Page 96 of Hot Ice, Tennessee

He was already rearing up, ready to punch.

It was only a moment before pain hit my jaw like a thunderclap, and everything flashed red and then black.

I went to the ground, knocking the back of my head against a wooden leg of the nearby bench. Vaguely, I was aware that a couple of other people further down the street had gasped, watching it happen from afar.

“What thefuck?” Mason hissed. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Babe,” I murmured in my dazed state, knowing that I was going out cold, and I’d be unconscious in less than a few seconds. “It’s okay. S’just Elliot.”

17

MASON

I’ve always told people that I’m a lover, not a fighter, and until tonight it had been one hundred percent true.

But apparently if a beefy guy shows up and clocks Jesse in the jaw—breaking us up when Ireallywanted to kiss him—I turn into a fighter real damn fast.

I didn’t think about the fact that he was built like a Mack truck and had just sucker punched Jesse. I tossed off my flannel, chucked it to the side, and landed a punch right on him. I shoved him off, using every bit of advantage I had from my own element of surprise, and he seemed stunned that some random cowboy outside a bar would even try to lay a hand on him.

Elliot.

Jesse had mentioned him plenty enough for me to know that I didn’t like him. I knew that I recognized his face at first. He was one of the players on Jesse’s team, and I’d also quickly spotted him in the frat house, the night I’d gone there.

“Holy shit,” I whispered under my breath, looking down at Jesse as ice-cold fear went through my veins.

“Fuck you,” Elliot said, glaring at me and wiping at a stray spot of blood that had appeared on his cheek.

I pushed open one of the front doors of the Hard Spot, yelling inside as loud as I could. “Help out here, please!”

I caught Kane’s eyes and he ran out from behind the bar, coming outside a moment later.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Kane roared.

Elliot was holding up his hands, feigning innocence. “That guy punched me. He’s out of his mind.”

“Jesse,” I said, ignoring every word that came out of Elliot’s mouth. I cradled Jesse’s head, watching as he blinked, coming back into consciousness.

I’d never felt more relieved in my fucking life.

“You’re here,” Jesse said as he looked up at me, a smile spreading over his face even as his face swelled a little on one side.

“Going to get him to the ER. I think he’s okay, but he needs to be checked,” I said.

Jesse was clearly out of it, but he was starting to mumble again, slightly incoherently. “Kiss me, Mason. Why’d you stop kissing me?”

Heat ripped through my body.

Kane had definitely heard Jesse say that. But none of that mattered when he was lying here, only half-conscious.

Kane body blocked Elliot. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Jesse, where are your car keys?” I asked.

“Keys to my heart, right with you,” Jesse mumbled.

I felt around his pockets, finding them and pulling them out. “Going to take his car.”

“Don’t you have your truck?” Kane asked.

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