Page 9 of Love Gamble

With Damon’s tense jaw and clenched fists, it doesn’t look like my brother is the one Jag has to worry about. Clearing my throat, I step away from Jag and take out the last few items and place them on the table, while the two men continue to have their standoff.

Over nothing, because nothing is happening with either of them.

Which kind of sucks, because they’re both pretty hot.

Still, I’m kind of enjoying this interaction. I have to get my kicks somewhere.

Jag bites into his mango, then starts peeling it, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve never seen anyone eat a mango like that, but it’s kind of attractive. He licks the juice off his fingers, and I try not to stare. I think Jag ignoring Damon’s waves of anger only infuriates him more, and I’m here for it.

“Corey,” he seethes, turning his head to me.

“What?” I ask, my tone a little more blunt than I intend. But I’m sorry, why is he getting mad? He has no reason to be, and he should go back to his Barbie where he belongs. Okay, the truth is I’m petty as fuck, and yesterday I was jealous, but now it looks like it’s his turn.

His lips tighten.

The thing between us goes deeper than just a kiss, and we both know it. When I got kidnapped, Damon made sure he was there to save me. And I knew that he and my brother would come for me.

Yet he doesn’t want to admit that he wants me?

Maybe he thinks that I’m a liability after Rosalind, Julianna’s sister, tricked me into thinking she needed help, but knocked me out and put me in her trunk instead.

And yeah, I hate that I was that naive and had to play the whole damsel-in-distress card, but it won’t be happening ever again, let me tell you that much.

I won’t be as trusting ever again.

“Yes, I thought you’d have nothing to say,” I continue antagonizing him.

When he doesn’t reply and give me the fight I want, I go to leave the kitchen, but stop when I pass him. “How was your lunch, by the way?”

And then I walk off before he can reply.

Fuck you, Damon.

Chapter Five

Damon

“You need to calm down, my brother,” Jag says when we are alone, eating the rest of his mango. I want to shove it in his face. “If you want her, then go and get her.”

If only it were that easy. I can’t do that to her. There are too many obstacles standing in our way, the main being I cannot bear to put her in any danger. I’ve seen what Julianna and Bella have been through. And as much as I know they love their men and that it is their choice to be part of this world, I can’t willingly do that. I watched my mother do it time and time again—and look where she ended up.

Dead.

No thanks.

Stretching my neck from side to side, I try to calm myself down. When I saw Jag with his arms around her, and the way he was looking at her, it just set me off.

But he’s right.

“Just trying to save you from a beating,” I lie, grabbing a beer from the fridge and leaning against the counter in the spot Corey just vacated.

“From you or River?” he replies, arching his brow. He doesn’t seem fazed, and it’s just another reminder of why he belongs here. He fits right in with the rest of us assholes.

“River,” I reply, but we both know that might not be true. The smart bastard.

“Uh-huh,” he comments, throwing the mango pit in the bin and turning to me. “Did she stock your favorite foods? Because she did mine.”

With a cocky smirk he leaves the kitchen, while I stare at the pantry, wondering if she even knows what my favorite snacks are.

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