Page 114 of Entangled

“—Eden home.” Lucky frowns at his back as he stalks into Bristlebrook. “Is he hungry or something?”

Dom’s warning about Jayk rings in my ears, and I take a deep breath, trying to push aside my worry. He agreed to the deal, didn’t he? Surely that shows at least some capacity or willingness to share.

Before he cared, a voice taunts me. I push that away too.

Talk, Dom said. If only getting Jayk to talk about his feelings didn’t leave me feeling like Androcles trying to pull the thorn from the lion’s paw.

The music abruptly cuts off inside.

Beau sighs. “Thank god.”

“Everyone, come through,” Dom barks, and I turn to see the crowd staring up at Bristlebrook with a mixture of trepidation and awe. Firm and elegant against the natural rock, it does make a sight, even battle weary as it is.

“Scratch that,” Heather yells back to her people, ignoring Dom’s sharp look. “Everyone, set up out here for the moment. We know you’re all tired and want to get clean, but we’ll be taking turns. Five oldest first, come through—you get first shot at showers.”

“Seriously? So ageist,” Kasey calls back, rolling her eyes, and a brunette in her forties I don’t know too well tugs her hair good-naturedly.

Heather directs her people easily, and I feel the tension in Beau and Lucky wind tighter and tighter. With another frustrated look at Heather, Dom helps Ida up onto the porch since the stairs are half-destroyed, and then Ethel after her. Three others in their fifties follow quickly—one couple, Beth and David, and a woman named Leanne—and he directs them all up the stairs, then jerks his head at us to follow him in.

When we reach the porch, I squeak as Beau lifts me up from behind, though it’s only a short step, and his fingers linger on my waist afterwards. But when I glance up at him, his mouth is set in a deep scowl.

As soon as the door shuts behind us, he directs his glare at Dom. “You brought her back here?”

Jayk is leaning against the wall next to the kitchen, flicking his knife, which I’m coming to realize is his favorite defensive move. Dom shifts, his stance widening just slightly like he’s planning for an attack.

“Good to see you too,” he says dryly.

But Beau isn’t having it. “Never again, Dom. I thought we were done with this.”

“These people needed a safe place.”

“Are you fucking her?” Beau snaps, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry. His face is lit with anger, his body a tornado of riotous energy.

At his question, though, I can’t help but steal a glance at Dom.Arethey sleeping together? I haven’t seen them so much as hold hands. Does someone like Dom even hold hands?

Dom’s face hardens. “Is that really the first thing you’re asking me?”

I wrap my arms around my waist at the non-answer.

Beau pulls back like Dom swung at him. His face settles into cynical lines that don’t suit it at all. “Not any of my business, I suppose. Hasn’t been for a long while.”

Hating that look on his face, I touch his elbow, and Beau tenses again, looking down at me. There’s so much sorrow in the unhappy set of his mouth. He cups my face, then draws me into his side.

“Did you even talk to Eden before you jumped into someone else’s bed?” Beau asks bitterly, and I wince as I hear Lucky shift uncomfortably next to me. “Or I suppose you didn’t bother. You were never invested in this in the first place, right?”

The confirmation from Beau, that Dom really wasn’t ever interested in me, burns cold in my chest. It becomes an ice fire, its frost burning through my veins.

I feel Dom’s eyes on me, but I don’t look at him. Instead, I tug on Beau’s shirt. “Stop, Beau. Please. It’s okay. Dom and I talked. We’re...”

I glance at Dom uncertainly, and he lifts a brow back at me, looking like a pissed-off panther.

“We’re pals.” His golden eyes flare like a lashing tail. “Aren’t we,buddy?”

I lift my chin quellingly. Does he have to make it sound so ridiculous? Maybe it’s because of how transparently, humiliatingly into him I am.

If heiswith Heather, I’ll really need to fix that.

“Yes. We’re friends.” I lay my hand on Beau’s chest. “Everything with Heather is complicated. But these people trust her... and so do I.”

---