He peeled out of the driveway and as he shifted into drive, he saw Jaynie rounding the corner, followed by Dean. A bleeding Dean.
But he didn’t stop. The blood flowing from Dean’s nose barely even registered and all he could see was Jaynie, standing so close to the bastard and not doing a damn thing to move when Dean bent to kiss her.
Dean grabbed hold of her arm as she headed for her car and she spun around with her fist lifted. Her knuckles still throbbed from punching him in the nose but she was more than ready to hit him again, looking forward to it actually.
She couldn’t believe he’d shown up at her doorstep, acting as though he had the right to be there—putting his hands on her, his wedding ring gleaming on his finger and a sensual smile on his lips.
She had known from the second she saw him on her doorstep that Dean had some weird belief that she was still his. Kate had been in the apartment with her. She hadn’t wanted to leave, but Jaynie had convinced her. She’d known that she needed to deal with Dean once and for all. She had to disabuse him of that notion and she’d rather get it over with so she didn’t have to worry about tripping over him.
So Kate had left, not happy about it and Dean had come inside with a satisfied smile and she’d known damn well he was thinking that she was still gone over on him. She’d turned on him to let him know just how wrong he was and he’d wrapped his arms around her.
“Get the hell off me,” she’d said, keeping her voice low and soft, not letting even the slightest hint of her irritation color her voice. She had been more than ready to punch him even before he started reminiscing and telling her how much he’d missed her, how he’d forgotten how gorgeous she was.
“Have you forgotten you’re married too?”
He’d given her that sheepish grin he had always used when she was mad at him but this time she hadn’t been at all charmed. Just pissed off and vaguely disgusted. Then he’d tried to kiss her.
When he hadn’t let go right away, she’d brought her foot up and then down, smashing her heel into the top of his foot. His yelp had been very satisfying, but not as much as the crunch his nose made when she’d decked him. He’d started swearing and she almost hadn’t heard Kate’s raised voice coming from outside. Movement had caught her eye and she’d seen Brian down in the yard close to the house. He’d looked back at her and, even across the distance, she’d seen the pain and fury on his face.
“Son of a bitch.”
She’d raced down the steps, leaped down the last few and taken off running. She’d heard Brian’s car door slam and called out his name. Behind her, Dean had been yelling at her. Tires squealed as Brian peeled out of the driveway and she’d rounded the corner to see him look back at her. Kate stood off to the side, watching everything with wide, fascinated eyes.
“Brian…”
Dean grabbed her arm from behind and she spun around and hauled off and punched him in the mouth. Pain flared but she ignored it as she squared off and faced him. “I want you gone, Dean. Out of my face, out of my life. For good.”
He spat blood on the ground and sneered at her. “What? You didn’t really think I was going to take you back, did you?”
“Well, you didn’t come here to say thanks for your wedding present,” she snapped. She glanced down at her hand, eyeing the swollen knuckles and torn flesh. She wiggled her fingers and winced as pain shot up her arm. “What in hell are you doing here, Dean?”
He leered at her, eyeing the low-cut lace-trimmed neckline of her tank top. “You should be able to figure that out. You finally decided to start dressing and acting like a woman. You must have wanted me to come looking for you. Took you long enough but you finally loosened up.”
She curled her lip at him. “I never needed to loosen up.”
Dean snorted. “The hell you didn’t. Tried to get you to loosen up back in college and the one time I got close, that dumbshit Brian showed up before I could…” his voice trailed off, almost as if he realized he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
But it was too late. “The one time you got close?” she repeated, hardly able to believe what her brain had put together. Her gut churned in nauseating circles and she shook her head. “Dean…God. Please tell me that you aren’t the one who spiked my drink.”
Dean scowled at her. “Damn it, if you weren’t such a damn prude, I wouldn’t have had to. You weren’t even willingly to try anything!”
Jaynie had been angry before. What she felt now made any emotion she’d ever felt pale in comparison. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t furious. The emotions inside her were volcanic and when it spilled out, there might not be any survivors. She closed a hand into a fist and whispered, “If you want to live, you’d better turn around and walk away. Right now, Dean.”
