“I guess you probably have,” Kyle sighed. His gaze lifted to meet Cole’s, and he could feel the bad forming behind that gaze. “I never would have cut you out if I’d known you actually cared about Hailey.”
“I do not care about that woman,” Cole stated as clearly as he could. “I just want to fuck her.”
“Really? That’s it? Just sex?”
Just sex? Just the idea made Cole grin. “Oh, no, the little darling could wish it would be that simple. Trust me, Kyle, I’m going to make that woman scream, make her beg, make her promise—”
It just all rolled out of him too fast for his mind to censor. The only thing bringing the flow to a sudden stop was Kyle’s smirk. Bastard thought he knew what Cole had been about to say.
“Make her promise what?”
“To call me master.” Cole wouldn’t be tricked, lured, or annoyed into anything else. All he wanted was Hailey’s submission. Once he had it, the damn knot growing in his gut would unwind.
“Uh-huh.” Kyle nodded at that, looking a little too thoughtful as he straightened up. “You know, Cole, that’s the woman I love you’re talking about.”
“The woman you what?” Cole couldn’t stop the laugh at that. “Have you lost your fricken mind?”
“Knew you’d understand.”
“What the hell else am I supposed to think?” Cole didn’t intend to apologize for his honesty. “I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to believe you are in love with this woman when you won’t even fuck her when she wants you to?”
“Whatever, Cole,” Kyle snapped in obvious disgust. It was the insult buried in his tone that really had Cole clenching. “I ain’t going to argue with you. I’m just saying I’m going for the long term here, and I know that’s just not a journey you want to take. I’m asking you, man, as your friend, don’t screw this up for me.”
“Ah.” Cole rolled that crap around his head until his natural response popped out. “God, you’re such a pussy. That woman’s going to have you trained in two weeks flat.”
“Thanks for the help.”
“No,” Cole shot out as Kyle curled around the edge of the archway to walk off. “Damn it. Fine. If that’s what you want, I got your back.”
“Yeah?” Kyle didn’t look terribly convinced. “And just how you going to get that?”
Cole sucked it in and did what he knew he had to. “By working with you, man. Between the two of us, you’ll have that ring on Hailey’s finger in no time.”
“And you?”
“And me?” Cole smiled already anticipating the day. “She can wear my collar.”
Kyle scowled at that. “That’s not what I meant, Cole, and you know it. I’m not going to let you treat my wife as some kind of mistress you avail yourself to whenever the itch takes you. She’s either your wife or you can get the hell out of our bed.”
“So I’m supposed to just know now if I want to marry Hailey?” Cole shook that question out of his reeling mind. Kyle apparently didn’t see anything wrong with his demand. In fact, he appeared annoyed at Cole for even asking such a rational question, which just proved how far gone his friend actually was.
“You’re supposed to be committed to trying to build a relationship,” Kyle retorted. “You have to actually admit to wanting to have one of those with Hailey.”
“Fine.” Cole would do what he had to for Kyle. He’d help him build this relationship all the while trying to find a way to show Kyle it would never work. “We’ll do it your way.”
That caught Kyle off guard and it showed in his surprised expression. “Really?”
Cole shrugged, hating to have to say something sappy but knowing the moment called for it. “You’re like a brother to me, man, and you’re right. I like Hailey. I like her a lot, though I really want to fuck her more than that. Still, if you want more, I’ll try it. I’m just not making any promises.”
“I get that.”
“Especially not if she calls me a whore again.”
That had Kyle rolling his eyes before shaking off his smirk to offer a hand. “Friends, man?”
“Always.” Cole gave Kyle’s hand an unnecessarily tight squeeze that had him snorting. Releasing Kyle, Cole smirked. “So, why didn’t you tap the little darlin’s honey?”
“’Cause I got a plan.” Kyle smiled a grin Cole knew well. Boy had been thinking, which normally meant some woman should be sweating. Hailey was going to get and Cole couldn’t wait to help give it to her.
“Yeah? And just what—”
The flash of headlight streaking through the front windows slashed over the dining room wall and matched the squeal of breaks going down hard. The sudden motion from their driveway turned Cole’s attention as both men looked for an answer from the other.
“Maybe Hailey?” Cole offered as shouldered past Kyle.
“Maybe with a gun,” Kyle retorted as he trailed after Cole. “And maybe you should put something on other than gym shorts and sneakers, ’cause I wouldn’t give her that much of a target to hit.”
“That ain’t Hailey,” Cole commented over his shoulders.
Those pounding stomps came from a man, probably a big one, but that didn’t have Cole hesitating to open the door before the first knock finished hammering down on it. That didn’t mean he mistook the fist that rained down onto his face as an accident.
“Ah, shit!” Cole stumbled back as his hand came up to catch the blood coming out his nose.
“That’s for Hailey.” Slade Davis stepped into the room, following Cole to slam him with another punch. This one folded him over and had him teetering backward before falling to his ass. “And that’s for making me get out of my warm bed and leave my woman to come hit you in the first place.”
“You gonna hit me, too?” Kyle, always the pragmatic one, backed up.
“I should,” Slade spat. “No doubt you earned it, but I’m just here to hit Cole.”
