What Matters Most (17 page)

Nick shut up and followed Adam to the packed dance floor. He tried to look around, see if he could catch a glimpse of a white cowboy hat, but it was too crowded, and Josh, if it was Josh, wasn’t exactly tall. Then Adam clamped Nick’s cheeks in his hands and tugged his head down.

“Stop looking for him. He’ll get through the grabbers and find you if it’s really him.”

Nick jerked his head free and nearly got off the dance floor before Adam grabbed him and pulled him back into the fray. “Let me go,” Nick snarled, already shoving at the blond.

The idea of Josh having to get through ‘grabbers’ was enough to make Nick want to start cracking heads together.

Adam jerked hard, surprising Nick with his strength. How could a slight man be so strong? “No. Get your delectable ass back here and let him come to you. He already came all WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

100

this way, you’re not fucking it up for him now, when he’s probably pissed and indignant and ready to take on me and everyone else here for you.”

“Whose side are you on anyway?” Nick grumbled as he quit fighting and let his hips move the way Adam had tried to teach him. Adam only grinned and looped his arms around Nick’s neck, pressing close enough that Nick could feel the other man’s erection. He didn’t take it personally; his own dick was happy about the contact even though Nick had no interest in fucking Adam. It was just feeling a body pressed to his, nothing more.

Until it wasn’t. One second Adam was latched onto him like he’d never let go, and the next second he wasn’t, torn away and shoved into the gyrating bodies beside him. Nick couldn’t do anything but stare in open mouthed shock at the furious man in front of him.

Josh’s stomach felt like it was on fire as he pulled into the parking space. He could see Nick, see the cute blond latching onto him, grinning and touching what should have been Josh’s, if he hadn’t been a dick and Nick hadn’t been a stubborn, egotistical ass. He hesitated to follow the two at first, wondering if the battle hadn’t already been lost. It was only the blond peering back at him that encouraged Josh. There was a knowing look in that expression, one that told Josh the blond knew exactly who he was. The blond had arched a brow as if daring Josh to follow, so he had. Then when the bouncer had seen him approach and asked if he was Josh, Josh had known without a doubt the blond was fucking with him.

Probably Nick was too, but Josh decided the blond deserved more of his anger. After all, Nick
had
been relatively innocent of the interactions between gay men, but that blond in his skin tight red leather pants and see through mesh tank top? He knew exactly what the score was, and Josh was fixing to rack up some points on the damned board for himself.

Josh ignored the hands grabbing at him, the offers for a good fuck/blow/hand job. If someone got too forceful he didn’t hesitate to put them in their place. Usually a growled refusal and a shove worked. But there was one or two guys that he nearly came to blows with. As angry as he was, he wouldn’t have minded releasing some pent up aggression, but then he’d end up in jail and Nick would end up with the blond slut, so Josh had settled for kneeing one man in the balls and elbowing the other forcefully in the ribs. He’d left both losers behind him as he made his way to the dance floor as quickly as possible.

WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

101

Somewhere along the way, his hat disappeared, likely taken by one of the idiots who tried to lure him away from his man. A hand slid against his belly and it was only then Josh realised his shirt had been ripped open, the pearl snaps having given under the pressure of too many tugging hands. The pale pink tank he had on underneath was shoved halfway up his torso, and Josh didn’t see any reason to pull it back into place, not when there were still horny men with happy hands around him, and not when he kept catching glimpses of that goddamned blond trying to dry hump Nick on the dance floor.

Never mind that Nick might be through with him, that the older man may very well be happy with the blond. Josh would kick both their asses if that were the case. He wasn’t walking out of here without Nick or some answers.
Now
Josh understood Justin’s temper, the need his brother seemed to have to either hit someone or something, because Josh thought he might just explode with the force of his fury. He shoved another man aside and snarled at a second, then he was there, right there beside the blond, and the hurt and pain welled up and shot through him. He grabbed the blond and jerked him off Nick before pushing him into the heaving mass of bodies, then Josh stepped in front of Nick and levered a finger at the man’s shocked face.

