Firestorm (Sons of Templar MC #2)(39)

Something passed in his expression before he schooled it and I realized we were showing way too much of our confusing non-relationship in front of clueless Gwen. I tried to turn my face into an emotionless gaze and removed myself from Ian’s vicinity.

Interestingly enough, the worrying situation with Gwen had done nothing to derail my runaway freight train of emotions about Ian. When I tried to bring Jimmy up again Gwen refused to discuss it. She instead changed the subject to something arguably more dangerous..

“How about we talk about where you’ve been all day, Abrams?” she shouted from the kitchen where she’d gone to dump the dinner dishes and my stomach dropped.

Don’t mention Brock! I mentally shouted at her. I was having enough trouble trying to sort out my feelings without making Ian aware of the man who had worked his way under my skin.

“Having makeup sex with Brock maybe?” Gwen teased, walking to the table with dessert in her hands. Our telepathic connection left a lot to be desired.

Ian’s face turned to granite. “Who’s Brock?” he growled.

The anger in his tone caught me off guard. Then pissed me right off. He was the one that called it off between us. He was the one who pushed me away. He had no freaking right to play the jealous, angry, macho man.

Gwen, bless her, continued to feed the fire without knowing. “Oh, just some guy that won’t take Amy’s shit but is completely under her skin,” she said with a smirk.

Great. Ian’s glare was in danger of turning me to stone. I did my best to ignore it as the conversation with Brock came into my mind. He wasn’t likely to be a problem anymore anyway. I ignored the stab to the heart that was. “He’s no one. No one special and I certainly won’t be talking to him again. Subject closed.” I was trying to convince myself more than anyone else.

I eyed the decadent looking cake Gwen had placed in front of me. I cut the hugest piece I could then dumped it on my plate. Maybe if I become two hundred pounds heavier I wouldn’t have to worry about man problems. Only the crane that they would need to get me out of the house would be an issue.

Gwen’s disbelieving gaze at my food choice had me feeling defensive. “It’s my cheat day,” I shot at her.

Luckily the roar of a Harley took the heat from me and the fact I was consuming two days’ worth of calories. Gwen’s face got all dreamy and happy and I couldn’t help but feel pleased at this. My love life might be a steaming pile of shit but my best friend was happy. That was good enough for me. The stormy look on Ian’s face had me feeling instantly defensive of Gwen’s well-deserved happiness.

I pointed at him with my fork. “Look here. Mr. Soldier, don’t you dare try any of your macho man bullshit and be a dick to Cade. He can handle it, I have no doubt about that, but we don’t need the drama. He cares about your sister and makes her happy. That’s all you need to know,” I told him snippily.

I may have also been using this opportunity to not only let out the anger I had toward Ian for shooting me accusatory looks at the mention of Brock but for breaking my goddamn heart in the first place. I glared at him. The soft feeling I had towards seeing him again without any shrapnel wounds had dissipated and reality was setting in. He glared back at me then nodded.

He chose that moment to retreat with his plate of food. I struggled not to perv at his ass as he was walking away. I failed.

I realized that Gwen’s eagle eye was on me as I dragged my own gaze away from her brother’s glorious behind. “What the hell was that?” she shot.

Oh shit.

“What?” I tried for innocent.

She wasn’t having it. “You know what. You and Ian—what the hell is going on? You guys were acting weird.”

“No, we weren’t.” I went for denial.

“Yes, you were,” she pressed.

“Were not.”

At this juncture she let out a frustrated groan and then in a flash my plate was whisked away. My eyes narrowed. You did not take away chocolate from a woman who was suffering serious love life troubles. Granted, Gwen was oblivious to these troubles, but my emotions didn’t know that.

“Hey, what the f*ck?” I nearly snarled. I needed that chocolate. It was that or heroin. And I didn’t like the way addicts wore their hair.

“You don’t get any more until you tell me what’s going on,” she declared, holding the plate out of my reach.

Gwen did not know how close I was to tackling her right now. Cade entered the room and I directed my scowl in his direction. “Your girlfriend is evil,” I informed him.

I used his arrival as an opportunity to push past Gwen and snatch my plate of sanity before escaping up the stairs. “That will go straight to your ass,” I heard called after me.

“Fuck you!” I shouted back. I slammed the door to my room and tucked myself in bed, shoving cake into my mouth and trying to sort all of my emotions out. Seeing Ian again made me painfully aware I wasn’t over him. I still loved him. He was strong. Caring. And extraordinarily sexy. He also broke my heart.

My mind wandered to Brock. Also strong. Also sexy. But he was different. He made me furious. Irritated the shit out of me. We hardly went five minutes without arguing. What we had was raw and real; he didn’t romanticize me and put me on a pedestal like Ian did. He ravaged me body and soul, but he didn’t take shit. Didn’t treat me like I was some delicate china doll who needed to be handled with care.