Page 24 of Pucking Unhinged
The heat in my chest is burning hotter.
“Watch your mouth, son. You're being emotional…” Dad says, but I cut him off, because no, I’m not.
“I would’ve killed Winter myself before I let those bastards touch her.” The words come out before I can stop them. And I mean every fucking one of them. I want everyone here, including this bitch who’s rubbing my father’s bicep like it’s her job to console him, to know just how unhinged I am. Whatever they’re up to, whatever they have planned, they need to know that I will ruin all of it.
“Enough!” Dad bellows, his voice booming through the bar. Bianca flinches. Josh shifts uncomfortably. But me and Winter, we don’t move a muscle. We’ve been through far too much for this clown to think he’s going to throw his weight around.
I don’t say anything because I’m assessing him. I need to be able to read him before he springs something on me. Why did he want us here so much? He knew how it would play out.
“This is supposed to be a fresh start,” my father finally says, face red, voice straining with forced control. “We will not be living in the past anymore, Tristan. You need to fix your attitude and be grateful that Emily was selfless enough to change our engagement announcement into a vacation where everyone can get to know each other.”
I stare at him, every word curdling in my gut. Fresh start? He says it like the past is something you can bury under champagne and cigars.
The longer I watch him squirm, the more certain I am: he wasn’t just a coward that night. He’s hiding something. Maybe a debt. Maybe a deal gone wrong. Maybe something worse.
Was Winter the target all along? Did we just get lucky that I was able to botch the plan enough to stop them from taking her?
My jaw clenches, and when I finally glance sideways, Winter’s already watching me. Her bright eyes narrow slightly, the tiniest furrow between her brows like she can feel it too.She knows that I’m turning something over in my head, putting pieces together.
She doesn’t ask, not here, not now. But she knows I’ll rip this place and my father’s whole fucking life wide open until I find the truth.
This new happy little family he’s concocted? Collateral damage, I suppose.
Dad knows every detail of what happened that night. He knows I’m onto him. He knows that despite his orders I’ve been asking around, looking for anyone who would give me a glimmer of who could have been behind that night and why.
“Tristan, dear, I think you would do well to relax…” Emily starts, her syrupy voice grating against my already raw nerves.
One look from me shuts her up cold. I don’t say a word, just let my stare slice across the bar until her mouth closes.
I push back from the chair, standing as Dad finally lowers himself into his. The bar feels suffocating, and as much as I want to pull Winter into my arms right now, I don’t want my bad energy rubbing off on her. I need to clear my head, because I’m not going to get to the bottom of this shit staying worked up like this. I meet Winter’s eyes and tilt my head toward the balcony to let her know I’m getting some fresh air. She nods, and that’s all I need to head out. I walk past the gleam of glass and polished brass, out onto the stone terrace. The air hits cooler here, and it's a sobering feeling.
The muscles across my back coil tight, the tension pulling me forward until I’m standing at the edge of the terrace, looking out over the mountain. I bend and pick up a smooth gray stone from the decorative landscaping, turn it over in my hand, then send it arcing into the water feature below. The ripple spreads wide, distorting the lights.
When I turn to look back into the bar, Winter’s eyes flash to mine through the pane of glass, and I know that I’m notgetting any sleep tonight. When we arrived, Dad showed us to our rooms. I thought it was bad enough that I couldn’t use this opportunity to share a bed with Winter again, but it got so much worse when I realized Dad had me bunking with Josh and the girls sharing a room. His reasoning was that he wanted us to get to know each other.
I’m probably going to put a pillow over Josh’s face tonight, but that’ll be a lesson learned for my father.
No one would ever try to keep me from my girl.
WINTER
“Iswear if he didn’t have a huge dick I would have killed him by now,” Bianca grumbles and stomps over to the door as I stand in the middle of our room. I’m not sure how to respond to her because we’ve only just met a few hours ago when Tristan and I arrived at the cabin Tristan’s dad rented for this little forced vacation. In the span of forty-eight hours, we found out that not only is Tristan’s dad getting remarried but also that his fiancee has a son and a foster daughter as well. I guess they’re choosing to bond over that fact, and Tristan nearly combusted at dinner every time the woman referred to us as siblings. Bianca is Emily’s foster daughter, and from what I gather, she’s anything but shy.
She was right in her assumption that it’s her foster brother, Josh, knocking on our door. “Please tell me you are not waking us up at 3AM because you’re horny,” she accuses him, and while I wouldn’t doubt that Josh would do something like that, he looks extremely upset.
Josh ignores her, shaking his head in annoyance as he looks at me pointedly. “It’s your uh…brother.” Before the words are out of his mouth, I’m crossing the room and heading for the door. I don’t need any other information, and I’m not going totake the time to reiterate that Tristan isnotmy brother. Things have been confusing with Tristan since we met. He’s been my protector since day one, and since the attack that killed his mother, things between us have been even more confusing. But that’s the thing about Tristan and me…anything that happens isjustbetween us. I suppose it’s probably because there’s not another soul on this planet that I think Tristan actually likes, but I like to pretend it’s because I’m special to him.
I’m two steps into the hall when I realize that Josh and Bianca are following me. “He’s freaking out in his sleep, and I didn’t know what to do. I went and woke up your dad, but—” He’s not my dad, but I don’t have the energy for that conversation either.
I stop short and look up at Josh. “But what?”What did the bastard say?
“He told me to let him fight through it, but I was afraid he was going to hurt himself or me. He was throwing shit and—” Josh pulls his key card out of his pocket and holds it up as if to indicate to follow him.
“Yeah, that sounds like him.” I say, and I try to keep the anger in my voice crammed down in my chest because isn’t that what I do? Tristan is the crash out, the one who doesn’t let anything slide, and I’m the one who smooths things over to keep him out of trouble. I’m so mad right now, I feel like I could kick in my foster father’s door and beat him to a pulp.
“Thanks,” I blurt out, pushing past Josh when the key card beeps in the slot. I swing the door open and see him there. Tristan is shirtless, thrashing around in the twin-sized bed that makes him look even bigger than he already does. His muscles flex under golden skin as he grips the sheets, his eyes pinching tight like he’s in pain.
I move toward him, but Bianca grabs me by the wrist like she’s known me forever or has the right to intervene. “What ifhe hurts you? He’s twice your fucking size,” she exaggerates… kind of. He’s six-foot-five, and he could absolutely hurt me if he wanted to, but he’d never. Not even in his sleep. “We could throw some water on him,” she suggests.
