Unspoken Rules (Rules 2)

The first thing I see when I enter Trev’s living room is Ryan sitting on the sofa with a few empty beer cans at his feet. I turn my head and notice Emmett, Andrew, and Trevor spread across the large leather couch pushed up against the wall. With a joint between his lips, Trevor stares at me with an apologetic look in his eyes.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he called them.

The fact that they’re all here isn’t a good sign. We never meet this early.

“There he is.” Ryan chortles, taking a sip of his beer.

I haven’t seen him in a while. He was out of town for the past month. I had no idea he was back. I used to be on top of my game and know things like that before… well, her.

“Drinking at two in the afternoon. Glad to see you haven’t changed, Sutter.”

Ryan shrugs. “Look me in the eyes and tell me a drink doesn’t sound good right about now.”

Unfortunately, he’s right. I could use a shot, or five, to numb whatever it is that I’ve been feeling since I left her at that shitty motel with the East side.

He sees the hesitation spread in my features and smiles.

“I get it. Love does that to you.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, this again? I already told Trev: I don’t care about the girl. She’s gone anyway. Can’t you just let it go?”

“We want to believe you, man, we do. But we can’t take any chances,” Trev says.

“You don’t have to worry. I’m telling you, I don’t care.”

Silence ensues. Ryan is the first to speak again.

“So you really don’t care, huh?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Not even a little.”

“Well then, you won’t mind telling me how she was in the sack, will you? I was thinking maybe when she gets back in town I could get a go at it. I bet she’s a virgin. Looks real tight.”

I instinctively clench my fists.

Don’t give him what he wants.

Don’t kill him.

He’s testing you.

If you let yourself kick his teeth out of his shit-eating mouth, he’ll have won.

“You did sleep with her, didn’t you?”

No.

“What do you think?” I feed them the lie they crave.

“And you didn’t share? Man, I thought we were friends.”

I thought you had a brain.

“What is this? An intervention?” I ask, eager to change the subject.

Ryan shrugs. “Something like that.”

“Thanks, but no, thanks.” I spot the door and start walking.