Page 11 of Fighting For You
“So how’s life these days? Are you liking Silverton?” That was neutral enough, wasn’t it? Had nothing to do with anything between the two of us.
I glanced at him to see he was chewing—acceptable reason for not responding right away. I took a bite, then startled when he actually replied.
“Why would I tell you? You’ve never cared what I had to say before.”
CHAPTER SIX
Jude
Five years ago
Fury boiled in my veins as I watched him do it… again.
Kurt’s arm caged a woman sitting at the bar, clearly touching her. She’d already brushed him off once, but I hadn’t registered it when it happened. I’d thought maybe he’d cracked a lame joke or… something. Anything other than hitting on a random woman at a bar when he’d given an engagement ring to Jess.
But then the scene shifted into slow motion, and he crowded closer, dipped his head, and whispered something in the woman’s ear. She straightened, and I instantly knew.
“Hey, man. Food’s here,” I said, hand on his shoulder and not so gently pullinghim away.
His head whipped to me with a scowl until he registered who it was—not a random guy encroaching on his conquest, but me.Yeah.
“Right. Yeah. I was just telling Ally here to have a good night.” He winked at her with a sly smile and shoved off the bar with one hand, snatching his beer and moving toward the table we’d chosen twenty minutes ago when we’d walked in.
I parsed through what to say—what words to use instead of punching him directly in the face.
“Damn, that girl just said the nastiest?—”
“Don’t start.” He spun stories like no one else. It was how he won people over—all that charm and ease with words. Skills I didn’t possess, and after witnessing how they could poison things, never cared to develop.
“Come on, man.Youdon’t start. We were just talking.” He chuckled like it really was all fine. Like sliding your hand around someone else and whispering in their ear wasn’t a betrayal.
I waited until he stopped avoiding my eyes, and then I held his gaze.
“Don’t pull that BS, or I’ll tell her.”
The easygoing smile twitched, and his friendly mien hardened, his chin jutting out. “Not your business.”
“It’s my business if you’re going to hurt her.”
He swore. “She’s mine, Beast. I know it kills you, but you can’t go looking for reasons to break us up.”
How had I ever cared about this guy? How had I ever loved him like a brother? I’d had so few people in my life as a kid—grandparents and a few neighbors. I’d never felt unloved, never felt the lack of parents who’d died when I was a baby because my grandparents had loved me so well.But Kurt was a constant through grade school, then high school, joining the Army, and now EMU, and it’d mattered to me that we’d traveled so much road together. I’d spent a lot of years looking away from all the crappy things he did, but lately, I couldn’t.
“This has nothing to do with that. If you don’t want to be faithful, break it off.”
He scoffed. “You’d love that.” His slick smile returned. “Don’t worry. I’ll make Jessie happy, and you don’t need to worry your tiny brain over how it happens.”
I’d accepted he wasn’t the man I’d grown up thinking he was a while back, but I’d still had hope for him. We were stuck on a temporary assignment together and had a whole week to work one-on-one, with literally no one else with us. So me storming out and leaving him here would only slow things down. I’d never wanted to screech out of a parking lot like I did tonight.
We watched the game. My team won and things were looking up, right until I said I was ready to go. He’d switched his attention to another game and blew me off. “Nah, I’ll stay. I’ll grab a cab home.”
I should’ve insisted he come with me, but he was a grown man and obviously didn’t want my opinion. I took off, promising myself I wouldn’t worry about what he was doing. It wasn’t my problem. He and Pop had a relationship, and I assumed she trusted him, and vice versa. Granted, I couldn’t imagine her doing anything to break someone’s trust because she had more integrity in her little finger than Kurt had in his entire body, but oh well.
When he texted an hour later saying he couldn’t get a cab and asked if I’d come get him in twenty, I pulled on my jeans and drove the ten minutes back to the bar to get him.He didn’t come out right away after I found a spot in the busy lot near the back, so I stayed in the rental car waiting, tension knotting in my stomach, my foot tapping impatiently.
After waiting a full five, I figured maybe he’d gotten to chatting with someone and didn’t realize how the time had passed. It wouldn’t have been unusual for him, and though I didn’t mind indulging that side of him from time to time, especially on missions when it benefited us for people to be charmed into giving information, it didn’t apply now. I wanted to get back to the hotel and put this night to bed.
He wasn’t at the table and the waitress already had someone new sitting there. Nearly all the tables were full, which made sense for a Saturday night. No Kurt at the bar either, and then my worry notched up again.