“And are you done hitting me?” Cole asked, finally releasing his nose to see if he could breathe through it.
“Yeah and quit sniveling. I didn’t break anything.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Cole snapped as he scrambled back to his feet. “Now you want to tell me why I shouldn’t hit you back?”
“Because I warned you once, Cole. You upset Hailey, you upset Patton, you upset me.”
“Hailey sent you?” That didn’t sound right to Cole. Hailey always struck him as the type of woman who did her own hitting.
“Don’t you worry about Hailey.” Slade’s gaze cut over to Kyle. “Either of you. Let that be the last time either of you says her name or even thinks about her and we won’t have to be having this conversation again.”
“You got balls, you know that, Davis?” Kyle shot back. “Who are you to tell us what we can and can’t do?”
“You can consider me standing in her brothers’ stead.” Slade’s head dipped in Cole’s direction. “You told him about her brothers, right?”
“I’ve heard.” Cole didn’t take to being talked about, and he could answer his own questions him damn self. “She got two at least as big as GD.”
“And two who will be returning home in about a month,” Slade finished for him. “Until then it’s my job to come over here and hit you for anything that would have them coming over to hit you for. Trust me, Cole, they’ll make sure they break something, especially if they hear that you’ve gone torn up the bakery screaming on about how you want to fuck their sister.”
Cole couldn’t help but grin at the red stripe of anger flushing through Slade’s cheeks. “I’ll tell you what, Slade. In the future, if you think I need to be hit again, you just call me up and I’ll come out to your place and then maybe we can just go with the one punch.”
“You really are a bastard, Jackson.”
“I really ain’t going to be leaving Hailey alone.”
Slade should have brought at least one of his brothers if he really wanted to fight, and it looked like he did. Especially when the large cowboy stepp
ed into Cole’s face. “Is that so?”
“We’re business partners,” Kyle interjected, probably trying to stave off anything that would result in a messy, bloody living room. It worked, too, once he added on, “I mean Hailey and I are business partners.”
Cole smirked at Slade’s scowl, but that didn’t stop the Davis brother from turning first his gaze, then his head, toward Kyle. “Run that by me again?”
“We both have half interest in a car we’re working to restore together,” Kyle shrugged, “so we kind of have to see Hailey again.”
“Are you being smart with me?”
“No. I’m telling you, Hailey and I are working together and believe it or not, Slade, she’s grown up enough to make her own decisions. You need to come over here and hit Cole? Fine, then hit Cole.”
“Hey!” Cole flashed a glare at Kyle.
“Just don’t be thinking that you can then start issuing orders.” Kyle stepped up to flank Slade, completely ignoring Cole’s outburst. “Otherwise you need to be bringing a few more brothers to help you with this fight.”
Cole could see the way Slade took that suggestion. The big man was barely holding back, and Cole didn’t need any second guesses to know who held Slade’s leash.
“You really got to think here, Slade. How much this is all worth to you? You came, you got your punches in, now you can go on back to that warm bed and warmer woman or you can get bruised and bloodied with us only to have both your woman and Hailey pecking at you tomorrow, annoyed with you for all your efforts.”
That had Slade looking thoughtful for a moment. Of all three Davis brothers, Slade actually tended to be the more reasonable, level-headed one of the bunch. If his older brother, Chase, had shown up, he’d probably still be pounding on Cole.
Of course they are brothers.
That thought popped out as he flinched back from the slug Slade hammered into his arm. “You can consider that one a gift.”
With that the man stormed out of their house much as he stormed his way in. Kyle trailed him to it, kicking the door closed behind Slade as he disappeared down the steps. When Kyle turned that grin on him, Cole couldn’t help but return the gesture despite the throbbing in his arm.
“I always knew going after Hailey would be trouble,” Cole lamented.
“Yeah?” Kyle gave him a pat on the shoulder as he strolled on past. Heading down the hall, he tossed back, “But it’s worth it.”
Chapter 17
Thursday, May 8th
Hailey stood over her sink the next morning and stared at her reflection in the mirror, wondering if a crazy lady looked back at her. After another sleepless night, she’d come to some conclusions.
She needed sex like she needed food or water. Until she got laid, her ability to function and think rationally would be diminished. That’s what made it so hard to figure out if she was terribly excited or horribly afraid of what she started yesterday, of all that she started yesterday.
The countdown had begun. This was day one, and come day twenty-eight the world as she knew it would be inevitably altered. For the good or the bad, either way, she wouldn’t be in any condition to handle day twenty-eight if she had to survive the intervening twenty-seven days sexless.
Despite all the games already in motion, Hailey stilled needed another plan. One that got Kyle out of his jeans. Hell, at that moment, she’d actually begun to consider how to get Cole out of his. As crazy as it sounded, the idea had grown on her last night as she lay in bed.
Cole would jump at the chance to give Kyle a taste of his own medicine. It would certainly drive that wedge Kyle worried over. It would even add to Cole’s degradation in four weeks. Not only would he be taken down by women, but the pack would be led by the very woman he’d been sleeping with.
