Page 23 of Fighter
“I can hear you,” Victor grunted, flipping his partner off as he turned and hiked the steep incline up to the house.
Chris was slightly infatuated with the way Victor and Andrew acted, giggling, shoving each other and then holding hands, Victor whispering something in Andrew’s ear that made him blush from head to toe. “They’re very intimidating, aren’t they? And I’m not talking about Victor’s massive stature.” Linc elbowed him, smiling coyly.
When they got back to the house, a guy Chris didn’t recognize, wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day, was leaning against the hood of an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. He felt Linc tense next to him when the tall, blond guy pushed off the car and started walking toward them. Victor said something in Romanian that Chris assumed was a very bad word when Andrew slapped him on the arm hard enough that Dracula flinched.
Andrew pushed Victor up onto the porch, then dragged him the rest of the way into the house, all while a continuous litany of broken English and Romanian, littered with curse words, filled the air. The tall blond was walking toward them with a huge smile on his face until he looked down and saw Chris and Linc’s fingers laced together. Blondie stopped, frowning—no, snarling—at their joined hands and snatching off his Ray-Bans. He glared at Linc, and Chris wanted nothing more than to walk over and throttle the son of a bitch.
“What the fuck, Linc? Who the hell is this?” Spittle flew out of Blondie’s mouth. Chris squeezed Linc’s fingers and pursed his lips to keep from laughing.
“Lance, Chris…Chris, Lance. Now that introductions have been made, my turn to ask the questions. What the fuck are you doing here, and what do you want, Lance? I told you, we are done, finished,finito, over, dost thou comprehend?” Linc clearly wasn’t going to give the guy the time of day.
Chris began connecting the dots; this must be the ex, the one that couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. He didn’t get it—the guy was gorgeous, in a GQ model sort of way, but he was also brash and rude. Lance’s whole attitude and appearance just didn’t fit with Linc and the type of person Chris now knew Linc to be.
Regardless of what Chris thought, Blondie dug his heels in, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Chris.Lord, if looks could kill.He wrapped his arm around Linc, kissing him on the cheek and grinning like the proverbial cat when he saw Blondie flinch. “I’m going to give you two a minute. I’ll wait on the porch,” he whispered into Linc’s ear. Linc quickly turned, kissed Chris on the lips, and winked. Chris heard Blondie groan, the sound music to his ears.
It took every ounce of self-control Chris possessed to keep putting one leg in front of the other when he heard Blondie say, “Linc, baby, please.” His steps faltered, but he managed to make his way to the screened-in porch and collapse into one of the chairs where he could still see and hear what was happening.
“Don’t!” Linc jerked away from Blondie when he reached for him. “And do not call me baby; you gave that right away when you slept with Kory, asshole!” Linc took a step back, Blondie took a step forward, and Chris stood up. It was like some angry dance between two wise men and the town idiot. Chris put his hand on the door—if Lance laid so much as one finger on Linc, he would be out there and on him in three seconds flat.
“Lincoln…”
“Motherfucker! If you call me that or baby one more goddamn time, I’m going to knock your ass out right here on the grass, Lance. Stop. It. Why are you here? I told you after Kory that I was done. Who the hell do you think—”
Lance cut Linc off, reaching over and covering Linc’s mouth with his hand. Chris fought the urge to rush over and pulverize Blondie. No, he needed to let Linc handle this. He was a big boy, perfectly capable of taking the trash out all by himself.
“Please, Linc, listen to me for a minute,” Blondie begged. Linc stared at him, fists clenched at his sides, and Chris hoped Linc would deck him or bite his fingers off. Instead, Linc nodded and Blondie lowered his hand.Thank fuck.It was annoying Chris—the fact that this man thought he had any right to put so much as one finger on Linc. “Okay, I wanted to apologize. You know how they say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone? Well, I realize that now. I’m sorry, Linc, I miss you, please come home.”
The sincerity he heard in Lance’s voice almost made Chris feel sorry for the guy—almost, but not quite. Linc took a couple of steps back, putting more distance between himself and Blondie. “No.”
Blondie snorted. “No?”
“That’s right, Lance, no. You said what you came here to say, and I listened. The answer is no, so you can be on your way now.” Linc looked at his watch. “Better hurry so you can miss rush hour traffic.” Linc turned and took two steps toward the porch, toward Chris. He smiled at Linc, receiving a wink in return. Then the stupid son of a bitch had to go and fuck up by grabbing Linc’s arm.
Linc froze, nostrils flaring like a bull getting ready to run. “Really, Lance? This is how you want to do this?”
Chris couldn’t stomach that piece of shit putting his hands on Linc for one more second. Kicking the screen door open, he stomped down the steps. “I suggest you take your goddamn hands off him or I’ll do it for you, and you won’t like it if I have to do it for you,” Chris stated in a calm but firm tone that didn’t betray the anxiety he was feeling at the moment. Never had he felt the jealousy and anger he was experiencing and, yes, it was confusing, but he’d sort it out later when the jackass wannabe Calvin Klein model was far away from his boyfriend.
Lance turned and snarled, gripping Linc’s arm tighter instead of releasing him. “Back off, bitch, Linc is mine!”
Oh, hell no, Life-sized-Ken, you did not just call me a bitch. It’s on now!Chris hoped he hadn’t said that out loud, and quickened his pace, stopping midstep when Linc jerked his arm away, turned, and punched Blondie in the nose.
It all happened so fast—too fast, in fact. Chris would have liked a bit of warning so he could have filmed it on his phone to watch repeatedly. Lance fell to his knees, hands holding his nose, while blood gushed out between his fingers. Chris grabbed Linc and pulled him into his arms, holding Linc’s face in his hands. “You okay?”
Linc snorted. “I’m fine, babe. Him? Not so much.” Victor and Andrew came flying out of the house, Andrew checking on Chris and Linc while Victor circled Blondie, the lion stalking his prey.
“You,” Victor snarled. “Be getting your skinny ass off my lawn!” Lance crab-walked backward, eyes wide as Victor advanced on him. Andrew grabbed Victor’s arm, holding on tight as Lance got to his feet.
“This isn’t ober!” Lance called out, blood still gushing down his face, his eyes were wide and fearful, his previously pretty nose swollen and slightly crooked. Victor snorted and crossed his arms over his chest again.
“Oh, but it is most certainly is.” Andrew waved Blondie off, concentrating on keeping Dracula right there beside him.
“Next time you call first, I load shotgun!” Victor shouted. Lance jerked the car into reverse, gravel and dust circling in the air as he gunned it out of the driveway.
Linc fell on his ass, laughing hysterically. “Holy shit, did you see his face when Victor came out?” Chris and Andrew nodded, the three of them cracking up while Victor glared at them as if they were mental.
A puff of blond smoke flew past, landing on Victor, legs wrapping around him like a spider monkey. “Oh my God, baby, are you okay?” Mattie shrieked.
Once Mattie verified Victor was okay, he turned to Andrew, then over to Chris and Linc where they sat on the ground, still giggling. “Guys, you okay? That was Lance, wasn’t it? Oh my God, why was he here? Oh my God, I heard the commotion, I was getting out of the shower, and I got dressed and ran down here as fast as I could, oh my God, are you guys okay…” Chris fell back onto the ground as another fit of laughter took over his body. Mattie was acting like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The little blond’s eyes were darting around to each of them, and he was gently patting each of them on the arm like he thought something might be broken. When Mattie touched Linc’s hand, he flinched, which resulted in Linc being dragged into the house and seated gently on a stool at the island while Andrew went in search of the first aid kit.
