Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men #9)(108)

I dodged my face away from him in case he swung again. “Then what’s your deal?” I demanded.

“I told you, you idiot. It’s suspicious. I don’t trust how she switched her attention from me to you like she did. I can’t trust it. And any time I think some woman might be screwing over my little brother, I’m going to try to stop it. Besides…” He shuddered. “I imagined what it’d be like to f*ck her. Now, to learn that you have…it’s f*cking strange.”

“Well,” I said slowly. “If you ever had any kind of faith in me, believe me now when I say I know she’s over you. She isn’t using me. I swear it on everything I’ve ever believed. She loves me.”

Brandt frowned at me a moment before giving me a reluctant nod and mumbling, “If you say so.”

I grinned and slapped his arm. “And hell…if it makes you feel any better, I’ve imagined what it’d be like to sex up Sarah.”

Brandt narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be an ass.”

“What?” I cried, shrugging. “It’s true.”

“I’ve always wondered about Shakespeare myself,” Ten announced, making Noel nail him with a sharp glare.

“What have you wondered about me?” Aspen said as she opened the back door. She entered the kitchen, lugging a baby carrier with Lucy Olivia nestled inside. And behind her filed Beau, Teagan and then Caroline.

Ten’s eyes flared wide as she sent him a pleasantly innocent yet curious glance. Together, he and Noel answered, “Nothing.”

“Must be about sex, then,” Caroline decided as she tossed an armful of shopping bags onto the table. Then she set her hands on her hips as she eyed her husband and three brothers. “Your eye is red,” she decided, focusing on Ten before she scrutinized the rest of us. “You got punched again. What happened?”

Noel, Ten, Brandt, and I exchanged a silent glance, not sure what to share with them.

Finally, Brandt sighed and announced, “Colton has a new girlfriend.”

And I knew he’d accept it despite whether he was okay with it or not.





JULIANNA’S CHAPTER | 30





I was pacing my living room and waiting for word back from Colton about how things had gone with his brother—who was not my favorite person at the moment—when Tyla blew into the apartment, crying hysterically.

She slammed the door behind her and started to storm toward the hallway but shrieked when she saw me lurking nearby.

“Oh my God, JuJu.” She pressed her hand to her heart. “You scared the shit out of me. What’re you doing here?”

“I live here,” I said slowly before reaching out to catch her arm. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she wailed, burying the heels of her palms into her eye sockets. “I did it. I broke up with him. I told him to go shove it where the sun didn’t shine. Oh my God, JuJu. What am I going to do?”

“Well, first you’re going to sit down,” I told her gently as I took her arm and led her toward the couch. “Then you’re going to drink the cup of hot tea I make you and you’ll tell me all about it.”

“Okay.” She bobbed her head and mopped at her eyes as she plopped onto the couch. “Okay.”

I petted her shoulder once and then hurried into the kitchen, texting Sasha as I went.





She wrote back moments later with:





My hands shook as I rushed through heating water and yanking a mug from the cupboards before fetching a tea bag. When I reentered the living room, carrying a steaming cup, Tyla was lying stretched out on the couch with her cheek smashed to the cushions as she stared blankly across the room.

“Hey, honey,” I cooed sympathetically. “I have your tea.”

I sat by her hip, and she sniffed, wiped her face, and scooted upright, drawing her knees up toward her chest before she croaked, “Thank you.” She reached for the mug with both hands.

I brushed a stray tear from her cheek and smiled sadly as she sipped.

After her first long gulp, she closed her eyes and exhaled, seemingly comforted. “Damn, that really does hit the spot. I always thought you were whack every time you drank this stuff when you were stressed.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Well, now you know.”

“Mmm.” She took another drink, and I watched her silently, not pressing for information, just making sure she remained calm. I wasn’t going to tell her I’d never been a fan of Theo’s, especially lately, or that I truly thought she was better off without him. She’d figure all that out later. I just wanted to get her as comfortable as possible.

But I did have to know… “You didn’t dump him because of what he said about me, did you?” While that would warm my heart, I could deal with his nastiness if she was truly happy with him.

“No. He was cheating on me,” she admitted before she took another fortifying drink. “I finally grew the balls to ask him about it, and…oh my God, JuJu, he actually admitted it. He said he loved me and wanted me to stay his girl, but every once in a while he just needed a little bit of strange to spice things up.”

My mouth dropped open. “He said that?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Word for word.”