He opened his mouth to probably argue, but Ten lifted his string cheese.
“Wait. Did you say Julianna? Holy shit, you scored the hot bartender, Rihanna? Dude! Nice work. How the fuck did a pathetic fuck stick like you catch something that classy?”
“He didn’t,” Brandt muttered dryly. “She fucking settled for him or is using him or something to get close to me. I’m the one she wants.”
That declaration kind of set me off. “Will you stop?” I charged at him and I pushed him full in the chest with both hands, making him stumble backward. “She doesn’t want revenge against you. And she did not settle for me because I’m the one she really wants.”
“I don’t know what she did to make you believe that, but—”
“She made me fall in love with her,” I roared. “And she fell in love with me. Now back the fuck down before I put you down.”
“Hey,” Noel boomed, lifting an arm between us to keep us from coming to blows.
But Brandt pushed his arm down and stepped toward me, eyes narrowed. “What is wrong with you? You don’t love her. She doesn’t love you. You were at my wedding reception, weren’t you? You saw the way she stared at me.”
Yeah, and I’d seen the way she’d looked at me an hour later with my dick in her hand right after I’d made her come. But we weren’t going there right now.
“Oh, Jesus,” I told my brother instead, as I rolled my eyes. “You really need to get off your high horse. I don’t think there’s room for anyone else in here with your ego that damn big.”
Brandt poked me, he fucking poked me right in the nipple. Fucker. “I’m telling you, she’s using you.”
“You say that again,” I warned from between clenched teeth, getting in his face. “And I’ll punch your fucking lights out.”
He snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”
So I did. I’d never hit him before. But we were brothers, so I guess it was about time.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” both Ten and Noel cried as they surged between us. Ten skidded in front of me just as I swung. And yep, I hit the wrong person. It hurt my hand like a son of a bitch, too. My knuckles were already tender from fighting with the drunk douche a couple nights before, but shit, Ten had one boney fucking cheek.
“Mother…fucker!” he bellowed, clutching his face, as he paced away and bent at the waist. “I dropped my damn cheese.”
Noel sighed as he opened the freezer and dragged out a bag of frozen peas before flinging it at Ten. Catching the bag against his chest, Ten lifted the pouch to his eye, hissed a curse, and whined, “Get me some more cheese too.”
Noel got him another stick of string cheese. When Ten was satisfied, he turned to Brandt and me. “Okay. Continue.”
But the urge to keep fighting had dissipated.
Noel shook his head and set his hands on his hips before eyeing Brandt. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this.”
“Because...” Brandt grumbled, shooting me a glare. “She’s going to hurt him when he finally stops being a dumbass and realizes her true agenda, and it’s going to be my fault because I brought her into our lives.”
“Oh, that’s bullshit,” I sneered. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Juli, so why don’t you admit what’s really going on?”
Brandt paused, looking confused. Then he scratched his head and said, “That is what I thought was really going in. What the hell do you think’s going on?”
“You don’t want me to be happy because you’re still upset about the...about what happened...with Mom. Because I didn’t help you.”
His mouth opened. But no words came. Finally, he shook his head and sputtered, “What? That’s not...Jesus, Colton, I told you I didn’t blame you for anything. I never blamed you or resented you or whatever you think I’m doing. Why would I? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Because...” I stared at him, confused. He honestly seemed perplexed over why I’d feel that way. I shook my head too. “You said I owed you.”
“Huh?” He gaped at me as if I were insane.
“At the wedding reception,” I hissed. “To get me to go talk to Julianna, you said I owed you one. And then you said it again not half an hour ago at her place.”
He barked out an incredulous sound. “I was talking about the alcohol, you dumbass. You owed me because I wasn’t going to tell Noel you’d drunk more than your one-glass limit he’d said you could have at my wedding.”
“You drank over your one-glass limit?” Noel broke in.
I ignored him and stared at Brandt. “So, you weren’t talking about—”
“No.” Brandt sighed and scrubbed his face. “Fuck, no, you little idiot.”
“Oh,” I said lamely.