Page 5 of Oblivion

He raised his arms in indignation. “The fuck, Bateman? Move your fucking ass.”

I slapped the beer bottle from his hand, sending it crashing against the wall and splintering into glass shards.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Confusion scrunched his face. “What was?”

“The photos. You sent me the photos of Sadie.”

He scoffed. “What photos? No, wait, let me guess: photos of her riding someone else’s dick? Wake up, boy, everyone knows about that already.”

“Bullshit!” I roared. “You had to have sent them.”

Ward smirked and held up his phone. “Be my guest. Go through my phone history and see if they came from me.”

“Fuck your phone history.”

He laughed in my face. “I agree. Yours isfarmore interesting.”

An unchecked growl left my mouth as I lunged. I straddled him and had him by the throat, bearing down with my body weight as I squeezed hard.

Ward’s face had turned a satisfying shade of purple by the time multiple hands grabbed me. I was torn off Ward and shoved behind a wall of bodies, my brothers, while Forrest got up in my face.

“He’s not worth it, brother. Leave it for the moment.”

My eyes locked with his. While outwardly calm, Forrest’s gaze burned with untameable wrath and unspoken warnings. If there was one guy I would immediately back down for, it was Forrest. That was how much I respected him.

I gave a faint nod and rolled my shoulders to work out the tension. “I’m fine,” I bit back.

Doughboy, Chen, and Pittsy immediately stood down and headed back to our table, while Forrest lingered with me.

We were one pace from exiting the room when Ward’s drawled voice made me halt.

“Oh, and Dante?”

As I turned and met his eyes, his grin turned sinister.

“I warned you not to fuck with me.”

Forrest’s hand slammed onto my chest, stopping me from making a huge mistake by brawling in the bar.

“He’ll get his own,” Forrest growled in my ear, then gave me a quick shove into the main area.

It took him propelling me half the length of the room before I shoved him away. “I’m good. Wish you hadn’t stopped me, though.”

“Trust me, brother, there’s a huge-ass part of me that wants to see you wring his neck, but now ain’t the time and here ain’t the place.”

Chen held up a bottle of premixed bourbon when I reached the table, and I drank it back in one go without stopping for a breath.

Once I hit the bottom, I slammed the empty bottle onto the table. “I’ll get the next round.”

“Then, you can tell us what the fuck that’s all about,” Pittsy exclaimed and pointed to my phone.

“I’m gonna need to be drunk as fuck before I go there, Pitts.”

“Let’s get jacked up, then!”

My head spun as I approached the bar and gave instructions to Gillian to keep the rounds coming. With the first round in hand, I returned to the table and had the premixed bourbon to my lips before I’d even parked my ass.

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