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“Is that right? What are you, a fortune teller? Isn’t that what the poors south of River Street do? Anything for a little spare cash, right?”
I grinned again, grinding my teeth so hard I tasted blood. “Yeah, that’s right. I can see the fucking future, and you’re not in hers. I’m her boyfriend, I’m meeting her family in a few days, so you might want to check with whatever mid-century rule book you’re playing from and get your facts straight. Winter DeLaurie isn’t yours. She’s mine.” The last words came out as a growl.
Trent scoffed, but his eyes were annoyed. “Think what you like. The truth will get out soon enough. Girls like Winter aren’t for losers like you. You think you could provide for her? Give her the kind of life she’s used to? She’s up here, you’re down here.” He pointed to the floor then tapped my chest. “A bitch like her isn’t worth losing what little you have going on in your life…Know your place.”
I lunged for him before he could step back and grabbed his lapels, slamming him into the wall so hard his teeth rattled.
“Know my place? I’m about to show you yours. You think your daddy’s money can protect you from me?” I got in his face, craning my neck down to match his smaller stature. “Upset Winter again, and nothing will save you.”
“Are you just too dumb to understand what protecting her will cost you?” Trent asked, his voice strangled.
I shook my head slowly, tightening my grip until his face started to turn red. “I know. I just don’t care. No one hurts the women in my life.”
“Ash! Who the fuck is that?” Beckett’s loud voice boomed behind me, and then hands were pulling me back. Cayden slapped a hand to my chest when I reached for Trent again. He shook his head, warning me off with a frown.
Beckett stood between us, bigger than all of us, frowning down at Trent.
“I could swear I know you, but your face is the kind that’s easy to forget. Remind me of your name,” Beckett drawled, drawing on all his billionaire asshole confidence. He could lay it on thick when he wanted to.
“Knock it off, Anderson. You know exactly who I am, and you should educate your charity case friend here, before he has the kind of accident he never recovers from.” Trent’s words were designed to be threatening, but they were so weakly delivered, I only chuckled.
I tossed Cayden’s arm off me. “I’m gonna kill him. Call that Russian for the cleanup.” I lunged forward and both Beckett and Cayden got between us.
“Calm down, buddy,” Beckett ordered, patting my shoulder while Cade held me back. “He’s really not worth the effort. Guys like Trent are all talk.”
Trent let out a bark of laughter. “Still sour your new-money father could never make it into Invictus H.H Group? You should have asked Colette about it. Maybe she could have vouched for you.”
Beckett stilled. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Trent sighed, a smile playing around his lips now that he’d managed to unsettle Beckett. “Maybe I’ll tell you sometime. Now, take your little friends and stay out my way. Tell this punk not to get between me and Winter — she’s mine to do what I please with, marry, fuck, or wipe the fucking floor with.”
Cayden sighed and shook his head, then pulled back, releasing me. “Go for it.”
I lunged forward and punched Trent so hard his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped down. It was disappointing, really. I’d planned on hitting him a lot more.
“Waste of space can’t even take a punch,” Beckett muttered and prodded him with his foot. Trent’s head lolled to the side.
“Can we call that a punch?” Cayden glanced at my torn knuckles. “It was more like a sledgehammer to the head.”
“He’s gonna have a hell of a black eye tomorrow. Should I take him home? I’ll tell his friends it was me who hit him…he can’t do anything to me,” Beckett pointed out. As much as I’d love for Trent to know I was the one who’d knocked him out, Beckett had a point. Trent could seriously fuck up my life, as well as my hockey career. The career I needed to provide a good life for my current and future family.
“No. I don’t think he’s ready to go home yet.” I stopped Beckett and Cayden from lifting Trent’s prone form.
“What did you have in mind?” Cade asked, raising an eyebrow. This is why the Ice Gods’ bond was stronger than normal friendship. After the shit we’d been through, there was no judgment. Partners in crime, to the very end.
“I have a few ideas.” I grinned. “Let’s go.”
I skipped the party after the game for the late shift at The Clutch. I sketched and watched some guys playing pool. I felt oddly calm after stripping Trent and tying him to the statue in the middle of campus. Someone might or might not find him and free him before his paltry junk froze off. I didn’t give a fuck either way.
His words kept playing on a loop in my head. “Winter and I are getting married.”
This was the reason Winter had needed help. To save herself from that pathetic snake. And I’d had her running around, playing games, trying desperately to have someone in her corner. She chose you.
Now, she had me.
Honestly, she’d had me since before I’d learned about Trent. She’d had me for much longer than I cared to admit.
Axel, one of the bikers who hung out a lot at the bar, scraped his chair back and gave a victorious cry. He smiled at me, missing front tooth and all. If Cole was catnip to the ladies, Axel was the opposite. He looked as rough as he was.
