Page 71 of Claimed By 3 Mountain Men

I shrug. “Then we deal with it.”

“Fuck him. All that asshole cared about was making money,” Hank mutters, finishing his second stiff drink. “For all we know he deserved it.”

JT glares at him, his eyes flashing with anger. “Watch your mouth, Hank.”

“You know I’m right, JT. We have to stop pretending Luke Truitt was some perfect saint. He worked us to shit.”

“He taught us everything!”

“Remember when mom was sick? He worked every day while she was in the hospital, and didn't seem to notice until she had just a few days left to live.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say, cutting in. “Not tonight. Not with Mac out there. We’ve got bigger problems to deal with, like who’s been setting those traps and why. Mom and Dad are gone but we’re still here. So, let’s just keep an eye on her, and we wait for the trap to be sprung,” I say, pouring a second generous helping into my own glass.

The heat of the bourbon is starting to leach into my veins.

Hank takes a long sip, staring down at his glass like it holds the answers to all the questions neither of us is willing to ask out loud. “You think she’s telling us everything?” he finally says, his voice low, almost a whisper.

I swirl the bourbon in my glass, watching the liquid catch the light. “I think she’s here for a reason, and I think we’d be stupid to ignore that. But I also think she’s trying to do what she thinks is right.” The wood in the fire pops as it burns.

Hank grunts, leaning back in his chair, his eyes narrowed. “JT’s right about one thing—she’s a wildcard. We don’t know her, and that makes her dangerous.”

“Maybe,” I concede, taking a sip of my drink. “But we’re in too deep to turn back now. We need her to get to the bottom of this, and she needs us. Whatever happens next, we’re all in this together.”

Hank is quiet for a moment, his gaze fixed on some distant point beyond the walls of the lodge. “You like her, don’t you?” he asks, his tone more curious than accusatory.

“Oh come on. Don’t act like we’re all in middle school here. I think we can all admit, we’re attracted to her, and we all have feelings for her.”

JT sets his glass down, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, alright? Just… let’s keep our priorities straight, that’s all. We can’t let her—or whatever this is—get in the way of what’s really important.”

Hank sizes JT up and down, and then his eyes slide to me. “We’re on the same page, I promise. I don’t know about you, but I could use a distraction.”

“Distractions are the last thing we need,” JT says flatly, plopping his feet on the coffee table.

“Or the one thing wedoneed. She’s smart as hell, hot and a great catch. Plus, that mouth of hers…” he sinks deeper into the couch. “I’m just saying. Maybe we explore the possibility.”

“Of fucking her?” JT asks, narrowing his eyes.

“Not what I said.”

“You basically did say that” I shoot back to Hank.

“Well, we all want her, and quite frankly, I can’t get enough. JT’s just upset that he hasn’t yet.”

“Fuck off,” JT snaps. “Maybe I’m a gentleman.”

“No, you’re just an asshole,” I tease, punching his shoulder. He jumps to his feet and puts me into a headlock, like when we were younger.

“I’ll show you how much of an asshole I can be,” he chuckles. The alcohol hits all of us and we start laughing.

But before I can slam him into the couch, Mac steps into the room, her presence cuts through our conversation like a knife. Fuck. How much had she heard?

19

MAC

“Pour me one of those,” I say, pointing to the glass in Hank’s hand, watching all three of them stare at me. JT awkwardly releases Ben from the chokehold he’s got him in.

“Not much going on in here,” Hank mutters.

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