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“You heard him,” Matt growled. “Get lost.”
John purred into Robby’s ear as if Matt had never spoken. “Then where? I heard you were back at our old haunt Saturday. Maybe looking for me? Let’s go back into your trailer, and I’ll give you what you’ve been missing the past few years.”
Wedging his hands against John’s chest, Robby tried to push him away. “I was not looking for you. We broke up for a reason, and I have no interest in going there again.”
Releasing his neck, John cupped him over the fly of his nice jeans. “Your mouth says one thing, but your body is saying something else.”
Matt shoved between them and John stumbled back. And before Robby could even breathe, John’s overwhelming presence vanished altogether. His body jerked away like a puppet on a string.
Brick stood beside Robby, his chest heaving, with veins bulging from the side of his neck. He had John’s collar gripped in his thick fist. “What is my body telling you right now, motherfucker?”
The color drained from John’s face as Brick’s second hand wrapped around his throat.
“You think consent is a joke?” Brick shook him like a rag doll.
Matt crowded closer to Robby, his nearness an unexpected comfort.
“We got a problem out here?” Kane’s long strides covered the yard in the blink of an eye.
John thrashed in Brick’s grip. “No,” he gasped. “Wasn’t. Hurting. Him.”
“The fuck you weren’t.” Brick let go, and John crumpled to the ground in a heap. “I heard every bit of your bullshit no-means-yes game.” He growled.
Brick actually freaking growled.
Gingerly, John sat upright. “We have a history,” he rasped. It looked painful when he swallowed, and he rubbed his throat. “I’m not some random guy. I took care of him.”
Robby stepped forward. Having his friends surrounding him gave him an extra shot of confidence. “I don’t know how I can make it any clearer. I have moved on with my life.” He squatted in front of the man who was the center of his world for more than a year and looked him dead in the eye. “I want you to leave, John, and don’t come back. There’s nothing for you here.”
The seconds passed as John held his gaze. It was a message, one of dominance no doubt. That kind of thing had always been important to him. Eventually, he huffed and staggered to his feet. “You talk a pretty big game in front of your thug friends,” he hissed.
Brick started forward, but Matt grabbed his arm and murmured something too quietly for Robby to make out.
Either John didn’t notice or he was too worked up to care. “I remember what you looked like on your knees. Iwillsee you there again.” With as much dignity as he could muster, he brushed the construction dust from his slacks.
Then, Matt moved like lightning, knocking him to the ground again. “If you see him again, you’d better turn and run in the other direction.”
Brick delivered a powerful kick. “You should probably get the fuck right out of town. It’s been a while since I broke any bones, but not so long I forgot how.”
John whimpered—a sound Robby had never heard from him in all the time they’d been together—and stumbled to his car. The site remained silent until his flashy red Camaro disappeared down the street. Only then did chaos erupt.
***
Matt
Brick ripped off his yellow hardhat and threw it in the dirt. His chest heaved with unspent aggression as he stomped over to Robby. “If that rancid cunt steps foot on this work site again, I will take his head off his motherfucking body.”
Kane crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. “And I know how to make a body disappear. He’s fucking with the wrong family.”
As awful as the whole display had been, Matt’s chest filled with pride over the loyalty Robby had in these two men. He’d had the same kind of bond for a while with Patty, but for more than a year, life had become an uphill climb he’d been traversing alone.
But he wasn’t alone now, was he? He had Robby, unless he managed to screw it up.
He kept quiet as the big guys continued to rant and rave about Robby’s ex and the various ways they could dispose of a body. From anyone else, he probably would have blown it off as posturing, but with these two, he couldn’t be sure. They argued for a while over the merits of sulfuric acid versus wild hogs before agreeing Robby didn’t need to know the details.
It was like Matt wasn’t even there, which was fine, because he didn’t know what to do with the leftover adrenaline from the whole confrontation. He’d knocked a manon the ground. He’d never wanted to hurt anyone so much—ever—in his entire life.
Robby didn’t say much, but he did nod at Brick’s order to come find him if he needed anything.
