Colby squinted at the bar clock. “I’d probably best get on home. See what trick my darlin’ wife has up her sleeve for tonight’s sexcapades. Funny thing is, she thinks I don’t know what she’s up to, so I’m not playin’ hard to get.” He clapped Kade on the shoulder. “Good luck.”
Kade pondered their advice as he finished his beer. Why did men and women have to play games?
Then again, being straightforward and honest hadn’t done him a bit of good either.
Chapter Twenty-four
After saying his good-byes to his cousins, Kade walked down the street to his truck. The promise of an early fall teased and the evening air was chilly. Clouds covering the moon made the night seem even darker than normal. He’d hunkered into the collar of his coat and didn’t see the man step out of the shadows until it was too late and Kade smacked right into him.“Hey. Sorry.”
“You’d better be sorry, you son of a bitch.”
“Excuse me?”
“No excuse for you because I know you were fuckin’ my wife, McKay.”
Was this man drunk?
“What kind of loser fucks another man’s wife?”
Kade attempted to back up. “Wait a second, pal, you’ve got the wrong man.”
“The hell I do.” The big bear of a man pressed closer. “I followed her, so I know she was meetin’ with you.”
“Me? Since when?”
“Two months ago I saw you and her laughin’ and jokin’ in that restaurant downtown. Then you two snuck into that massage parlor and didn’t come out for a coupla hours. We all know what kinda shit happens in them places.”
“See, now I know you’re mistaken, buddy, because I’ve been livin’ out of town for the last year.”
“Makes it convenient when she sneaks away to meet you, which I know she’s still doin’ ’cause she ain’t around at night. And when she is she’s damn secretive, which pisses me off.”
“I’m tellin’ you, it wasn’t me.”
That information didn’t calm the man down; it incensed him. “I know what I saw. And I saw you.”
Shit. This was where family resemblances sucked. The man this had seen might’ve been any one of Kade’s cousins. The man could’ve been Kane. That was the most likely explanation, even when Kane had a strict no married women policy. It was unlikely the guy would buy the laughable “I have an identical twin” argument, but that didn’t matter. Kade wouldn’t roll on his brother or his cousins anyway.
Before Kade uttered another denial, the man hauled off and punched him in the eye like a champion boxer. Pain exploded in his head and he staggered back.
“How’d you like that? An eye for an eye, fucker. That’ll teach you to keep your eyes off my wife.”
While Kade was trying to regain his equilibrium, the guy delivered a wicked uppercut that rocked his jaw so hard his teeth clacked together and he bit his tongue. “Keep your mouth offa her.”
Kade curled his arms around his head, attempting to protect it, when the guy slugged him in the gut with enough force to knock the air from his lungs. Through the pain Kade realized he was getting his ass kicked and he couldn’t stop it. He dropped to the pavement in defeat.
“Stand up and fight me, you fuckin’ pussy.”
A car door slammed, followed by bootsteps thumping down the sidewalk. “Hey! What the hell is goin’ on?”
“Walk away. This ain’t your concern,” the man said.
“The fuck it isn’t.”
Colt.
Why was Colt here? Kade tried to say his name but nothing came out.
“Last chance to get gone or I’ll give you some of what he just got.”
“Big talk.”
“I’m more than talk, sheep-fucker.”
“Bring it on, cocksucker.”
More bootsteps scuffled on the cement, preceded by loud shouts. Kade heard it all through a haze of pain.
“Colt? What’re you doin’ here? Oh, shit. Kade? Man, you all right?” This from Blake.
Colt said, “I was on my way inside the Golden Boot and I saw Kade get sucker-punched.”
“Is this the fucker who did this to him?” Cam demanded.
“Yeah.”
The man said, “Let me go.”
“Fuck that. You started it.”
“We’re gonna finish it. Still feelin’ tough?” Ben taunted.
“Not when the odds are six against one.”
Kade pushed himself to a sitting position and said, “Let him go.”
“What?” Remy said. “We all wanna take a shot at him so he knows he messed with the wrong fuckin’ family.”
“You’re all McKays?”