Folding Hearts (9 page)

My brother was such an asshole for bringin
g
me out
,
but making
sure that I couldn’t hang out with Ty. Maybe nobody else noticed
his schemes, but I wasn’t going
to pretend Ty’s hookup was a coincidence. He was rubbin
g
Ty’s love for anything with a vagina in my face. He wanted me to see that he was the type of guy I didn’t need in my life.

A few mixed drinks later, a slow song came on. I didn’t even want to t
urn around and watch Ty grinding
all over that blond
e tease, so I just kept flirting
with the bartender. When I felt someone spinnin
g
me around I started to scream. Ty’s face lit up in front of me. “How about a dance?” He asked while offering his hand.

I didn’t waste a second as I grabbed his hand and let him guide me onto the dance floor. “Where is your date?”

“She
ain’t
my date and she went to the bathroom. I hated seeing you over there all by yourself. I thought we were
going to hang out more tonight,” h
e admitted.

I could feel the redness rushing
to my cheeks and tried to look down so that he couldn’t notice. His hands were wrapped around my waist, and he kept them there instead of letting them linger around my ass. I would have been fine if they wandered around, but he seemed content the way they were.  “I thought we were goin’ to hang out too. I think my brother thinks there is somethin’ goin’ on between us. I told him that he was crazy and we were just friends.”
You smell so good that I want to take you outside and let you do whatever you want to me.

“Yeah, I told him we were just friends too. He is just looking out for you. He knows my track record and doesn’t want you getting hurt. He is your brother and it is his job to protect you. It doesn’t help matters when you look so fucking hot in that dress.”

Ahh, he did notice.

“Well I just wish he would mind his own damn business. If I want to hook up with someone than I can damn well do it. He can’t control my life ya know.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

The man smelled so good. I felt like I could just lick every inch of his skin. His hands remained firm on my waist, but it made me hot just thinking about what else they were capable of doin
g
to me.

Ty slowly pulled his face back enough to be able to look at me. “It’s not like you have someone in mind to hook up with right?” He asked with a smile across his face.

I opened my mouth to speak and felt someone tapping on my back. “Mind if I cut in?” Courtney asked.

Yes I mind. Damn,
I was in the middle of something
.
“No he is all yours,
” I said as I let go of Ty’s shoulders and backed away from them. Before I turned to walk back to the bar, I caught Ty glaring at me. When he caught my gaze, he smiled back at me.

Was something really happening between us?

I glanced over at my brother and his girlfriend and then back to Colt and Van. They were all too busy with themselves
to even notice Ty and me dancing
. I headed in the direction of the ladies room to fres
hen up, but felt someone tugging
on my arm. I really thought it was Ty, just trying to get me alone for second, but the face in front of me wasn’t him. Tucker gritted his teeth and spoke into my hair. “Walk outside with me and do not make a fuckin’ scene if you know what is good for you.”

Chapter 10

Tyler

I never expected my visit to Kentucky to result in me having fantasies of being with someone I had always just considered my family, but every damn time I got around Miranda
now,
I felt like it was undeniable. She was gorgeous and witty, and not to mentio
n an excellent mother. Who cared
about her past relationships, or her taste in men
?
It was obvious that she had bad luck with guys and I could understand how her sex appeal would get her into trouble.

The girl could walk into a room and turn heads. She didn’t have to wear skimpy dresses or doll her face up in makeup. She had it naturally. I know because I had seen the way she looked when she woke up. Her hair may have been a mad mess, but she was adorable anyway.

I knew what Conner was doing when he picked up Courtney, and part of me wanted to thank him for the gesture
,
the other part, well not so much
. If I were at home and met this girl under different circumstances perhaps I would have liked to take her home and show her a good time, but ever since I walked down those steps and saw Miranda, she was all I could think about.

I don’t think she had any clue what she was doing to me. While Courtney continued to throw herself all over me on the dance floor, I couldn’t stop peeking over her shoulder to catch just a glimpse of Miranda. The way that dress came down so low and showed off her breasts made me crazy. It also made her ass pop and I wanted to reach my hands u
nder it
and touch her soft skin.
She could have been a swim suit model. The girl was perfection.

My leg was really starting to throb, so I excused myself from the next dance to take a seat at the bar. I headed in the direction of where Miranda had been sitting, not noticing yet that she was nowhere to be seen. I took a few more looks around the crowded bar as I sat down and ordered a drink. Courtney
plopped down in the stool next to me a
nd slid her hand up the thigh of
my jeans. I still couldn’t believe I was con
si
dering turning down such an easy lay.

“You
’re even hotter than I pictured,” s
he purred.

I considered allowing her to keep thinking that she had a chance with me, and maybe even being nice just in case my next visit here didn’t go as well and I needed an easy out-of-town booty call. She was definitely going to be pissed if I told her I
wasn’t
intereste
d and part of me was saying what a
fool
I was being for denying myself
a
piece, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Miranda. Hell, I didn’t even know if I even had a chance with her at this point. Not only had we both talked about just being friends, but also we had never made a move on
each
other. I just had this feeling that I couldn’t shake. I needed to find out why I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Reluctantly, I grabbed Courtney’s hand and pried it off of my leg. “Look, you are really hot and I appreciate you hanging out with me tonight, but I just can’t hook up with anyone right now.”

