Double Dare (Neighbor from Hell #6)(45)

“Yes, yes I am,” Jake said firmly as he pulled up closer to the curb.

“Then I’m still mad at you,” she said, releasing her seatbelt so that she could lean over and grab her carry-on bag.

“You didn’t leave him with much of a choice,” Jake pointed out, again, as he shifted forward in his seat so that he could pull out his wallet.

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” she grumbled, double-checking to make sure that she had her boarding pass and paperwork.

“I am on your side,” Jake explained as he reached over and stuffed some money in the front pocket of her backpack.

“It doesn’t sound like it,” she said as she looked out the window, wondering what had possessed her to tell Jake.

“You knew that he was in love with you,” Jake said, not sounding at all sympathetic the way that a good brother should.

“And he knew that I didn’t want to get married,” she muttered back, debating her chances of making it to the sidewalk without getting run over.

“He’s a Bradford, Marybeth,” he said, chucking and shaking his head in disbelief. “What did you expect him to do?”

“To respect my wishes?” she suggested, not appreciating the way that he started laughing at her.

“A Bradford?” he managed to ask between bouts of laughter as she sat there, seething with rage.

“Yes,” she hissed, deciding in that moment that she no longer had to feel bad about telling their mother about his collection of Playboys to save her own ass when they were kids.

Deciding that she’d rather take her chances with the taxi drivers suffering from road rage than to sit here and listen to another second of disloyalty, she threw her door open, grabbed her bag and stepped out with a grumbled, “Thanks for the ride, you insensitive jackass!”

“You’re welcome, Goose,” Jake said with a wink and that same damned pleased grin he’d been wearing since she’d told him that Darrin had ended their arrangement.

“Bastard,” she muttered as she opened the back passenger door, grabbed her bag and-

Groaned when the large bastard that she’d been avoiding for the last three weeks was suddenly there, reaching into the backseat and grabbing her bag. Without a word, he threw her bag over his shoulder, closed the backdoor and walked off, leaving her to follow after him or get run over. Muttering to herself, she followed after him as she pulled out her boarding pass and ID to distract herself from just how much she’d missed him.

When he reached the bag check-in line, he dropped her bag and walked off like he was the one that had the right to be angry. She considered going after him and throwing her bag at his head, but in the end she settled for dragging it behind her as she moved closer to the front of the line. If anyone had a right to be mad it was definitely her.

“Can I see your boarding pass and ID, please?” the bag attendant asked as he picked up her bag and placed it on the scale.

Silently seething at the bastard that had ruined everything, she pulled out her boarding pass and ID and handed it over. She glanced over to her right to find Darrin standing several lines down from her, glaring at her like he had every right in the world to be pissed. Eyes narrowing, she glared right back at him, reminding him that she wasn’t the one who’d ruined everything.

“Ma’am, this ID doesn’t match your boarding pass.”

Keeping her eyes locked on the bastard that she was tempted to kick the shit out of, she reached into her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it over to the attendant.

“Thank you, Mrs. Bradford.”

*-*-*-*

“She’s still not talking to you?” Reese asked as he dropped down on the hard plastic chair next to him. He handed Darrin a bottle of water as they glanced around the gate.

“Nope,” Darrin said, shaking his head as he opened the bottle of water and took a sip, keeping his eyes locked on the woman that he wanted to throttle.

“Does anyone else know?”

He shook his head, finishing off his water while he watched Marybeth sit down next to Aidan. She hadn’t spoken to him since he’d forced her to make a choice. Not that he cared, because he didn’t, he told himself as he watched his brother throw his arm around her shoulders and pull her close so that he could kissed her cheek. She laughed at something Aidan said, earning a second kiss that had Darrin deciding that it would probably be for the best if he had one less brother to deal with.

“Does he know?” he asked, deciding that he should at least make sure that his brother was innocent before he beat the shit out of him and most likely dunked his head in a toilet.

“About you and Marybeth?” Reese asked with a thoughtful frown as finished off his bottle of water.

“Yes,” he said as his eyes narrowed on his smiling brother as Marybeth reached up and playfully ruffled his short hair.

Reese nodded. “For the past few years at least.”

“You’re sure?”

“He was with me when I walked in on Marybeth dropping to her knees and-”

He swore roundly, cutting his brother off. “I get the picture.”

“I’m glad that you do,” Reese mumbled as they watched Aidan kiss the top of Marybeth’s head. “You’re going to beat the shit out of him, aren’t you?”