Brutally Beautiful(14)

Then he just dropped his head down low, spoke to Dylan for another few minutes, ran both his hands through his hair, drained his drink, and stalked out of the bar. My insides ached to run after him and just pretend to bump into him, just to see him up close, and to see those eyes stare at me like that again.

Just watching him walk to the door had my pulse beating harder. His gait and long, strong strides had me biting down on my lip. I smiled to myself thinking that, maybe for the first time in my life, I might have been acting like a normal healthy sexual woman. I shook the thoughts from my head. It was nice to feel good, to feel confident, and to believe in myself again, but I wasn’t ready to deal with men any time soon, especially one that looked like he should have a triple X rating tattooed on his forehead. This was one of those men a woman would probably shrink in heartbreak from, weeping loud and bitterly into their extra-large-super-sized apple martini glasses. What am I talking about? It was silly and immature of me to think I could judge a man by his likeness and not by his character, foolish and naive. I was not by any means a foolish girl, who fluttered away on whims and heady needs. Heady needs? Maybe I needed a vibrator; it had been way too long.

“Hey, Lainey,” Dylan said, as he slid behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila. “What put that smile on your face?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said as I wiped down the bottle of whiskey I was stupidly smiling at. “That gentleman you were sitting next to, just now, that was a relative, right?” Oh Lord, why was I asking questions about him?

Dylan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Yeah, he’s my brother, Kade.”

“It’s sort of eerie how you look the same, yet completely opposite. He’s like the darker version of you,” I laughed, playfully. Is he married? What does he do? Is he intelligent? Is he playful? Does he like long walks on the beach and can you give him my number? Shut up and don’t ask! Being in the woods this long is making me crazy, and I’m definitely buying a vibrator. That should have been the first thing I packed when I left!

Dylan didn’t laugh with me.

His eyebrows furrowed and his lips tightened into a small scowl. “He’s definitely a dark version of something. Listen, stay away from him if he ever comes in here again. He probably won’t anyway, but if he does, just ignore him. He’s tainted with a ton of issues. He’s a loner anyway, doesn’t date, and doesn’t enjoy being around people, sorry love. He’s pretty savage.”

Okay, he’s not making any sense. I was just asking if they were brothers, not to set me up with him. I didn’t ask any of those questions out loud.

“I wasn’t saying I was interested in him or anything, I had just noticed the resemblance, that’s all. What’s wrong with him?”

Dylan chuckled, full out laughed, and then all the seriousness drained away from his features as his eyes fixed on mine. “Nothing, love. He’s like a living-breathing-yet-emotionally-dead J. D. Salinger, but with more secrets. I think he just finds his own mind so much more interesting than anyone else’s, that he locks himself away because he doesn’t like distractions. And he’s got major trust issues. Savage.”

“J. D. Salinger? So, he’s a writer?” I asked.

“Yeah, but he’s more of an arsehole, so just steer clear of him. He could be intentionally hostile to people most of the time just to keep everyone at a distance. Vicious and savage.”

Third time. That was the third time he said savage. Dylan walked away, leaving me standing there, even more curious than before our talk. I wondered if he had drunk too much tonight. Obviously, Dylan knew nothing about women, because he just intrigued the hell out of me with his warning. Men were so clueless sometimes.