So much for the king. He’d be more like the jester then. Only problem, it sounded good in theory, but she didn’t think it would work in reality. Getting Cole to do the deed wouldn’t be the problem. Getting him to do it without all the kink and bondage would be an almost impossible goal. Better not to even flirt with that danger.
So, she needed a plan to get Kyle back in the buff. That concern shifted sharply to the side when bathroom started to vibrate with the grumble and whine of something way too big and heavy backing down her drive. A peek out her window confirmed the commotion came from a tow truck.
Just why some fool backed it into her drive before eight in the morning, Hailey didn’t know. She did have some thoughts about the matter, thoughts she intended to share with the driver.
Clenching the edge of her robe tight in her fist, Hailey secured the gap over her chest as she stormed through her house. Flying out the back door, she had the rude words already formed on her lips, just waiting for the driver to open up his door and hear them.
“Morning, darlin’.” Cole hopped down from the cab, cutting every single one of her dirty comments off. As if he had all the right in the world, he set about unleashing the wench’s chain as he hollered back. “Will you open the garage for me?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Stunned went straight into outrage, and that had her forgetting all about her robe as she tore off the porch after Cole.
Cole tossed the straps aside and turned to greet her as Hailey came up on his heels. “What am I doing? What are you doing? You ever heard of clothes, Hailey? You’re supposed to put them on before you leave your house.”
“No, shit,” Hailey snapped. “And I should be able to finish brushing my teeth before having to deal with your ass first thing in the morning, but I didn’t exactly get a vote in that, either. So what are you doing here, Cole?”
“I’ve come to get the car.”
“The car?” Hailey blinked at that as he pushed past her, heading down the little stone path toward the garage’s side door. Having to race after him again in her bare feet didn’t improve her mood. “What do you mean you’ve come to get the car? And where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going to open the door,” Cole retorted, coming to a sudden stop that had her slamming into him from behind. He did it on purpose, and she knew it the second he turned to catch her in his arms. “Why don’t you go get them clothes on now, Hailey, because it just ain’t wise to run around that close to naked near me.”
Wrenching free, she growled in response to his smirk. “Don’t even try that shit with me, Cole. I ain’t in the mood. Now you better get to explaining what it is you’re doing here, or I’m going to get to calling the cops.”
Cole’s nose wrinkled at that threat. “You’re cranky in the morning.”
“I’m cranky whenever I’m the hell around you. Now will you answer the damn question?”
“I’ve come for the Daytona.” Cole shrugged, turning back toward her garage door.
“The Daytona. That’s my car.” Hailey delighted not only in reminding him of that fact but also offering no assistance when he jiggled the door knob. Locked and all she offered at his questioning glance was a smirk.
He responded by giving her his back as he went to his knees and started rooting around in the flower bed to the side. Even as his hand closed over the fake rock hidden under the foliage, his words already started her snarling.
“Yeah? Well, it’s half mine now.”
“What do you mean? And give me that.” Hailey tried to snatch the rock Cole lifted up, but he turned with her motions, keeping her at his back. “Damn it, Cole.”
“Don’t cuss me, little lady. Your lover boy is the one who sold out his half interest in the Daytona to me, so you can just save all our gratitude for him.” Cole didn’t sound upset as he tossed that defense over his shoulder. Far from it. The man sounded outright cheery, and that just made her flush hotter.
“What? He gave you the car? He can’t give you the car. He already gave it to me!”
“Ah, yeah.” That had Cole turning around, her garage key in hand as he dropped the fake rock back into the planter. “About that, you got a contract?”
“
What?”
“Money, like a check, anything that proves Kyle actually gave you the car?”
Son of a bitch knew. Hailey could see that in the wicked humor swirling through those eyes. “You think you’re just so damn funny when you know we had nothing more than a verbal agreement.”
“A verbal one, huh?” Cole’s grin dipped closer, “And did you shake on it?”
“No.” Hailey wouldn’t let him embarrass her. “We fucked on it. Now give me my garage key.”
Cole’s reflexes were amazingly faster than Kyle’s, and he caught her hand before it every got close to the key. “You see, darlin’, I just don’t believe you’re willing to get up in a court of law and explain just how it is you paid for your half of that car. Unless, of course, you want to be labeled a whore.”
“Fine.” Hailey had enough. “No car is worth this shit, just take it and I’ll take a check for my half.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” What apparently was happening, though, was Cole breaking into her garage in front of her eyes as he put lock to key and swaggered on into her shop as if he owned the place. Not about to be run over as if she weren’t anything more than speed bump, Hailey went in after him.
“Then you’re not taking the car.” Slapping the garage door button a second after he hit it had the gears whining as they tried to make the sudden reverse.
“I’m taking that car, Hailey. It’s half mine.” He hit the button as if that were some kind of gavel coming down on His Highness’s edict.
“And it’s still half mine, and I say you ain’t.” Hailey smacked the button.
“You’re going to break the garage door.”
“I’m going to break you, boy.”
“Mighty big words for a little woman in a fluffy robe.”
Hailey had had enough of Cole, enough of his threats, enough of living in fear of what he might do. She had only one response left for him. Ripping at the tie to her robe, she flung it off in a full fit of temper to ask proudly, “What about a naked one? Are they too big for that?”
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