Mistaken by Fate(9)

Garrett ignored the question and fired off one of his own—the one that had been burning in his gut since last night. “What’s the deal with you and Ridley?”

“Ridley?” The confusion on Will’s face seemed genuine. “She’s a nice girl, would probably get into less trouble if she wasn’t friends with our sister, and has an excellent clothing design business. From what I understand, she’s creating quite the buzz this season.”

He waited, but there didn’t seem to be any more information forthcoming. “Right. But what do you think of her?”

Some of Will’s confusion cleared. He shook his head. “What made you think I was interested in her? Like I said, she’s a nice girl.”

Not nearly as nice as his twin seemed to think. He crossed his arms over his chest and thought hard. If Will was interested in her, he would say something. His brother didn’t play games outside the bedroom and he sure as hell didn’t play them with Garrett. “Apparently she’s interested in you.”

“I doubt it.”

The concise words should have comforted him. They didn’t. “Considering she was waiting for you naked and kneeling in a room in Serve, I don’t think there’s much leeway for misinterpretation on that note.”

Will’s eyebrows went higher. “Please tell me Ridley wasn’t the new sub waiting in that room.”

His life would be so much simpler if he could. “The one and only.”

“I didn’t realize she was interested in the lifestyle.”

Garrett had known. The markers were there, even back so far as when she was a teenager. But it wasn’t something he talked about with his brother—or anyone. “Maiden voyage, remember? She was there to seduce you.”

“Was she?”

When Will smirked, Garrett had to resist the urge to punch his brother, if only to let loose some of the tension last night had brought. It was bullshit. He’d gone to Serve in the first place to let loose, and had ended up more twisted up in the process. He clenched his hands. “This isn’t funny. She was coming on my fingers and calling out your name.”

“I’ve never laid a hand—or anything else—on Ridley, and I have no intention of starting now, regardless of some infatuation she’s currently indulging in.” Will leaned against the counter. “She was always yours.”

“She’s not mine.” The response was so automatic, he didn’t even have to think before speaking.

“Isn’t she?”

“No.” She hadn’t ever been, not really. He shifted, hating how closely Will watched him. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop trying that mind-fuck shit on me. It might swing with your subs, but I’m your brother.”

“In that case, if Ridley’s not yours and you have no interest in her… Maybe I will see if she’s free sometime soon.”

Every cell in his body went on high alert, and it was everything he could do not to go over the kitchen island at his brother. “Over my dead fucking body.”

Will nodded like he’d answered a different question. “A lot has changed in the last eight years, Garrett—even you. Perhaps you should call her.”

His twin disappeared down the hallway, leaving Garrett staring after him. Damn his brother to hell and back for knowing just what to say to provoke exactly the response he wanted. Because the thought of his brother so much as touching her was enough to make him want to find a sledgehammer and go to town on something. Hell, the thought of any man who wasn’t Garrett touching her set his teeth on edge. It didn’t matter that he had no place in her life—that short time in Serve had been enough to bring his need for her crashing through his barriers like some sort of demented Kool-Aid Man.

He left Will’s apartment and headed toward the one he kept a few blocks up. Though he had told himself countless times that it was a waste of money when he spent so little time here, he kept renewing the lease. It was his space, and that was worth its weight in gold, no matter how rarely it was utilized.

The cold night air did little to calm his circling thoughts. His hand kept wandering to pat the pocket holding his phone, even though he knew picking it up and calling Ridley was a mistake. It shouldn’t matter if the sweet sound of her coming was enough to haunt his dreams from now until the day he died.

His reasons for staying away from her before weren’t much different now than they had been eight years ago—he wasn’t marriage material and Ridley was the kind of woman you settled down with. She deserved better than a Ranger-turned-contractor when contractor was just another word for mercenary. He traveled 75 percent of the year, hopping from one job to the next. That didn’t leave any time for building a relationship. If he tried, she’d end up truly hating him in the end because there was no way to make it work.