I thought that my words were nice enough to get her to back off. “I know all about your relationship with Savanna. I wish you would reconsider
,
because I am sure that after one night with me, I will make you forget all about her.”

Don’t picture her naked…

“Yeah, it’s just not going to happen. I am sure it would be a great time, but I just can’t tonight.”

“It’s too bad. You don’t know what you are missing. I have a lot of special talents that you don’t know about.”

“I bet you do.” I shot her a smile and continued to look around the bar. “Have you seen Miranda? I haven’t seen her since our dance ended and she doesn’t have a car here to leave.”

Courtney crossed her legs and gave me a dirty look. “I can’t believe you are actually blowing me off to look for your whore of a cousin.”

I tried to remain calm to the best of my ability, but I knew I was doing a piss poor job. “What the hell did you just call her?”

“I call
ed
her a whore, a slut, a ho, because that is what she is. Everyone in town knows how easy that girl is. Then she went and got knocked up by that drifter crimi
nal. How much lower can you get?
Look, I am sorry, but your cousin is far from perfect. She probably left with some stranger, knowing her.”

I wanted to smack the bitch. I knew to never lay a hand on a female, but this chick was asking for it. Even if I only considered Miranda my family, I couldn’t believe she would have the nerve to say such horrible things about her. “The person you are calling a whore is someone that I care about. She isn’t just family to me, she is one of my closest friends. How can you sit there and hit on me, after only knowing me a couple of hours, but accuse her of being easy? If you ever had a chance in hell at being with me, you just lost it all together, you spoiled little cunt. If you’ll excuse me, I need to find Miranda because I know she isn’t doing anything like you suggested.
”

Yeah, I said that word. The word I never should say to
a
woman. She deserved it! Screw her and her little God damn title. She can take that little crown and shove it up her tight ass!

As I walked awa
y, I caught the appalled look on
Courtney’s face. I wanted to walk back and jump in front of her yelling ‘HA’, but I kept on walking. Conner must have spotte
d our confrontation, because
he walked toward me,
while
his girlfriend ran toward Courtney. “What happened?”

“Look, that bitch was talking trash about your sister. Maybe I was out of line, but I told her where to go.”

“She don’t like my sister c
ause Randa slept with her boy
friend a while back. My sister doesn’t have the best track record with guys. Most girls can’t stand her around here.”

“Your sister is my friend and I didn’t appreciate that bitch saying those things about her. She is a good girl who made bad choices. She is a great mother and an honest friend. She didn’t deserve that.”

“Thanks for takin’ up for her. So where is she? She didn’t hear ya’ll talkin’ did she?”

“I haven’t seen her for at least two songs. I thought maybe she went to the ba
throom, but nobody has come from that direction
in a while.”

Conner finally seemed genuinely concerned for his sister. He began probing the entire bar again for any sight of her. “I will go check the bathroom. Do me a favor and go check out by the car. Sometimes phone service in here sucks. She might just be checkin’ on the baby.”

I gave Conner a
nod and walked in the direction of the exit.  After walking toward the back of the bar I could hear someone talki
ng
. When I saw Tucker, I ducked down behind a car to see exactly what he was doing. From the angle I was standing, I couldn’t see who he was talking to. My first instinct was to just jump him before he caught wind of me being behind him, but I didn’t have anyone there to back me up and he was obviously with someone. One wrong kick to my leg and I would be back in physical therapy again.

I could hear him gritting his teeth, but couldn’t figure out exactly what he was saying, or who he was saying it to.

Slowly,
I crawled one more car closer, trying to get a better look.
Immediately
,
I spotted Miranda. He had her by the throat and was licking her cheek. I still couldn’t make out his words, but it didn’t matter because I ran right toward him, throwing myself full force at his pathetic ass. He went
down quickly and Miranda backed away from us. With two swift punches to his jaw, I had forced his face to hit the concrete.

I could hear Miranda crying as I watched Tucker try to get back onto his feet, the whole time spitting out blood from his mouth. “Stay down if you know what is good for you!” I threatened.

“Fuck you. The bitch deserved it.”

Since I had no idea what he
meant, I looked over toward where
Miranda was standing. She was hunched over a car and holding her face with her hand. “Hey, you okay?” I asked.

She just nodded and never took her hands down. I turned my attention back to Tucker who was now sitting down, leaning against his car. “What did you do to her?”

He didn’t answer. I kicked him. “What the hell did you do to her?”

“I taught the bitch a lesson about runnin’ her mouth. What’s it to you anyway?” He
asked.

Conner came up behind me before I could answer. When I heard him approaching I turned to look at him heading in the direction of where his sister stood. He leaned over her and pulled her hands away. Her face and hands were covered in blood. She was crying.  I heard Colt’s voice behind me, giving the address to the bar. Assuming that he was speaking to the police
,
I looked back to Tucker. Before I could react, he took out my legs and sen
t
me flying down to the ground.

As I moved myself away from his legs, I saw Conner jumping on top of him. They started rolling around on the concrete parking lot. Within seconds, Conner had Tucker pinned down to the ground. “Stay down you little punk ass bitch!”

“Fuck you!”

I couldn’t contain my anger. I took my foot and forced it hard into Tucker’s side. The sudden pain must have ripped through him. He crunched himself up into a ball holding where my foot had been. “That is for laying a hand on a female.” I kick
ed him in the face. “That one was
for busting out my mirror.”