He was either too stupid or too arrogant to understand how pissed she was, though. He just stood there, sneering smile on his face and said, “The bastard owes you, babe. Cost you what probably would have been—”
She hit him. And while he was still reeling from the first punch to the gut, she delivered a left hook to his temple. He wobbled, but didn’t go down and she desperately wanted him down so she could pound him into the dirt. She spun around and struck out with her right leg, delivering a side kick right into his solar plexus.
This time, he fell.
And if soft, gentle hands hadn’t wrapped around Jaynie’s upper arms, she might have gone after him again. Kate held her tightly and murmured, “Sweetie, that’s enough. Much as he deserves to get stomped for this, he isn’t worth it.”
“Let go of me,” she growled.
Kate shook her gently. “Honey, look at your hands.”
It wasn’t until she saw the puffy knuckles of her right hand that she felt the pain. Physical pain, on top of the pain wrenching her heart as she realized what Dean had been planning to do. She’d loved him—or at least she’d thought it was love, but how could she love a man like that?
She flexed the fingers of her right hand and gasped as pain shot up her arm.
Dean shoved to his feet, wobbling a little. “You fucking bitch.”
“Get the hell away from me,” Jaynie warned.
“I ain’t done with you yet,” he growled, his voice low, ugly and menacing.
Jaynie was too pissed to care. “Leave now, or the next time, I won’t stop until you’re dead.”
“Probably won’t take much,” Kate drawled from behind Jaynie. “Look how easily you made him bleed, Jaynie. You put him down real nice.”
Dean glared at her. “Would you shut the hell up?”
Kate grinned at him. “You know, you’re bleeding all over your shirt there. Getting bloodstains out is such a bitch.”
Dean’s lip curled in a snarl and for a second, Jaynie stood there wondering exactly why she had spent so many years with him. His temper was ugly, always had been and she was getting an inkling of just how self-centered and immature he was. His face, where it wasn’t covered with blood, was an ugly, florid shade of red and he was glaring at Kate with a rage that was unsettling. People with that much anger inside them had a bad habit of releasing their frustrations on others.
“Shut the fuck up, Kathryn. Why do you always feel the need to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
Kate started forward, but Jaynie reached out and caught her arm, tugging her back. Softly, she said, “He’s got one thing right, Kate. This really doesn’t involve you.” She patted Kate’s arm reassuringly and then faced Dean one last time. “Dean, you’re the one who needs to shut up, though. I’m done with you. I’m done with this.” She glanced down at the simple white shirt she wore. It was cotton, nothing fancy, with a scoop neck, trimmed with the thinnest edging of lace and little shiny white buttons. It was comfortable, cool and she had to admit, she liked the way it looked on her a lot better than the T-shirt or scrubs she would have worn a month ago.
She might have started this transformation with Dean in mind, but in the end, it hadn’t been Dean she’d been out
to please. It had been herself. She tugged on the hem of the sleeveless shirt, smoothed it down and smiled up at Dean. “This isn’t for you, Dean. Might have started out that way, but that’s not what it’s for now. It’s for me. I feel nothing for you—or at least that’s how it was until about five minutes ago. Now, I’ve got feelings, all right. Loathing and disgust. I wonder if Kit knows she married a would-be rapist.”
“I’ve never raped anybody.”
“Are you so stupid you really believe that?” She laughed softly and shook her head. “You know what? I bet you are.
“This is all kind of sad, Dean. I gave you nearly ten years of my life. Ten years. We were together in high school, we were together through college.” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, sadness edging its way into her voice. “Ten years, and we never even set a wedding date. I never saw you for the pathetic man you are, not until now.”
Then she glanced down the drive, staring at the spot where Brian’s car had sat. She remembered the pain she’d felt when she’d found Dean in bed with Kit and Landon. It had hurt so badly at the time. It hadn’t even been all that long ago, so why did it feel like another lifetime?
