She gave him a tired look. “Right back atcha, Chris. In fact, I’m convinced now more than ever that I dodged a bullet.”
Rage erupted in his eyes. “You have the nerve to tell me I wasn’t good enough for you? You stupid little bitch—”
In the blink of an eye, Chris was on the floor.
Claire hadn’t even seen Dylan strike, he moved so fast, and now he was straddling Chris’s torso and jamming his elbow into his brother’s windpipe. “Don’t you ever talk to her like that,” Dylan said in a soft but deadly voice. “Say whatever the hell you want about me, or about Aidan, but you speak to Claire with respect.”
Chris sputtered, tried to shove Dylan off, but the SEAL’s body was inflexible, a rock-hard wall of muscle that refused to budge.
Wide-eyed and a little bit frightened, Claire watched as Dylan dug his forearm deeper into Chris’s throat, nowhere near done raking his brother over the coals.
“And you know what? I’ve had it up to here with your homophobic bullshit. Jesus Christ, so one of your buddies made a pass at you in high school. Big f**king deal. Get over it already.”
The revelation left Claire dumbfounded. Chris had never shared that piece of information with her, but the moment she heard it, so many things clicked into place. Like why Chris had always been so rude to Natasha, or why he’d cringed every time a g*y couple passed them on the street.
Unwelcome sympathy washed over her, which only pissed her off even more, because why the hell was she feeling sorry for this man? He wasn’t worth the energy it took to pity him.
Dylan must have agreed, because he abruptly released his brother and stood up. In nothing but those boxers, he made a formidable picture, gleaming muscles and sleek sinew and raw power.
The moment Dylan stepped away, Chris bolted to his feet, his eyes blazing with indignation. “Don’t you ever lay a hand on me again, little brother. If Mom ever found out you did that—”
“You really want to have a conversation about Mom right now? Because I’d be f**king happy to do that, man. I’d love to know why you chose to lie to me about her gambling problem and the fact that we almost lost our f**king house!”
Chris didn’t even have the decency to apologize. “I’m the man of the house, Dylan. I take care of Mom, not you.”
“The only person you take care of is yourself,” Dylan retorted. “And now if you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave. Maybe one of these days we can sit down and have a mature conversation about all this, but right now, I can’t stand the sight of you.”
“Believe me, little brother, I feel exactly the same way.” Chris spared one last look in Claire and Aidan’s direction, then spun on his heel and marched out.
A few seconds later, the front door slammed with so much force the living room walls shook.
Aidan, who hadn’t uttered a single word during the exchange, gingerly touched Claire’s shoulder. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”
Letting out a shaky breath, she met his worried brown eyes and managed a nod. “Yeah, I think so.”
They both turned to Dylan, whose face had a vacant look to it.
“Shit, man, I’m sorry,” Aidan said roughly. “That was…brutal.”
Dylan didn’t respond.
As concern tugged at her heart, Claire hurried over to him and grasped his chin with both hands. His five o’clock shadow scraped her skin, and she rubbed her palms over those bristly dark-blond hairs in a soothing motion.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she murmured. “You know everything he said was out of anger, right? A knee-jerk reaction to seeing…what he saw.”
“I’m not upset about what he said,” Dylan muttered. “I’m upset about who he is.”
The pain in his eyes made her chest ache. “He’s not a bad person, Dylan. He’s just…ignorant. And selfish. But he is capable of love—I know he loves your mom, and I know he loves you. He’ll come around eventually.”
Claire couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. After everything that just happened, she shouldn’t be defending Chris or rationalizing his behavior. She should be suggesting they throw a party to celebrate his departure, maybe pop open a bottle of champagne and propose a freaking toast.
Still, no matter how hurt and angry she was, Chris was still Dylan’s brother. He was family. And if she and Dylan and Aidan were ever to have a real future, she knew they’d have to mend fences with Chris sooner or later.
But it wasn’t going to happen overnight, so when Dylan brushed off her words with an unintelligible mumble, she didn’t push him. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tight.
And kept holding on until, finally, he lifted his arms and hugged her back.
Claire couldn’t believe how fast the next two weeks flew by. Terrifyingly fast. Heartbreakingly fast. As she parked her rented Toyota in the visitor’s parking lot behind the Savvy Tech building in Oceanside, she couldn’t help but bite her lip in dismay. The only thought that had been running through her mind all day was, now what?
What happened now that the assignment was wrapping up? What happened to her relationship with Dylan and Aidan when she returned to San Francisco?
And it was a relationship. She was no longer fooling herself into believing this was nothing more than a brief fling between three people in lust with each other. She cared deeply for both men, and the mere thought of leaving them made her feel like someone was scraping a dull blade inside her chest and slicing her heart to jagged ribbons.