Page 54 of South of The Skyway

She looked like she was teetering on the edge of tears, so I reached down to thread our fingers together, giving her a reassuring squeeze. A raspy breath filled her ribs before she nodded. “I fed Chloe this morning, so she should be okay through dinner. You don’t have to stay, Rhyett. We can go whenever. I appreciate the offer, though.”

“Whatever you need, Ace.”

“Told you he’d stick,” Noel mumbled from the bed, cracking through Brexley’s anxiety as laughter bubbled between her lips. Eric forced an unconvincing chuckle she ignored. “Thanks for coming, Hotshot.”

“Anything you need, Red?”

She smiled at the moniker before her eyes flicked to Eric and then to the woman staring at her lap at the end of the bed. I reached out a hand.

“Noel’s mother, I assume?”

She gave a breathy little laugh. “Frankie McShane. Thanks for looking after my girls, Rhyett.”

“They were covered, Mrs. McShane,” Eric said scornfully, feigning lightheartedness where there noticeably wasn’t any.

“Yep,” she responded before her eyes flicked back to mine. “Sure were."

As we leftthe hospital an hour later, Brex slid her hand into mine as we passed the waving nurses at their station. My chest warmed, but my intuition was stuck in that room with Noel. “I really don’t like that guy.”

TWENTY-THREE

BREXLEY

Every time I saw the man, I left feeling the imperative need for a shower. The girls and bartenders and college professors all fell at Eric’s feet like they were in the presence of a titan. But not Rhyett. He’d taken one look at that rumpled, luxurious suit, and everything about his energy shifted into protector mode.

If Rhyett Rhodes had been sexy in a tank and trunks, he was fucking sinful in that muscle-hugging T. Broad shoulders pulled back as he studied the dynamic and made no moves to hide his distaste. The man already had my mind and hormones warring for dominance, and that protective, couldn’t-care-less attitude he’d slid between Noel and Eric completely eradicated my resolve.

It wasn’t until rubber met the blasted Skyway that I finally cleared my throat.

“Thank you, Rhyett.”

“Anytime. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need something.”

“I mean…for Noel, too. For being so kind to her. For not letting Eric interrupt her.” The greasy shitstick had been speaking for her since the moment I arrived. From the outside, he might have looked like the doting boyfriend. But from my eyes…he wasn’t advocatingfor her, he was deciding things only she should be able to consent to—prescriptions, dosages, where her follow-up appointments would be held.

When I’d made to correct the pattern, he’d cut me off and asked the doctor to remove the distractions.

It was Rhyett’s demanding presence and blunt, “She can speak for herself” that shut his mouth.

Leaving Noel felt counterintuitive, but as the doctors insisted on keeping her one night for observation, we didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“She deserves better,” he said bluntly. God, Ireallyliked this man. More than one night and a first date could possibly warrant.

Irritation with her meddlesome boyfriend aside, my heart had run double time all day, my smart watch frequently reminding me to take a moment to breathe. The heart rate monitor had even gone off, prompting Rhyett to pull me onto his lap and run soothing circles across my hand with his thumb. I’d been so preoccupied with the reminder that he had shown up when I asked him to, that I hadn’t taken a moment to breathe and realize the effect he had on my body.

He steadied me, just with his presence alone. And the reality was, he had come. When I had no one else to call, when Vallie burst into tears on the phone, and Josie frantically updated me that she still hadn’t found a sitter, Rhyett had shown up. Fast enough that I knew he couldn’t have been strictly road legal the whole way.

“Honestly, I think so too. Nobody else sees it that way. All they talk about is how amazing he is. How successful.”

“Hmm,” he grunted, a line appearing between his brows. “There are more important things.” I wanted to ask what he was thinking but swallowed the words. We weren’t at that stage of friendship, much less relationship…were we? My internal debate was unwarranted, however, when he spoke up on his own. “If she was a Rhodes, none of us would've let them leave on the first date.”

That idea made me smile. The concept of Noel having six brothers watching her back. “Wish she’d had you here from the beginning, then. I was overruled.”

“Do you trust your instincts, Brex?”

“For the most part.”

“Good.”

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