Page 50 of Off Limits
“Where’s my brother?” she barked at Taylor, who was chatting up a female patron at the bar.
He snapped his head up at Jane’s question. “Hey. Jane. Calm down.” He told the woman to give him a minute and pushed back from the bar. He steered her into the brewing room to avoid making a scene at the bar.
“Where is he?” She crossed her arms over her chest. She was going to rip Rex a new one. She’d rarely seen her brother so unhinged. And to hit Brady? It was so unlike him.
“What is going on?” He gripped her by the shoulders. “Rex blew through here about thirty minutes ago with steam practically shooting out of his ears and now you.” Then his eyes widened. “Oh, fuck. Did you tell him about you and Brady?”
A growl resonated from behind one of the fermentation tanks.
“You knew?” Rex’s cold tone could have drained the blood from anyone on the receiving end. He eased out from behind the tank, his face red as a lobster.
“Fuck me.” Taylor ran his fingers through his hair. “I knew this would bite me in the ass.”
“I never thought both you and Brady would betray me like this.” Rex stalked toward them.
“Knock it off, Rex,” she snapped, stepping forward. “Nothing was donetoyou. T hasn’t known long and we asked him to stay quiet sowecould tell you ourselves.”
Rex jabbed his finger at her. “I don’t want to hear anything from you. When he’s putting it to another girl next week or next month, don’t look to cry on my shoulder. He doesn’t do relationships and you know that.”
“Stop talking about him like he’s some kind of whore,” she fired back. “There was a time after Layla and before Anna that the exact same could be said of you.”
He clenched his jaw so tightly a vein popped at his temple. “He’s never done a relationship, Janey. Never. He’s always said he’d doesn’t know how to love someone. And you want me to just hand you over to someone who has openly admitted that? I can’t.”
“It’s not your job to hand me over. I’m a grown ass woman, Rex. I make my own decisions.”
“He’s going to break your heart.” Rex muttered, raking his fingers through his hair until the messy strands stood out like a crown of dirty blonde chaos.
“I’m sorry you don’t like the idea of Brady and me together, but you honestly don’t have a say in the matter.”
“And what happens when he breaks your heart? When he devastates you? And he will.”
“If that happens, then I’ll deal with it.”
“Listen, Rex,” Taylor interrupted. “Brady is quite serious about her. He hasn’t been with another woman since he’s been with Jane.”
“Fuck off, T. I can’t believe you are defending him. First, he breaks the promise to me to stay away from Jane. Then, he drags you into it and asks you to lie. And now you’re defending him like I’m the one that did something wrong.”
Taylor huffed out a breath. “I didn’t like the sneaking around and behind your back stuff. And I told them both. But they care about each other. Brady is in love with her.”
Rex released a sardonic laugh. “Right.”
“You’re an asshole,” she yelled at Rex. “He’s your best friend and you talk about him like he’s trash. Shame on you.”
“Shame on me? That’s rich.” Rex scoffed.
“You know what, Rex” She took another step toward him, chest heaving. “You can either accept us or not. That’s your choice. But it won’t change a damn thing. Brady and I are together. We’re staying together.” She thrust a finger at him, her voice shaking with fury. “I’m walking out that door before you say something else you can’t take back.” With that, she spun on her heel and stormed through the door.
She wanted to scream. To cry. To punch a wall—or her brother. Instead, she climbed in her Jeep, started the engine and let the sun, the wind, and her cleansing breaths ground her.