“Outside, now, or I swear to God I will drag your ass out of here!”

Someone slammed into Josh’s side and he turned to find the blond scowling at him, one slender hand gripping Josh’s biceps. Josh didn’t think, couldn’t over the roar of anger in his head. He fisted his free hand and drove it into the blond’s stomach, grimacing as his knuckles slammed into rigid abs. The blond’s breath gushed out and he let go of Josh, dropping to his knees on the dance floor. The gyrating stopped as men gaped at them, then Josh was shoved back, Nick’s big hand catching him in the chest as Nick hissed “Asshole!”

and reached for the blond.

And didn’t that tell Josh all he needed to know? Josh spun around and stumbled

blindly off the dance floor. No one reached for him or tried to stop him this time. He heard more than a few curse words directed at him, along with the name Adam, but people left him alone, which was pretty much how Josh figured he’d be for a long time.

WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

102

Nick helped Adam to his feet, yelping when the smaller man slapped his cheek

smartly. “What the fuck?”

Adam raised his hand again and Nick jumped back, glaring at the man. He should

have left his ass on the damn floor. Adam stepped closer and Nick found he couldn’t back up any further; a solid body or two kept him pinned in place. His friend jabbed Nick in the chest and hissed, “What kind of idiot are you? You’re letting him get away!”

“But—” Concern for his friend warred with the fear that Nick was going to lose Josh again. It’d been different somehow when Nick was the one not answering Josh’s texts or calls, when he’d given in to his fear and broken heart and tried to shield himself. If Josh did the same, if he walked away and never looked back, could Nick live with that? Did he want to?

Apparently his body knew the answer even if his mind and heart were afraid to voice their opinions, because Nick found himself turning and walking, then running when he saw Josh slip through the club doors.

WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

103

Josh was so pissed he couldn’t make sense of what was happening. One minute he

was shoving through the club door, and the next, he was lifted from his feet and shaken so hard he thought his neck was going to snap. Josh tried to get a hand hold or a punch in, something, anything to stop his brain from being rattled around his skull. A rough grunt told him his knee had connected somewhere, then there were hands grabbing him and fists flying—not his, he was too busy trying to catch himself when he hit the ground—and enough curse words to make Satan blush.

Josh ignored the pain in his knees and palms from the contact with the cement and pushed himself up, standing on wobbly legs. He was a little dizzy, his head spinning and his vision shimmying, but he could make out enough of what was happening. The big

bouncer—the name sewn over his T-shirt pocket said, Rick—so Rick, then, was trying to pry Nick’s hands off his throat, and Josh toyed with intervening, but really, why bother? Nick couldn’t throttle the much bigger man, and whatever his reason for going after Rick, it didn’t involve Josh. After all, he was an
asshole
. What would it matter to Nick if Rick had almost severed his spine? A third body joined the fray, the slight blond screeching at Nick and the bouncer, and Josh figured he’d better leave now before he ended up in the middle of whatever little triangle those three had going. He turned and headed back to his rental, limping slightly as the denim of his jeans scraped over skinned knees.

No wonder Nick hadn’t returned any of Josh’s messages; he’d been way too busy

enjoying his newly discovered sexuality. Everything about this trip had been a waste of time and money. Josh couldn’t even tell himself he’d got closure, because if he had, he wouldn’t still want to tear Nick and the blond apart, wouldn’t feel like his heart had been ripped out and shredded.

Well, fuck Nick.
The bastard had set out to use him, play him for a fool, and even though Josh had tried to stop him, Nick had still done it, hadn’t he? Josh dug in his jeans pocket and found the keys then pressed the door lock button on the fob. He heard his name being called but chose to ignore it, more than done with all the shit Nick had put him through. Pulling himself up by the ‘oh shit bar’, he refused to look back as Nick shouted for WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

104

him. “Fuck you,” Josh muttered, anger welling up to try to strangle the words before they slipped loose. The resultant garbled sound wouldn’t have been intelligible to anyone else, but they almost made Josh feel better. He dropped into the seat and slammed the truck door, locking it as soon as it shut. With a steady hand, he slid the keys in the ignition and started the truck. Shoving it into gear, he didn’t even flinch when something slapped against his window. The shiver that crawled down his spine was warning enough so that when he turned to look at the man pressing his palm against the glass, Josh was ready.