Part of it was because of Brian, she knew. But not all of it. She’d changed in the past few months, done some serious growing up. Staying with Dean had been comfortable for her. But comfortable wasn’t right.
Brian, as bizarre as it seemed, felt right to her. He made her laugh, he made her think and when he touched her, she lit up inside in a way she couldn’t even begin to describe. And she never would have gone to him that night if she hadn’t felt so lost, so hurt.
When she looked back at Dean, she was smiling. “But you know what? I’m glad this did happen. I’m glad I know what a slimy bastard you are and I wouldn’t have known that if this had never happened. I wouldn’t be where I am in life and I like where I am. A lot.” She stepped back and gestured toward his car. “Now you need to leave. And don’t come back here, Dean. Not for any reason.”
“Jaynie—”
She narrowed her eyes. “You either leave now or I’m going to let Kit know where you were tonight.”
He shoved her with his shoulder as he pushed by and she almost went after him again, almost hit his already bruised and bleeding face. Almost. But she had more important things to worry about. Like finding Brian.
CHAPTER NINE
The screen door banged shut behind him as Brian came stomping in a little after midnight. He kicked the front door closed, a brown paper bag under one arm. He had one destination in mind—the basement. He was going to lock the door behind him and get shit-faced drunk.
The hangover he’d have in the morning wouldn’t make it any easier to look at Jaynie but he was already working on the solution to that. She didn’t want three full-time vets, so fine. She could hire one full-time to replace him. He was getting the hell out of Dodge, away from her and…
“Jaynie, is that…oh.” Kate came around the corner and stopped short when she saw him. She frowned at him and he glared right back.
“Not tonight, Kate. I’m in no fucking mood,” he growled.
She smiled sweetly. “Well, that’s too damn bad.” She placed herself in his path and Brian stopped in his tracks.
Bending down, he put his face in hers and said, “Leave me alone tonight, Kate. You can give me the I-told-you-so crap tomorrow.”
She cocked a brow at him. “I don’t have any I-told-you-so crap. I have the where-the-hell-have-you-been-and-why-did-you-turn-your-damn-phone-off crap for you. Oh, and Jaynie has been out looking for you for the past four hours when she really needs to get her butt to the emergency room.” Then she smiled angelically. “But since you’re not in the mood for it.”
Kate turned on her heel but she didn’t even make it one step before he reached out and caught her arm. “What did you say?” he demanded, his voice hoarse. He was pretty sure his heart just stopped.
She gave him an innocent look. “About what? The phone? You disappearing?”
“Where’s Jaynie?” he demanded through clenched teeth. He hadn’t raised a hand to his sister since he was twelve and she was seven. He’d punched her in the arm for losing his baseball and their mom had tanned his hide. Since then, he hadn’t ever lifted a hand against a woman in anger, but in that moment he was tempted to grab Kate and shake her until her teeth rattled.
Kate blinked. “Jaynie? She’s out looking for you.”
“No, I’m not.”
They turned as one to stare at Jaynie. She stood in the doorway, staring at Brian with unreadable eyes. Yeah, he was sure of it. His heart had stopped. There was blood on her shirt. For a minute, he forgot the pain slicing through him and he went to her, looking for injuries. “What happened? How did you get hurt—did Dean…?”
She glanced down at her shirt and then back at him. Behind them, Kate quietly left the room, slipping outside. “The blood isn’t mine,” she said, her voice flat. “It’s Dean’s.”
“Dean’s?” He glanced back, looking for Kate only to hear her car engine start out in the driveway. “Kate said something about an emergency room.”
Jaynie shrugged. “Kate exaggerates, you know that.”
“What is she exaggerating about?”
“Does it matter?” she asked softly. Then she looked away. “I didn’t invite Dean over here, Brian. I didn’t even want him here.”
The anger came flooding back. “Could have fooled me.” He turned around and headed for the kitchen. On the way there, he ripped the bag off the bottle of whiskey and opened it. He grabbed a glass from the dish rack, making a pointed effort not to look at the island. Had it been just yesterday when Jaynie had looked up at him from there and whispered, I trust you?
