“Yet,” he grumbles, picking up another 2x4 and pointing it at my chest. “I won’t have a problem busting your mouth open either, so don’t fucking test me. There’s nothing to talk about.”
I hold both hands out, palms facing him. “You don’t know anything yet, Ben. Mia could still be fine. All of this you’re doing is just making shit worse for her.”
He drops the wood. “What the fuck did you just say?”
I take a step back when he moves forward, keeping space between us. “She’s scared. You’re fucking scaring her, man, and I know you don’t mean it. This shit can’t be easy on you. I’d be going crazy if I didn’t have any answers yet. But think about Mia. Think about . . .”
“Think about Mia?” he yells, clenching his teeth, moving closer with quick strides. “What the fuck do you think I’m doing, asshole? I’m always thinking about her! She’s all I fucking think about!”
He backs me into a tree, fists my shirt with both hands. Every vein in his neck is threatening to burst. His face is boiling, sweat beading beneath his hair line. Nostrils flaring, he looks ready to eat me alive as he gets nose to nose with me.
“Don’t ever fucking tell me to think about my wife! You hear me?”
I nod.
“Fucking say it!”
“Ben, ease up.” Luke’s voice comes from my right. It’s close so I know he’s moved into the woods.
I hold my hand out, keeping Luke back, my eyes staying glued to Ben’s.
“I hear you, man. But are you hearing me? Mia’s fucking scared. She called us all over here but she doesn’t need any of us. She needs you. And what the fuck are you doing?”
Ben visibly shakes as he takes in a breath. “My entire world is about to be ripped from me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No?” he challenges. “What the fuck do you know, Reed? Can you tell me my wife is going to be okay? Can you tell me I’m not going to lose her?” Tears well up in his eyes. “I can’t fight this. Do you understand that? There’s nothing I can do if this shit decides to take her. And what about my boys? How the fuck am I going to explain this to them? You tell me how.” He releases me, taking a step back, staring me down for an answer.
I keep my back flat against the tree, letting my hand fall to my side. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that.”
“Yeah, well, I have to fucking think about it. I’m going to have to tell my sons their mother is dying.”
“Stop saying that! Jesus fuck!” Luke yells, pointing at Ben. “You don’t know shit right now! Your woman is in there bawling her eyes out, needing you, and you’re out here coming up with the worst possible scenario in that thick as shit skull of yours! Man the fuck up and go to her!”
Ben whips his head around and charges at Luke, getting up in his face, snarling like a caged animal. “Man the fuck up? Who the fuck are you to say that to me? Weren’t you the sorry ass motherfucker bailing on my sister last year because you couldn’t fucking handle how you felt about her? And you’re telling me to man up?”
“I came back!”
“Yeah, after I called you, dickhead. And now look at you. You’re still fucking scared to make that shit permanent. If anyone needs to man the fuck up, it’s you two idiots.” Ben glares in my direction.
“What the fuck did I do?” I ask, moving away from the tree.
Luke pushes against Ben’s chest. “Shut the fuck up! When I ask Tessa to marry me is none of your fucking business!”
Ben snorts. “Right. Well, until you do, you ain’t got shit to say to me about this.” He looks at me. “Neither do you. Are you just going to stand there and do nothing while CJ takes out your girl?”
I grit my teeth. “Leave her out of this.”
His jaw ticks with a smile. “Did I hit a nerve, Reed?” He moves closer, tilting his head, that fucking grin stretching across his face. “What are you going to do about it? Huh? Are you going to let him move in on that pussy you’re strung-out on? Does she even know how pathetic you are over her yet?”
“Ben,” Luke warns. My hands curl into fists.
I help him eliminate the space between us. “I’m pretty sure she’s figuring it out. What’s your point?”
His smile fades, a distraught frown replacing it as he looks between Luke and myself. His shoulders drop.