Page 74 of In The Dark
“Really? Or is that what you tell your girlfriends so they don’t find out about your arrest record?”
He narrows his eyes and zips up his pants. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve never liked liars.”
“I’m not lying about anything.”
“Except to poor women who think they’re meeting someone else.” I grin. “You’re lucky I don’t use it against you.”
“How would you use it against me?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Like, if you don’t stay the fuck away from Max, I’ll plaster your information all over social media,Connor. I will ruin you.”
“Max? You’re dating that bitch? She’s boring, isn’t she?” He snorts and turns away from me, but I grab his shoulder. I shove him against the wall and pin my arm against his neck. “Jesus Christ, dude. What the fuck is your problem?”
“My problem is I don’t appreciate when people go after what’s mine. Max and I have been spending time together, but I hearyou’vebeen hanging around places where she might be. And she doesn’t like it.”
“It’s not private property, man.” He tries to shove my chest, but I don’t move an inch. “I’m allowed to drive wherever I want.”
“You mean by her house,man?” I push my arm harder into him. “If I catch you doing it again, we’re going to have a big problem.”
“Oh yeah? What’s a tattooed pretty boy like you going to do?”
Well.
That wasn’t very nice.
I step back and release him from my hold. Brian touches his neck, but instead of letting him go, I pull out my pocket knife and open it. His eye widen, and he tries to move past me.
“Pretty boy, huh?”
“Look, dude. I didn’t mean anything by it. She thought I was cheating and broke up with me. I didn’t do shit.”
“So you didn’t have your dick in someone else while you were seeing her?” I toss the knife in the air and catch it by the handle, grinning when he inhales a sharp breath. “That’s not what I heard.”
“We weren’t that serious.”
“Is that what you said to all the girls you’ve roughed up? It wasn’tthat serious?” I laugh. “You’re a piece of shit. I’ll say it one more time: stay the fuck away from her, or we’re going to have a problem. Understand?”
“Yes, you absolute fucking psychopath.”
That’s much better than pretty boy.
“Great. Pleasure doing business with you, man,” I say.
With a salute, I tuck my knife away and make my way back out to the bar, happy to find Max at the Skee ball game. She’s swaying to the music, bopping along to the beat. Totally unbothered, and I’m not going to tell her what happened in the bathroom. She doesn’t need to know her ex is a lying sack of shit. Not when I’d never do that to her.
“There you are.” Max smiles and taps her wrist. “Took you long enough.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. There was a line.” I see Brian heading for the exit and leaving. He’s practically twitching as he looks over his shoulder, and my grin is smug. “Is it ass kicking time?”
“It is. And I thought we could make it interesting.”
“Oh? You have my attention.”
“We can each come up with something we want the other to do if we win.”
“Like, if you lose, you have to ride on my motorcycle with me?” I ask, and she groans.
