Page 59 of Twins For My Bestie's Brother

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jackson slide to the edge of his chair, putting one foot on the ground. He’s on high alert. Ready to act. “Will, I think it’s time you back off, okay?” Jackson says, still poised.

Will’s expression shifts back into darkness. He steps around my chair to get in Jackson’s face. “I thinkyouneedto back off, man.”

Jackson places a hand on the bar. He taps two of his fingers back and forth, fast.

“You’ve been with herwhat? A couple of months. Pshhh. That’snothingcompared to what we—” Will claps his hand down on my shoulder, possession resonating through his fingertips. “What wehave.”

Jackson grabs Will’s hand and yanks it off me. “Don’t fucking touch her, dude.”

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want.”

“She doesn’t want you, man.”

“You think she wants you?’

Jackson laughs and runs a hand down his face. “I don’t disrespect people I care about.”

Will pauses. His eyes narrow. “What’sthatsupposed to mean?”

The corner of Jackson’s mouth perks up. “You know what the fuck I mean.”

I wish I knew what the fuck he meant. There’s a subtext to this conversation I feel I almost understand, but not quite.

The bartender returns. “Hey, guys. Cool it.”

Will ignores her. “What are you going to do about it?”

Suddenly, Jackson is up and out of his chair, squaring up to Will. “You want to go there?”

I leap out of my chair and grab Jackson’s arms. “Jackson, don’t. It’s not—”

Will goes toe to toe with Jackson. “Come on, pretty boy. You think you can fight?” He puts his hands on Jackson’s chest and shoves.

I yelp in surprise. “Will, what the hell?”

Thankfully, Jackson absorbed most of the force. He faces off with Will again. “I’m not the one who should be worried,Earring.”Shove.

Okay, this is kind of amazing, and while I’m definitely more of a ‘Make love, not war’ type, no guy has ever gone to bat for me like this.

It’s doing something to me. Not enough for me to want to keep Will from getting hurt, but—

“Break it up, or take it outside!” someone shouts.

I realize all eyes are on us now, the bar closing in. I’m not sure if they’re ready to keep them from killing each other or to pick sides and turn this into a WWE match.

Will holds his hands up in surrender and starts to back away. “Fine, fine.” He turns to go and then, in a flurry of motion snaps back and sucker punches Jackson in the nose.

There is a chorus of screams and exclamations, mine included.

Jackson recoils, bent over, cupping the wound. “Goddammit. Fuck.” He spits, blood spattering across the floor.

“Oh, my God, Jackson—“ I go toward him, helping him stand up straight. Swelling blooms down from his cheek. “You’re hurt, oh my God.” I glare back at Will. “You sucker punched him!”

Will’s lips bend downward, and he shrugs. “That means you’re going to punk out, Roy?”

I grab tighter to Jackson. “Don’t. Let’s just go. Let’s—”

Jackson gives me a fleeting smile, then focuses on rolling up his cuffs. “I’m fine.” He lifts his eyes away from me, lasers in on Will, pupils pinpricks. Jackson guides me behind him. “Stay back, okay?”

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