Page 78 of Her Hat Trick Daddies
“Do that again and see what happens,” he spits, face twisted in a smirk as he squares up, nose to nose with Shane.
“Stop it!” Leighton screams, struggling to push past, but Andy’s got her around the waist, holding her back.
Shane adjusts his footing, muscles coiled, jaw set. His glare could cut glass. The tension is suffocating.
I move in, sliding to Wyatt’s side, keeping my voice low but lethal. “Apologize to her. Now.”
But he turns to me, sneering. “This is between me and my sister. You’d be smart to back the fuck off. I’m a cop. I’ve got people coast to coast who’d come running with one call. Trust me—you don’t want that smoke.”
Andy lets Leighton go, stepping in on Wyatt’s other side. He towers over him. Wyatt is not small, but Andy’s size makes him look like some cocky rookie mouthing off before his first hit.
“And you’d be smart to treat your sister with a hell of a lot more respect,” Andy warns, voice cold. That tone? It only comes out on the ice, right before he levels a guy.
Still, Wyatt is stubborn. He doesn’t apologize, but at least he finally lets up, realizing he’s outnumbered.
Good.
Because one wrong move, and none of us are holding back.
Leighton turns on her heel and storms back to the house. At the door, she doesn’t even look back. Just says flatly, hand on the knob, “Get out.”
Damn. She’s tossing her own brother out.
Or so I think, until she adds, “All of you. Please… leave.”
Wyatt steps toward her again, but Shane and I block him without even thinking. Emotions are crackling like live wires. I don’t know their family history, but I don’t trust him not to do something stupid.
“Leigh, I…” Wyatt begins, but stops abruptly. With a grunt, he spins around and stomps down the street, disappearing into the dark.
Andy, gentle now, says, “I’m sorry, darlin’.” His voice is soft, the apology she deserves, just from the wrong person.
Leighton shakes her head. “Go home. All of you. Now.” Her voice breaks, raw and uneven. I know she’s crying now, even if I can’t see the tears. I can feel them in every word.
I gesture silently toward my SUV, and Andy and I start heading that way.
But Shane isn’t done yet.
“Leighton,” he says, voice tight, “I’mnotsorry for hitting your brother. I held my temper as long as I could, but he disrespected you. And god help me… he grabbed your hand.Nobodytouches you like that.” He sucks in a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “But… Iamsorry that we just made this harder.”
She doesn’t move. Doesn’t answer.
“I’m sorry, too,” I add.
And with that, we pile into my SUV. I make damn sure to steer us away from the direction Wyatt took as we head back to my place.
But as I drive, silence thick around us, one thought gnaws at me harder than the rest: What if that punch didn’t just hit Wyatt?
What if it knocked the whole damn thing off course?
Chapter 24
Leighton
The second I shut the door behind me, the air inside feels like a different world. Calmer. Still heavy with tension, but softer somehow. Safer.
But inside me? It’s anything but quiet. I’m a raging storm. Furious, wounded, unraveling. The things Wyatt said keep replaying, sharp and cruel, slicing deeper each time. The implication that I’m some kind of slut. That Mom would be ashamed of me.
He had no right. None. Not to judge me, and definitely not to throw her name around like that. My mother was the most accepting, loving person I’ve ever known. She would’ve wrapped her arms around me, no matter how complicated this all looked from the outside. She volunteered at shelters. She gave without ever expecting anything in return. She wasn’t judgmental. She was grace. And I’d give anything to bring her back right now.
