Dirty, Reckless Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 3)

“Hell.” I exhale heavily and drag a hand through my hair. Now I see what Ava’s saying. Just because Molly and Colton were together last night doesn’t mean they were together. They might just have some important personal issues to sort out. But at two a.m.? “You don’t think he knew before?”

She shakes her head. “The kid was as much a surprise to him as he was to the rest of us. And now that she’s planning to move back here to run the tasting room, I can only imagine they have to hash out the details of how this is all going to work.”

“And you’re sure the kid’s his?” I ask.

Ava frowns at the screen, then turns it back to me again. “Look at that face. Who else’s would he be?”

A dark corner of my brain provides an answer to that question. But I know Ava wouldn’t like it, so I just shrug, as if I can’t come up with another possibility.

“I know you have feelings for Ellie,” Ava says.

“She’s my friend. I care about her.”

Ava gives me a hard look. “I know you have feelings for Ellie,” she repeats. “I just wanted to warn you that what she saw last night couldn’t have been what it seemed.”

“Can you be so sure of that? Hell, if anything, doesn’t the kid make what Ellie saw even more damning? Now we know they have a history.”

Ava shrugs. “Even if I believed Colton would fuck around on Ellie, I don’t believe Molly would do that to Ellie.”

Clearly Ava isn’t aware of the rumors that circulated about Blow Job Molly in high school, but I’m not going to be the guy who brings up her old reputation. “Fine. Maybe it was innocent.” And I’m an asshole, because part of me hopes it wasn’t. When Colton was making Ellie happy, she was off-limits. But now? He’s been crushing her spirit all summer, and as far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t deserve her anymore. I want my chance.

“I want you to be prepared for the possibility of Ellie and Colton staying together. That’s all.”

Ava can totally read me, and I hate it. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about Ellie.” I give her a hard look. “I won’t assume they’re over if you’ll do me a favor and take all your assumptions about your brother with a grain of salt. He’s my best friend and I love him, but Ellie’s put up with more from him than she should have to.”

“Okay,” she says softly. “It’s a deal.”

“Thanks.”

She studies me for a beat too long, and I look away. “Did Ellie tell you anything else last night? Anything about her?”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugs. “Nothing. I’m just worried. Things haven’t been right between them for a while, but they’re going to have to figure it out. If they can just get through this rough patch, they’ll be okay.”

“But what’s next? Another year of Ellie waiting for a proposal that’s not coming?” Another two months of Colton making her feel undesirable because he’s not touching her? Not that I’d say that to Ava. Ellie’s probably told her best friend, but if she hasn’t, it’s not mine to share.

“I don’t know, Levi. But that’s between them. Please just step back and let them figure it out.”

I pick up Lilly’s pink-and-purple toy watering can, revealing a brown patch of grass. “She deserves better than what he’s giving her.”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing sleeping with my girl?”

Ava and I both swing around to the back of the house. Colton slams the door shut and stomps toward us. His eyes are blazing. He’s pissed, and experience tells me that the glaze in his eyes means he’s high. Fuck.

“Are you drunk?” Ava asks, quickly transitioning into big-sister mode.

I look at Ava, then back to Colton. We’ve managed to keep Colt’s drug issues from his sister—no reason to worry her—but someday, she’s going to figure it out.

“I’m fine. Or at least I will be once I show this piece of shit what happens to assholes who make a move on my girl.”

I fold my arms, glaring at him. “You know, they say the guilty are the most suspicious.”

“You fucked her, didn’t you? You’ve wanted her since the day you met her. I see it in your eyes. I know you.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“You guys,” Ava says. “Both of you, calm down.”