Well, technically, it hadn’t been yesterday, since it was after midnight. He smirked a little and muttered, “Yeah, makes all the difference.” He splashed whiskey into the juice glass and then threw it back, hissing as it burned a path down to his belly.
“What makes the difference?” Jaynie asked.
He glared at her. “Nothing,” he snarled. He poured some more whiskey into the glass and carried it and the bottle over to the kitchen table. “I’m trying to get drunk here, Jaynie. So why don’t you go on home?”
“Not until we talk.” She reached out, snagged the bottle of whiskey and then backtracked before he could grab it back.
“I’m in no mood to talk, Jaynie.” He shoved up from the table with a force that sent the chair flying. “Give it back.”
Coolly, she said, “No.” She turned away from him and went over to the counter where he’d dropped the bottle’s screw-top lid. He stalked over, intent on grabbing it from her but then he saw her right hand.
Her very ugly, very swollen right hand. The skin of her knuckles had split and it didn’t look like she’d cleaned the blood away. He stilled, staring at her battered hand, watched as she tried to pick the lid up only to wince and drop it back down onto the counter. “What happened to your hand?”
She shot him a narrow look. “I punched Dean.”
“That looks a little worse than just one punch.”
She shrugged. He watched as she moved over to the refrigerator and filled a cup with ice. She carried the cup of ice to the island and took one of the hand towels that hung from pegs on the side. Awkwardly, she dumped the ice onto the towel, making an ice pack for her hand. “I didn’t hit him once.”
A memory flashed through his head, Dean following Jaynie around the corner of the house as Brian pulled away, his face bright red with blood. A busted nose tended to bleed a lot—and splatter. Could explain the blood on Jaynie’s shirt. “I saw him kissing you,” he said, his voice stilted. “I saw him with his arms around you and you didn’t do a damn thing.”
“He didn’t kiss me,” she corrected. “He tried, and I hit him.” She slid him another sidelong look and asked, “You didn’t see that part, did you?”
He didn’t answer as he tried to figure out if he had been that bi
g a fool.
Jaynie’s voice was soft as she asked, “You don’t have much faith in me, do you?”
He glanced at her, startled. Affronted, he snapped, “What in hell would you think if you walked in and saw somebody you’re crazy about holding another woman?” Then he smirked. “Wait a second, that’s how we ended up here, isn’t it? You saw Dean with Kit and ended up jumping in bed with me. Oh, wait…let’s not forget the third party. I never did hear his name.”
Blood stained her cheeks pink. “So you know that part too, huh?”
He gave her a mean smile. “Yeah. I know that part too. So was that a new thing for him? Is three a crowd for you?”
Jaynie opened her mouth to reply but she didn’t say anything right away. She turned away from him and Brian hoped that maybe, just maybe, she’d leave him in peace so he could get drunk.
But she didn’t leave. Instead, she looked back at him and the look in her eyes was one that would haunt him. He knew it. “Do you remember when I was in college and you had to take me to the emergency room?”
Thrown a little off balance, Brian stared at her. What was this? What was she up to? “Yeah. I remember.” That night still gives me a bad turn when I think about it. Of course, he didn’t mention that part. She already had too much power over him. No reason to add more.
“Dean had this idea that I’d be good for a threesome with him and one of his friends. I told Dean no. He’s the one who slipped me the roofie. So yeah, three definitely counts as a crowd for me.”
Brian stood up. Without saying a word, he grabbed his keys and headed for the front door.
“Where are you going?”
He looked back over his shoulder and said in a conversational tone, “I’m going to kill your ex.”
Jaynie slid past him and planted herself in front of him. “No. You’re not. He’s not worth it.”
“Oh, yes. I am. But don’t worry. This doesn’t mean I’m still expecting you to fall head over heels in love with me, Jaynie. You obviously want a guy who’s going to treat you like shit.”
One of the Guys Page 11
