A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (12 page)

So much for sitting and talking this through. Troy adjusted his position, leaning more weight on his friend until Mike’s attempts to buck him off grew more futile. “There will be no throat ripping, and you know the only reason you landed a single punch is because you got the jump on me.”

“Maybe it won’t happen tonight, but you’re dead,” Mike snarled. “Somehow, sometime, when you don’t expect it—”

“Oh, stop being a fucking drama queen. What are you? Twelve? Yes, I was kissing your sister. We’re dating.”

Mike’s eyes widened, and his face grew even redder. “No. Fucking. Way.”

Sudden exhaustion rolled over Troy. After the rest of his evening, this was the last thing he needed.

Troy rose to his feet, extending a hand to his friend. “I really don’t want to have this conversation with my junk being bashed every time you move. Get up, and stop being a jackass.”

Mike glared, but he slapped his hand into Troy’s, pulling hard to get to his feet. “There’s nothing you can say that will make this okay to me. I know what you do with women.”

Troy had reached the point of physical exhaustion and mental weariness where everything was bound to set him off. Still, he knew it was a bad idea to let out a snicker. “Really. The same thing you do?”

“Fuck
off
. Not the same thing.”

“I haven’t heard any complaints from the women I’ve been with, and hey, you’ve done a few of them with me at the same time, so what’s your problem?”

“Jeez, Troy. Don’t you
dare
talk about sex and my sister in the same breath.”

“You think she doesn’t know about the birds and the bees yet? You
are
a dreamer.”

“
Stop
talking
,” Mike ordered, fists clenched again. “The discussion is not going there. Ignoring the fact you’ve been with dozens of women, you
can’t
date my sister. You’re not good enough for her.”

Troy understood Mike was pissed, and that he was trying to score hits, but the comment still burned. “I’m good enough to be your friend even though I’m a rotten piece of shit, but I’m not good enough for her?”

“Yes.”

Jeez
. “If I’m not allowed to date your sister, then who the hell
is
good enough?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not you.” Mike shook out his arms, wiggling his fingers as if his knuckles hurt from smashing into Troy’s face. “She said she wanted to get serious, and you’re about as serious as a…as a… Hell, I don’t even know what to compare you to, because you’ve never
been
serious.”

“Fine. You think I’m dirt. Great. Then you have no choice but to go back to the basics. Like you told me in the café the other day.”

Sheer suspicion smeared his friend’s expression into a tangle. “What the hell does that mean?”

Troy shrugged. “You said she’d figure it out. That Nic was smart enough to know who’s good for her.”

“Not if she wants to get involved with you,” Mike shouted.

They were talking in circles. Enough already.

“Not your decision.” Troy deliberately looked his friend in the eyes. “I’m not doing this to be a jackass. I really like Nic, and I think this can work. But you’ve got to stay out of our hair, and you’ve got to give us a chance.”

“All sorts of bullshit,” Mike muttered. “You’re talking out your ass.”

“You really think I would do this without having thought about it,
hard
?” Troy demanded. “I figured I was going to get all sorts of grief from you, although the punch to the jaw surprised me.”

“I was aiming for your nose,” Mike admitted. “Figured if I broke it, you wouldn’t be so pretty anymore.”

They both collapsed into chairs by the table, groaning as they settled. Various parts of his body tingled with lingering pain.

What a fucking
fantastic
evening this had been so far.

“You sure you want to do this?” His friend shook his head at Troy’s instant
yes
. “You know if you hurt her, I
will
kill you, and that’s not me being dramatic.”

“If I hurt her, I’ll take myself out,” Troy promised. “But we’re going to give it a try, and I honestly think I can make her happy.”

Mike shook his fingers again. “Great. Then I guess this means you’ll be there tomorrow night at the family dinner.”

Troy’s stomach fell all the way to the floor before bouncing back up into place. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” His friend’s eyes gleamed with unholy glee. “Didn’t Nic tell you? Birthday party for Dale.
Everyone
will be there. Birthdays are big family events, you know. It’s a great place for Nic to introduce her new
boyfriend
.”

Facing all of the gossipmongers at Traders seemed a whole lot safer. “I’ll talk to Nic. Sounds great,” Troy lied.

Mike shoved himself to his feet. “Don’t do anything stupid. You treat her right, you got that?”

“Of course.”

Troy found himself thinking back to when his little sister Katy had dropped a bomb and announced she was pregnant, then Gage had insisted he was the daddy. That night he would have done more than just punch his future brother-in-law in the face if he’d been given a chance.

Mike was being fairly reasonable, all things considered.

Troy put his hand up to his jaw and rubbed. With any luck, he would avoid having a black eye or too-obvious bruises for tomorrow’s
family
dinner.

“By the way,” he mentioned casually. “You’re pulling your swing when you punch. That’s why you hit my jaw.”

“Shut up.”

“Seriously, the force behind your leverage is good, but you messed up your trajectory.”

“Go
away
, before I take a practice swing or two.”

Mike stomped toward his bedroom, but he’d cooled off enough Troy figured it was safe to go to sleep without hiding the butcher knives.

Then again…

He took a quick detour through the kitchen before heading to bed.

Seemed dating Nicole was going to be exciting for
so
many reasons.

Troy:
morning, babe

Nic:
Hey

Troy:
what time should I pick you up for the party?

Nic:
???

Troy:
you know, your BILs birthday

Nic:
shit

Troy:
lol, right?

Nic:
wait. that’s Sat

Troy:
Mike says 2nite.

Nic:
Oh shit

Troy:
time?

Nic:
want to skip it?

