Page 94 of Sugar
Guess I was wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
KASEY
“Want me to kill him?” Rhett asks, keeping his voice low.
I wince.
“Shit,” he says regretfully. “Sorry. I meant ‘Want me to hurt him?’”
“No,” I grit out, staring at the shitstain of a man glaring at us from the middle of the driveway. His dark-blond hair is combed back, glossy from too much product, and he’s wearing a suit that looks expensive enough to pay for all the repairs needed in the barn. Nothing about him looks like it belongs anywhere around here.
At least he has the good sense not to come any closer.
“Know who he is?” Wells asks.
I exhale through my nose. “I think it’s Ava’s ex from Miami.”
“Why would he be here?”
I don’t answer, because the likely answer is he’s probably here for Ava.Orthe baby. And despite the fact I have no right to decide so, he’s not going anywhere near them.
“Where the hell is she?” Tobias shouts again.
For thethirdfucking time.
“I don’t know what you’re after,” I finally call out, “but this is private property and we’ve already asked you to leave the polite way?—”
“I think I’ve made what I’m after pretty clear, but since you rednecks clearly lack the intelligence to keep up, I’ll say it again: I’m looking for Ava Jones, and I’m not going anywhere until I see her.”
“Yeah,” Rhett mutters, tone full of violence. “This guy’s fucking dead.”
“What makes you think she’s here?” I ask, ignoring my brother.
“Lady at the bakery said she’d be at ‘Bennett Rescue Ranch’ so I plugged it into my map app and here I am.” His gaze flicks from the house to the roof of the barn just visible behind it. To the corral where a black stallion nudges a ball around with his nose, happily unaware of the tension growing over here. “Is she back into horses or something? Is this some kind of wilderness spa camp?”
Wells snorts.
“Unless Ava extends an invitation for you to come here and see her,” I say, “I’m not allowing you past the driveway.”
Tobias rolls his eyes, annoyed. “Of course she wants to see me, I’m her goddamn boyfriend. Who are you to police who gets to see her, anyway? This is ridiculous.”
“Boyfriend?” Rhett smarts, pointing a thumb at me. “That’s weird, ’cause last I fucking checked she’s married to my brother. Pretty sure husband trumps”—he waves a hand in Tobias’s direction—“whatever the hell you are. Time to get lost, dickhole.”
Tobias goes still, eyeing me with new regard. “Married?” he snorts. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Tobias!” We all turn around to see Ava and Layla running down the dirt pathway. Ava’s flushed with anger, glaring at him. “You have no right to be here!”
“You fuckingmarriedthis hillbilly piece of shit?”
Rhett lurches forward but I thrust a hand out to push against his chest and stop him.
Ava stops herself about ten feet behind us. “You haveno rightto be anywhere near me, Tobias. I told you I wasn’t coming back.”
He marches forward, sneering at Ava. Wells and Rhett join together in creating a wall to block him, and Rhett shoves him hard in the chest. “Hear that? She asked you toleave, motherfucker.”
But Tobias doesn’t hear him, because he’s zeroed in on Ava. “I willnotallow the mother of my child to shack up in some podunk town with a backwoods loser like a bitch in heat!”
