and find out why this guy made Brianna uneasy.
He gave the fellow a good once over. Damn. Maybe he had this all wrong. He didn’t look like Brianna’s type. He was a city slicker right down to his polished new shoes.
“Do we have a problem?” the man asked.
“You might say that,” Jax replied. “I hear you know Brianna.”
“Who?”
“The girl who just left here in the white sports car. Know her?” Was it possible that Brianna had overreacted? She’d acted plain weird in the feed store. Maybe this guy didn’t know Brianna. Perhaps he was just driving a vehicle that resembled one Brianna’s attacker had driven. “I asked you a question. Do you know Brianna?”
“No,” the guy lied. He couldn’t even look them in the eye.
“She knows you.” But Jax couldn’t be sure.
“Did she say that?”
“What’s your name?” Tyler asked, probably sensing Jax wasn’t sure about his involvement with Brianna.
The fellow grinned. In that moment, it was like watching a set change before their very eyes. It was as if a new character had emerged on stage and this guy was a man of a different sort. Darker, colder eyes glared back at them. “Now if we were all going to be friends, then I could see exchanging names, handshakes, maybe even a couple of slaps on the back, but something tells me we aren’t going to be friends, gentlemen.”
Jax clucked. “I can relate to what you’re saying. I don’t think we’ll be fishing together anytime soon.”
The dude smiled, flashing perfect teeth. “Well, there’s really no point. Best I can tell we’ve all already played in the same pond.” He paused. “Which one of you is Brianna’s boyfriend?”
“Thought you didn’t know her,” Tyler drawled, removing a toothpick from his shirt pocket and sticking it in the corner of his mouth. The toothpick was a sign of the coming times. For some odd reason, Tyler liked to fight with a toothpick in his mouth.
Considering the insult to Brianna, Jax should’ve already laid the guy out, but he had a feeling as long as this city boy kept talking, the more they’d learn. Unlike Tyler, Jax could bide his time and keep his cool.
He glanced at his brother. Come to think of it, Tyler was holding it together pretty well.
The guy looked off in the distance. His entire demeanor shifted once more. His plastered-on smile turned into a stone-solid frown. “Well, here we are, fellas.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Now what?”
Jax sniffed. Tyler popped his knuckles.
“So we fight? Is that what you want? Do you want to beat the hell out of me because I fucked your girl or because you think I pushed myself on her and gave her something she didn’t ask for?”
“You’re saying she asked for you to beat the hell out of her?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t beat her. She’s a kinky bitch that wanted to play rough. I gave her precisely what she wanted, what she begged for.” He cocked his head to the side. “Look at me and when you see her again, look at her. If I’d wanted to kill her, she’d be in the morgue now. I must outweigh her by a good hundred pounds. She got what she wanted, what she most enjoys—rough sex, a hard fuck, and a good time. It’s hard to say who finished her up after I was done but when I left her, she was under the covers fast asleep with a smile on her face.”