17. Thorn
CHAPTER 17
THORN
“Soul was right.”
I look to my left and scowl at the smirk on Malice’s face. The caterwauling coming from the singing ladies continues to fill the room as my brothers and I watch and do our best to tune out the noise.
“About?”
My VP darts his gaze from me to the women and back again. “You can’t keep your eyes off Delaney.”
“I’m watching all of them, same as everyone else,” I scoff, doing my best to pretend I don’t know what he’s talking about.
“Bullshit,” he taunts. “You haven’t been able to keep your eyes off the chick since Nashville.”
“Kept my eyes off her while riding home.”
Malice throws his head back and laughs. “Yeah, this is gonna be fun.”
He walks away to join Grim, Soul, and Mark at the bar, leaving me to return to doing exactly what he accused me of: staring at Delaney.
From the moment I saw her in that damn parking lot, my soul’s been… twitchy. She looks so much like an older version of Tamara, and no amount of trying to ignore it will make it less true.
The ladies’ fifth song ends, and most of them stumble back to the high-top tables. Jez breaks away and strides toward me.
“You okay?” she asks when she stops in front of me.
“Great,” I reply, never taking my eyes off Delaney.
“Uh-huh.” Jez reaches up to grab my chin and force me to look at her. “She’s not Tamara.”
Every muscle in my body tenses. “Don’t you think I know that?”
“You tell me.”
I shove a hand through my hair. “Jez, back off,” I snarl.
“You know me better than that.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” I huff out.
Jez shifts her gaze to the opposite side of the room, and I follow it. Zach has his arm around Delaney’s shoulders, and he’s leading her back to the mic.
Shoving my hands into my pockets, I count to ten in my head. Every cell in my body itches to demand the prospect get his hands off my woman, but I can’t because she’s not mine.
Not yet.
I shake my head as the music starts, knowing I have no business thinking like that. Not only do I barely know Delaney, but I’m also not at all looking for love.
“I’m thinking ‘bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways…”
An image of Tamara and I dancing at prom to the same Ed Sheeran song surfaces, and my gut twists. Zach is way off-key as he sings, but Delaney is eating it up like they’re star-crossed lovers. And when he grabs her hand and pulls her into his body to slow dance as he sings, my control snaps.
I stride across the room and yank Zach away from Delaney. “You don’t get to touch her,” I snarl.
Bone crunches when my fist connects with his nose, and the sound fuels my anger. Zach barely fights back, and before I know it, I’m pulled off of him and slammed to the floor.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Grim signs as he pins me down with his knee in my chest.
I glare at him and struggle to break free, but my brother is a helluva lot bigger than me.
“Get off me,” I counter.
“Fifty bucks. Answer the question.”
Soul comes into my line of sight and tugs on Grim’s cut, forcing him to stand. I scramble to my feet, and my chest is heaving.
“Answer his question,” Soul demands as he gets in my face. “What the fuck were you doing?”
I shove a hand through my hair and take a deep breath. “I… He…”
“Zach didn’t do shit wrong,” Soul barks. “Delaney’s a free agent.”
“What?!” Delaney screeches, stomping into the mix.
Soul sighs. “All I mean is Thorn hasn’t laid claim to you, so you’re free to flirt with any man you want.”
“I wasn’t flirting,” she insists. “We were just having fun.”
Zach approaches me slowly, holding a rag to his nose. “You broke my fucking nose,” he accuses, his tone nasally.
“Because you touched my fucking woman,” I seethe.
Delaney whips her head around to stare at me. “Excuse me?”
“Sorry, brother,” Zach says.
“We’re not brothers,” I remind him. “You’re a prospect. Keep it up, you’ll go from that to a nobody real fast.”
“Wait a second,” Delaney demands. “You don’t get to decide who I can and can’t flirt with.”
Cece quickly joins our group and rests her hand on Delaney’s shoulder. “Why don’t you come with me,” she says, urging her out of the common room.
Delaney continues to glare at me over her shoulder, but as soon as she disappears from sight, I’m spun around.
“You’re laying claim?” Soul asks.
“No, I…” I press my lips together and lock eyes with my president. “I don’t know.”
“Either you are or not,” Grim signs.
“Fine,” I huff. “I am.”
I turn on my heel and storm away from the crowd, desperately needing to be alone.
What the hell have I done?
I’m in my room for less than two minutes before the doors slide open, and Jez walks in.
“You can’t do that,” I snap.
“Oh, stuff it,” she quips. “I was worried about you, so I came in uninvited. For all I know, you were trying to kill yourself in here.” She shrugs. “It was an emergency.”
I groan. “You’re insane.”
“And you’d be lost without me.” Jez moves to sit at my desk. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
“She looks like Tamara… Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t mean you have to claim her.”
“I didn’t.”
“Uh, Thorn, did you hit your head on the floor when Grim took you down? Because what you just did,” she says, pointing toward the common room. “You claimed her.”
“Fuck,” I mutter hotly. “I saw Zach put his hands on her and lost it. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Oh, you were thinking,” she returns. “Just not sure which head was taking the lead.”
“Did you need something from me?” I bark, annoyed with her assessment.
“No,” she admits. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stare at her without responding. She lifts her hands in mock surrender.
“Fine, Thorn. Be a dick. But when shit starts blowing up in your face, don’t come crying to me.”
With that parting shot, Jez walks out of my room, and only when the door slides closed do I relax.
Motherfucker!