Page 33 of Throw Down

Derek fixed him with a glare that could melt steel.“Stay out of my business.”

“Ha! Likewise.” A hawk screeched overhead, and West looked up and squinted.He watched it, refusing to meet Derek’s eyes when he added, “Think about what I said, okay?I’m worried about you. Not everything has to be a fight, you know.”

Derek didn’t bother dignifying that with a response.He turned away and fixed his attention on the mangled Buick.

His mind kept returning to Briar, over and over, like he was already a trained dog.It would be so easy to stop fighting and give in to someone like him, someone bright and warm, someone who loved him despite his rough looks and bad attitude.But West was wrong—everything in Derek’s life was a fight.The weight of a lifetime of duty was constantly bearing down on him, threatening to crack the barrier he'd shored up around his heart.For the first time in years, Derek was worried the barrier might not be strong enough.

He didn’t trust himself to speak.He was afraid of what might accidentally slip out.

West let out a resigned sigh and said, “I’d better get going.Michael and I are taking Abby bowling for her birthday.See you at Sunday dinner.”

Derek nodded, buthedidn’t watch him leave.He closed his eyes and listened to the dirt and gravel crunching beneath West’s boots, and for a fleeting moment, he imagined what it might be like to have someone waiting at home for him.Someone who wanted him for who he was and not what he could do for them.But fantasies like that weredangerous.

He’d learned that a long timeago.

Chapter Thirteen

BRIAR

Briar wasn’t sure if the last splash in his bottle of Valentino cologne would combat the scent of animals and antiseptic that clung to him after a long day, but it would have to suffice.He didn't have time for a shower.If he ran his date off with clinic stink, he wasn’t going to lose much sleep.

He already regretted setting up a blind date in the first place.What had he been thinking? He hadn’t.He never did; he only reacted.

Derek’s rejection was humiliating.It left Briar feeling unwanted and embarrassed, and he never made good decisions when he was in that state.Worse—he was lonely. He hadn’t realized how isolated he'd become over the past year until Derek revealed it with a single touch.Nate was a great friend, but he didn’t need Briar third wheeling on his domestic bliss, and there was no one else.

Briar missed being touched; he missed cuddling and laughing at jokes no one else understood.He missed being in love—or at least being distracted by the possibility of falling in love before everything went tits up.With his penchant for choosing the wrong men, that was usually how it worked.

Derek was as wrong as they got.Nate had tried to warn him, but Briar never listened.He’d had to learn the hard way—with a verbal slap in the face.Not only was Derek all wrong for him, rough and aggressive where Briar was soft and easy-going, but he was so deep in the closet he didn’t even know there was a closet.He was walking around thinking the whole world was as dark and confined as his little hidey-hole.He actually thought he could force himself to be straight.Everything about Derek was a giant red flag.Getting involved with someone like that would be the biggest mistake Briar ever made.

But that didn’t stop the longing.

Briar had relived that moment in the salvage yard a hundred—no, a thousand—times.He felt the sizzling pressure of Derek’s lips even in his sleep, and he woke up bathed in sweat and sticky sheets.

Briar wasn’t naïve or inexperienced, but he hadn’t thought chemistry like that even existed.With one brutal kiss, Derek made every man he’d ever been with seem like a fumbling boy.Sex had always been a fun, flirty, exciting form of recreation.But sex with Derek would be something else entirely.Something life changing. Briar wasn’t even sure he’d survive it, so it was for the best that Derek had pushed him away.It had probably saved them both.But that didn’t stop the growing ache beneath his skin.

He needed a distraction, and all it took was one bottle of pinot noir and a slightly hyperbolic dating profile for him to snare one: Peter Petrovich, age twenty-nine.He wasn’t local, of course, but that was even better because Briar wouldn’t need to face him in the light of day.

Briar stuffed his work clothes in his backpack and gave himself a quick once-over in the mirror above the break room sink.

His clothes were decidedly not suited for Sweetwater:vegan leather pants that accentuated his ass and a silky shirt with a neckline so loose that it slipped off his shoulder every time he breathed. He'd completed the ensemble with a pair of thick Chelsea boots to add a necessary height boost.

Derek probably would’ve gagged if he could see him.

“Well, well,” Nate let out a teasing wolf-whistle as he entered the break room.“Got a hot date?”

“Maybe.”

Nate’s eyebrows spiked, and his smirk vanished.“With who?” he demanded.

Briar sighed and smoothed a wayward strand into his slicked-back hair.“No one you know. Obviously. I signed up for an online dating service.Figured it was time to broaden my horizons.”

“Broaden to where?” Nate asked incredulously.“The next town over? It's even smaller than Sweetwater.”

“Boise,” Briar replied. The city was a good three-hour drive to the east, across the canyon that split the state line.“The guy’s a pharmaceutical rep who travels for work.He’s passing through anyway, so we’re going to grab a bite and see where it leads.”

Nate looked intensely doubtful.“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Why not?” Briar asked, trying to sound casual.He couldn't bring himself to meet Nate's eyes, so he turned back to the mirror and began fussing with his hair again.“It’s just a hook-up, and I promise not to leave a public place with him without texting you all the deets.”

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