He gave Nick the full force of his anger and the finality of his decision—he was
so
done—in a single glance, then, hardening the tattered remains of his heart, Josh turned the wheel and gassed the truck. The tires squealed and spun as the vehicle rocketed out of the parking space. Josh caught a glimpse of Nick’s startled expression. The pain stamped on the man’s rugged features had to be something Josh imagined, he was sure. If Nick had ever given a damn, he wouldn’t have let them come to this. Not that there’d ever
been
a
them
.

Josh took the first right and tried to think of what he should do next. The anger that had surged through him was rapidly dwindling, leaving him feeling broken in a way he didn’t know how to cope with, not yet. The few relationships he’d had before this hadn’t left him so wrecked, and they’d been actual
relationships
, nothing like the bizarre hits and misses between him and Nick. It just didn’t make sense to feel such a loss when there’d been nothing between them to lose in the first place.

Josh squinted as headlights flashed bright in his rearview. Adrenalin spiked in his veins as he slowed for a yellow light. The headlights flickered again, almost blinding him.

The slow roil of lust tightening his belly and cock pissed him off, picking up the anger that had faded to an ember and setting it back to a raging fire.

“I don’t think so,” Josh muttered. He glanced at the crossroad then floored the gas, shooting through the now red light, and just that quick, the chase was on. Another light up ahead turned yellow, and Josh took it for a misguided suggestion. No way in hell was he stopping, not with Nick—and probably his pretty little piece of ass—almost tapping Josh’s bumper. With the way his luck was going, the damned mountain of a bouncer would be with Nick, too. Josh saw the access road for the highway up ahead to his left. Within minutes he was roaring down 94, his two timing stalker right behind him. The exit to Hardin was coming up, and Josh needed to decide whether to head back the way he came—the only way WHAT MATTERS MOST

Bailey Bradford

105

he knew to get to Billings, since he’d followed Nick here—or whether to bypass the exit and find an alternate route back to his hotel.

The ridiculousness of the whole situation hit him. What was he running for anyway?

It wasn’t like he was scared, much. A little, since he wasn’t sure who all was in the vehicle behind him, but the anger outweighed the fear. It was more the emotional repercussions of what Nick could do to him, that was what Josh was running from.

Well, he just wouldn’t let Nick get to him. Josh took the Hardin exit and grunted when the vehicle behind him did the same. A blue light glowed in the interior of the truck behind him, Josh could see it easily when he glanced in the rearview, but it still startled the crap out of him when his cell phone rang. Josh navigated the rental onto the long stretch of road that would lead back to where he needed to go, then plucked the phone off its hip clip. If he swerved a little when he saw Nick’s number in the display, who could blame him? He almost didn’t answer, but that would have been being as big a jerk as Nick had been, and Josh wanted to believe he was better than that.

Turns out, he wasn’t, not by much, but he didn’t feel too badly when he took the call, barked out a heartfelt “Fuck you!” and turned the phone off before tossing it in the passenger floorboard. Immature, sure, but still more than Nick had bothered to do for over a month.

Besides, Josh was going to stop, he wouldn’t keep running, he just needed to get further from Billings first. Best not to risk having too many witnesses for the coming confrontation.

Or his ass whipping, if there were more people than Nick in the truck, but Josh didn’t think there was. He hadn’t seen any other heads, blond or otherwise, when the blue light of Nick’s cell phone had lit up the interior of his cab a bit.

Nick was so close Josh could almost feel the pressure of the other truck behind him. If Josh so much as tapped his brakes, he’d end up with the front of a big old Dodge up his ass.

The potential danger penetrated Josh’s anger; if something ran out in front of him, something big like a deer, he’d hit his brakes and be splattered all over the road while the damn deer sprinted away. It’d be a miracle if he didn’t end up dead one way or another.