Troy:
are you kidding? I looooooove birthday parties

Nic:
this is a bad idea—OMG

Troy:
we’ll deal

Nic:
MIKE told you

Nic:
what happened?

Nic:
do I need to kill him?

Nic:
fuck. I’m so sorry

Troy:
lol chill. We’re cool

Nic:
was there blood involved?

Troy:
not much

Nic:
OMG

Troy:
only a few stitches

Nic:
WHAT?

Troy:
the scar should be barely noticeable

Nic:
are you being an ass?

Troy:—

His phone was snatched out of his hands, and he scrambled to grab it back. “
Hey
, I’m in the middle of something.”

Clay held the phone to one side, blocking Troy with his other arm as he checked the screen. “I noticed, but what you’re
supposed
to be in the middle of is getting a tune-up done on the Chev. Not flirting with…
Nic
?” His brother turned back, surprise in his eyes. “Since when?

Troy shoved Clay’s arm out of the way, lunging wildly to return his phone to his possession. “Just happened.”

“Wow. Nope, didn’t see that one coming.” Clay stepped back and folded his arms over his chest. “Whatever. Stop wasting time when you’re supposed to be working.”

Jeez
. “Me taking a few minutes to figure out my plans for tonight isn’t any different than you answering your phone and chatting with Maggie.”

“Totally different,” Clay said.

“Bullshit.” Troy raised a brow at his brother. “Why’s she been calling so often, anyway? Is she bored because she’s got no school stuff to do?”

“She’s not calling that often.”

Changing tactics was the best way to get Clay’s mind off Troy’s business. He’d been doing it for years—distracting his big brother, usually for Clay’s own good. It made his big brother happy to have someone to take care of, and most of the time, it didn’t hurt.

But it was still as necessary as breathing to get in some digs while he could. Troy considered everything he’d learned in the last while and made a calculated guess. “Now that I think of it, the
last
time she called, you hightailed it out of here like your pants were on fire. I wonder what was so urgent that you needed to go at that very minute…”

Clay’s eyes narrowed, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“And if I remember correctly, you were smiling pretty damn hard when you came back after lunch.”

His brother shuffled uncomfortably.

Oh, this was too good to resist. “Must’ve been a pretty tasty lunch—”

“Shut up now before I break your face.”

Troy tucked his phone away and turned back to the open hood of the truck he was working on. “Don’t mind me,” he said cheekily. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“
Troy
.” A world of warning in the single word.

“What?” Troy grinned at his brother. “How come your face is so red, bro? You wouldn’t be skipping out on work to get busy, would you?”

“Stop it. I don’t know how you figured it out, but yes, we’re…trying to get pregnant. And chances are higher if she pays attention to her temperature and all kinds of crazy shit I had no idea about. I figured we’d fool around more, so it’s not like I
mind
getting called to come home in the middle of the day…” Clay stuttered to a stop, swearing lightly. “I have no idea why I told you that, and I will rip your head from your shoulders if you dare mention a word of this to anyone, especially Maggie.”

Troy laid a hand over his chest and let his jaw drop slightly as if he were shocked by the accusation. “Me? Tease my sweet sister-in-law-to-be? Never. You, on the other hand…”

Clay let out a mighty sigh. “I guess it was too much to hope that no one would notice.”

“Around here? I’m surprised the rest of them haven’t already clued in.” Troy escorted his big brother back to the car Clay had been working on earlier. “All teasing aside, I’m thrilled you guys are going to start a family right away. Tanner needs cousins.”

“It’s a big step, but we’re pretty excited.”

“Of course you are. You guys are going to be fantastic parents.” Troy patted Clay on the shoulder. “Now, we should both get back to work. No more fooling around, I promise. And if you need me to pull a little extra time, let me know.”

“Appreciate that, but it should be fine.” Clay was beet red in the face. “Just might need to run out…”

Somehow Troy kept a straight face, giving his brother a two-fingered salute before turning and heading back to the truck. He glanced down casually at the phone he’d swiped from Clay’s back pocket. It took less than fifteen seconds to change his brother’s password, and another forty-five to upload a new ringtone for Maggie’s number.

Troy left the phone on one of the tool chests. Clay would probably figure he’d forgotten it there, at least until the next time Maggie called.

He whistled as he made a big production of grabbing the tools he needed, slipping his own phone out of his pocket to check if Nic had left any more messages to their interrupted conversation.

Nic:
you are being an ass

Nic:
Troy?

Nic:
I’m headed into a meeting. Deadzone

Nic:
if you really want, see you @ 5

Did he really want to face the entire Adams family at the same time? Of course he did. Tonight was going to be a total blast.

And maybe if he kept telling himself that, it would end up being true.

Nicole had stewed all day, but it seemed there was no choice but to brazen this out. Family night at the Adams’. She and Troy would sink or swim from the start.

He showed just before five, jogging up to her back door. He looked a little worse for wear, but none of his limbs were in a cast, and all of them seemed to be accounted for.

“What does Mike look like?” she asked.

“He’s fine,” Troy assured her. “Let me get that.”

She stepped back and let him pick up the enormous box waiting on the counter.

He frowned at the weight and shook it lightly.

“You won’t be able to tell what’s in it.” She motioned him out the door, closing it behind her. “You know this. Family tradition—all gifts are wrapped in completely deceptive ways to keep the giftee guessing.”

“Is it safe to put it in the back of the truck?”

Nicole crawled into the passenger seat, holding out her arms. “I’ll keep it in my lap.”

He ignored her hands, propping the gift on the edge of the truck bed so he could step closer, leaning into the cab and offering a flirtatious smile. “I didn’t get my hello kiss.”