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er One
TRYING TO IGNORE her was like trying to ignore a bull charging h in fifteenwith the s so hard to put on, is fake?
Simple
I’ve known Josie Gibson since before I figured out girls like her were disastrous to guys like ive a boy one look and make him feel it all the way into his boots were ones for ive a boy a look and make him feel equal parts irritation and infatuation were ones I didn’t only need to avoid but have permanently erased from my mind
Girls like Josie Gibson spelled one thing forI was more sure of was that I spelled even more doom for her Doom was too soft a word, actually
I would infect Josie like a virus, spreading until I’d done so e it ay past the point of repair That was more like it I was a virus to Josie Gibson A toxic one
I tried to ignore that for too nore it anymore Josie and I should stay on opposite corners of the planet Unfortunately for her, we lived in the saure out how to live in opposite corners of Missoula County
Sitting across the bar fro in opposite corners
I’d had too lances ht want to step it up a few hundred notches, Mason, because you’re exciting Josie about as much as cow shit on the bottom of my boots”
When Josie’s eyes flickered to lare “Control yourself, Black”
“I ht if I could, but since I can’t, it’s kind of a lass, I downed it in one easy drink I could holdlike a fish since age thirteen—but hiskey tasted like water, I knew I probably had enough alcohol sloshing through my bloodstream to kill me
The Jack had started tasting like water three shots ago
When Colt Mason finally noticed as propped into the bar stool across froo, Josie”
Hell, I would have bristled too if I’d seenof a reputation for getting into bar fights, and the only reason Brandy still let ave her a little after-hours action when she was feeling lonely and I was feeling drunk
“No” Josie shook her head e emphatically It washis et comfortable He can leave”
If I’d had a dozen shots less, the look on her face would have made me squirm “No can do, sweetheart You see those bottles?” I waved eneral bar area “They’re still full, and I’ood bunch are empty”
“Your liver rabbing Colt’s shot She downed it in one drink, but to Josie’s light-weight credit, her whole face puckered up
“Coed Josie and slid out of his stool
She shook her head and lifted her finger at Brandy Like the bar-tending elite she was, Brandy had another shot in front of Josie in under ten seconds Josie downed it, her face griave her chest while she was mid-whiskey wince
“Let’s get out of here,” he said
Iwhen he’d run his eyes all over her, but when his hands er exploded I was out ofJosie knew enough to expect my next move The rule was simple: whatever normal, sane people did, I ith the opposite
Anyone else would ignore the couple across froht Me, on the other hand? I was less than a foot away and ready to break the guy’s jaw if he didn’t stop tugging on her ar on s, Mason, but you’re with ment in people, up until recently, I’ve never doubted So I’nore the look of horror on Josie’s face “Take your hands off of Josie, or you’re going to be slurping your steak through a straw froht on”
That horrified look on Josie’s face? Just went up a few notches instead of down
“Get lost, Black Josie isn’t your daughter, your sister, or your girlfriend, so you have no place to order me about what I can and can’t do”
He was right And he rong I wasn’t a blood relation, and I sure as shit wasn’t her boyfriend Thefor that position was the one who couldn’t look me in the eyes Since her dad wasn’t there to see Colt Mason all buther out of her stool and her only brother was on the opposite side of the country, I was te both positions
Moving in front of him, I butted my chest into his “Josie’s been my friend since before you and your Hollywood family moved out to Montana and insulted us all with your flashy trucks and poser-itis That gives ht to put you in your place when I see you put a finger on Josie”
Josie whipped in front ofher chest into mine If I hadn’t been so shocked, I would have been turned on “Leave o ruin someone else’s life”
“Spoken like a wo anyone in their place for her” Lifting his eyebrows, Colt steered Josie and himself away from me
They ain I wasn’t letting them leave with Colt’s hand still wrapped around Josie’s forear that dress Colt had been eyeballing all night I knehat had happened the last tiot drunk when a snake was around, and I wouldn’t let it happen again when I could stop it
“Fuck off, Black” Colt’s ever-cool facade was finally cru under his skin, and when a nor
“You want to hitmy ar in whiskey When Colt shook his head, I cut him off “Of course you do You’ve wanted to hit irls were more interested in me than you and all your money”
“I don’t want to hit you” Colt hadup where he’d left off If she could level me with one punch, I didn’t have any doubt that I’d already be horizontal and blacked out
“You odda to hit me”
From over Colt’s shoulder, I noticed Brandyto make it another step if he didn’t take his hands off of Josie, let alone outside
For the second tiot in my face Instead of a punch, she almost leveledto be the hero and ohat you really are? The villain Go villainize someone else’s life You couldn’t possibly do anymore to mine”
Josie Gibson had just gotten under my skin I should back up, raiseabout having her under ht have liked, was a drug for me One I couldn’t say no to “How about this? I’ll stop pretending to be the hero when you stop pretending you’re actually interested in this eunuch in a cowboy hat”
“Ever heard the phrase ‘it takes one to know one,’ Black?” Josie crossed her ared to narrow her eyes farther
“I have, but I don’t see how it applies You ought to knoith our history and all, how , but I’irl come the way I made you a while back” That hen the slap ca just the same
“Go to hell”
“I’ve been standing in it for twenty-one years, Josie”
Colt ave it a good tug “Come on We’re out”
“Ouch,” she snapped, trying to pull her arrip “Ease up a bit, Hulk”
What I did next I didn’t think about It was all instinct When Colt Mason tugged on Josie’s arh to land him on his ass, but that had less to do with Colt’s ability to take a hit like a man and more to do with the amount of whiskey in aped at me like I was a monster That was exactly what I was, but at least Colt’s hands were off of her
“What the hell, Black?” Colt spat, rubbing his jaw
I lifted ain “That was because you put your hands on Josie”
“I’ve put ot clocked across the face”
That was the wrong thing to say Before I knew it,into the other side of his jaw That washis hands had been on Josie in that way The way thatthem on her in a harsh way “There! That’s for all the times you put your hands on her before”
Colt gave his head a swift shake andto—”
That ti before my knuckles crushed into Colt’s jaw “And that was because you irritate the shit out ofon Colt’s pristine boots, I shoved his chest “Go back to California and leave Montana to the real men Pansy-ass poser”
Judging froreater insult Iover hied ot a reaction out of him
Colt’s first punch landed square onfrom the crack, my nose had broken for the third time Colt’s next punch sank into my stomach, and when I curled, he drove his knee into my jaent down I didn’t try to move or lift my hands to shield ht after the other I didn’t fight back I didn’t protectit, but because taking a good beating every now and again did , so It reminded me I wasn’t invincible and soer