A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(126)

Beside him, Aspen started to cough, and I glanced at her, suddenly remembering she was right there.

Shit.

Pressing her hand to her chest, she batted her eyelashes like crazy and stepped in reverse away from us.

“Aspen?” Gamble reached for her, but she darted another step away.

“I...I...I’m sorry. I think I have some dust in my...” She coughed again when tears filled her eyes. Whirling away, she murmured, “Excuse me.”

As she hurried off, Gamble shot me a murderous glare. “You f*cking prick.” And then he hurried after his wife.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Shit.” I’d f*cked that up.

When I opened my eyes, an incredulous Caroline was in my face. “Why the hell did you do that to Aspen?”

“I wasn’t thinking about her,” I admitted. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was just so...pissed at him.”

“Well, you did hurt her. You hurt her a lot.”

“The f*cker needed to shut up, so I shut him up. He was hurting you, and I couldn’t handle that. I didn’t think it through; I was too focused on getting him to stop upsetting you to think about anyone else. I’m sorry.”

“But he didn’t know what he was doing to me.”

“Then maybe he should,” I snapped. “No, there’s no maybe to it, anymore. He...should...know. It’s past f*cking time. Everyone else knows. Even my parents. He is the only person who doesn’t know.”

“But—”

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. “Why don’t you want him to know?”

She shoved at my chest and yelled, “Because I’m scared.”

I didn’t believe her. Still worried she just wanted to drop me after what I’d told her, I shook my head. “He won’t take anything out on you. You’re his sister. He’ll always love you, no matter what. I’m the one at risk of losing my best f*cking friend. So what’re you so scared of?”

I just wanted her to admit she was over me if that was the case, but instead she shrieked, “I’m afraid he’ll do or say something that’ll convince you I’m not worth the effort. Okay?” Tears flooded her eyes. “What if he breaks us apart? I’m not ready to lose you.”

Pummeled in the chest by her words, I gaped at her. She wanted to stay with me. She wanted...f*ck. I inhaled sharply. My anger instantly oozing from me, I stepped close and cupped her face in my hands. “Baby, there’s nothing he could say or do to keep me away from you.”

“Is that so?” Noel asked from behind us.





I spun around to find Gamble only ten feet away, his face flushed red, lips curled back in a snarl, and his eyes narrowed in hatred.

“You son of a bitch.”

He charged, and about twenty things happened at once. Pick, Lowe, and Hart shouted for him to stop as they leapt on him, catching his arms and chest and keep him from getting to me.

I stepped in front of Caroline so she couldn’t get between us, and Blondie leapt forward to drag her away. But Ham wasn’t having anyone near his woman, so he hovered over the two girls, while Milk Tits and Buttercup tried to usher the babies and two youngest Gambles into the house, except Colton and Brandt refused to go. Aspen darted out the back door and skidded to a halt to cover her mouth with her hands.

“Damn it,” Gam roared, managing to glare me down as he struggled against the three men. “Let me go. I just want to kill him.”

“You can’t kill Ten,” Pick explained, sounding strangely levelheaded for a moment like this.

“Yeah, why don’t you have him sleep with your sister behind your f*cking back and say that to me again.”

I growled at him. “I’m not just sleeping with her, f*ckface. We’re actually dating.” I glanced toward Caroline, who was covering her mouth with both hands and watching us from worried eyes. “We have been for a couple months.”

“Dating? Are you kidding me?” Noel turned his attention to Caroline, too. “How many dates has he taken you on?”

She blinked at him, obviously not understanding. “What?”

He rolled out his hand, encouraging her to talk. “How many times has he taken you out to eat? To the movies? Dancing?”

“That’s not fair.” I shifted toward him, balling my hands into fists. “We couldn’t do any of that shit because of you.”

“Yeah. Whatever. The truth is you’re no better than Sander Scotini.”

Oh, that f*cker. He just had to go there, didn’t he?

Rage flooded my veins. But what hurt more than hearing he thought I belonged anywhere in the same category as that worthless * was that I agreed with him. I hadn’t been fair to Caroline. I’d hidden our relationship in fear of the consequences, in fear of Noel finding out. I’d been just as big of a *.

But I pushed all my blame on Gamble.

“You bastard,” I roared right before I charged.

Hamilton wrapped an arm around me from behind and picked me up off my feet, while Hart, Pick and Lowe regathered their efforts to keep Gamble at bay.

Still pissed as hell, I struggled in my roommate’s impenetrable hold. “Take that back! I’m nothing like that piece of shit. I actually love her. And the only reason I didn’t tell you sooner was to protect her, because I knew you’d f*cking overreact, and she’d get hurt. I mean, f*ck! Just look at her.”