Page 41 of A Sudden Response

“Where’s Joe?” Nathan asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down while scanning the bar.

“She’s enjoying a joy ride,” Eric said, feeling his lips twitch.

He idly wondered how she was enjoying her scenic drive down Old Man Mason’s road, a ten-mile stretch of country road that hadn’t seen a patch job in twenty years. It was one of those obscure roads that everyone forgot about, except for the kids who liked a challenge.

Nathan threw him a curious look but shrugged it off as he continued to look around the bar.

“Where’s Caitlyn?” Eric asked, looking around the bar for the cute little brunette.

“We broke up.”

He really shouldn’t be surprised by this point, but he really was. He’d only met the woman a handful of times, but she seemed perfect for his brother. Then again, he hadn’t met any of Nathan’s girlfriends that hadn’t been perfect for him.

“Why?” Eric asked, taking a sip of his beer while his brother continued to scan the bar.

“It was just time,” Nathan said with a shrug.

“You’re a fucking idiot.”

Had he said that out loud? Based on his brother’s sudden glare, he would have to go with a yes on that one.

“What?” Nathan demanded, turning his attention on him.

He could apologize, but this bullshit had gone on for far too long.

“You heard me. You’re a fucking idiot. You had a great girl, another great girl I might add, who from what I could see, adored you and was perfect for you and what do you do? You toss her aside on a whim. What the hell is your problem?”

“Stay out of it,” Nathan bit out tightly.

“Sorry. Not going to happen. I want to know what your problem is. You keep meeting these great women that seem to make you happy, but for some fucked up reason, you keep letting them go. I don’t understand what your problem is.”

“Look who’s talking,” Nathan bit out.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Eric demanded.

“Joe,” Nathan said, making Eric turn around quickly in his seat to look for her. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Nathan said coldly, drawing his attention, but not before he scanned the bar looking for her.

“What are you talking about?” Eric asked distractedly as he turned to see if she was standing next to the jukebox since that’s the first thing she always did before ordering a beer.

“That you have balls to talk.”

“Meaning?” Eric asked, taking a sip of his beer as he leveled a glare on his brother, not entirely sure that he liked where this was going.

“You think I don’t know?” Nathan demanded with a harsh laugh. “Everyone fucking knows.”

“Then maybe you should clue me in,” Eric said, placing his beer down on the small table.

“You’re in love with Joe,” Nathan said with a smug smile that had Eric chuckling.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Eric said, taking another sip of beer with a casualness that he didn’t feel.

“Is that why you watch her like a hawk and warn off any man dumb enough to get within touching distance of her?”

“I protect her, the same as you,” Eric said, slamming his beer down on the small table hard enough to make the small wooden bowl filled with empty peanut shells bounce.

Nathan snorted at that. “I protect her because she’s my sister. You protect her because you don’t want anyone else to have her.”

“You’re full of shit and you know it,” Eric said, wondering why they were even talking about this. It was something that he didn’t want to think about, never mind talk about.

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