Her grip on my hand gets tighter each step closer we get. It’s kind of cute how nervous she is. “Jackson,” I say, standing next to the table.

He looks up and smiles when he sees me, but the smile widens when he sees Maddy. He gets to his feet and gives me the standard bro-hug. Then he turns to Madison. I don’t miss his quick once over. “You must be Madison?”

“And you’re Jackson?” she replies, throwing her hand out for a shake. He looks down at it, ignores it, and moves in for a hug. A nice, long, tight, semi-inappropriate hug. He winks at me over her shoulder. “You smell so good,” he says in her ear.

“All right.” I step forward and peel him off of her while he tries to hide his amusement.

He gives her one more squeeze before letting go. “You’re an ass,” I tell him, gesturing for Maddy to take a seat. Jax chuckles lightly before pointing at the two of us. “You guys need drinks?”

“I got it,” I say quickly.

“Shut up, Parker. It’s on me.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No, I said—”

“You trying to show off?”

“No. I can buy—”

“Boys!” Maddy interrupts. “You can both go.”

Jax and I laugh.

“Fine,” he says.

I smile down at her. “Are you good?”

She nods.

I give her a quick kiss on her temple, then follow Jax to the bar. He orders a round of beers and then turns back to look at Madison.

I do the same. “Thanks for meeting us, man. I know how you feel about her being around—”

“So she just asked you if she could meet me?”

I shrug—my eyes fixed on her. “Yeah, I told her about you and—”

“How much does she know?”

“Relax. I just told her I had a brother. That’s all.”

He exhales loudly. “It’s been six years, Ky. You and I are still brothers?”

“It’s been five, Jax, and we’ll always be brothers.”

I see him watching me from the corner of my eye. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’ve kind of been an asshole. I dragged your ass into this and gave you no choice.”

“Jax, this means more to me than you—”

“Maybe,” he cuts in. “I just don’t want anything getting between us this time. Our relationship comes first, Ky. If the case gets in the way, we call the whole thing off.”

I clear the lump in my throat, unable to respond.

He adds, “She seems nice; I’m happy for you.”

“She’s amazing, Jax.”

Before he gets a chance to respond, the bartender gets our attention. I turn to him and throw a twenty on the bar before Jackson can stop me. Picking up all three beers, I face Jackson, but he’s staring at our table—eyes narrowed and jaw clenched.

I follow his gaze.

My heart stops.

Opposite Madison, sitting in Jackson’s seat, is Nate DeLuca.

His forearms rest on the table as he leans into her. His mouth moves and whatever he’s saying has her smiling politely at him.

“Don’t let him take it,” Jax says.

“Take what?” I ask, my eyes never leaving them.

“You. You told me that, remember? Don’t let him own you.” He pats my shoulder. “Tell her I got a call and had to leave. Go deal with him. And Ky?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember what I said. Become his friend. Get in his head. We need to know everything about him. It’s the only way we can ruin him.”

“And the only way we get revenge, right?”

“Like I said, if it’s not worth it for you just say the word.”

“I’ll call you. Get out of here.”

***

The beers land on the table with a thud. I look at Madison first; she smiles, assuring me that she’s fine.

Then I switch my attention to DeLuca.

“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Parker. I was just telling—”

“Let’s talk,” I cut in.

He leans back, stretching his arms across the top of the seat. “I’m right here.”

It takes everything in me to resist wrapping my hands around his throat until he’s blue in the fucking face.

Leaning down, I quietly speak in his ear. “You made your point this morning. You won, okay? Don’t make a scene. Not here. Not now.”

When I pull back, I notice his gaze is focused on Madison again. Without a word, he braces his hands on the table and stands up.

“I’ll be back,” I tell her.

She smiles awkwardly back at me.

DeLuca leads me to the corner of the bar. He leans against the wall, but his eyes are still on Madison.

“Listen,” I start, then sigh, trying to find the words. “I don’t know what you want from me, but whatever it is, I’ll give it to you. Like you said, I need to prove myself, right?”

Slowly, his eyes move to mine. He crosses his arms and nods.

I continue, “From the beginning you told me how it was, and maybe I haven’t been treating you with the respect you deserve. I’ll fix it. We need to make this work. You know I want to fight. You know I need to fight.”

A cocky smirk takes over his face.

My fists ball at my sides, but I rein it in. “Just please leave her out of it. I don’t want her involved, and I don’t want her to see this side of me. I need to protect her from all of this.” It’s all a lie. Everything but how I feel about Madison.

His smirk disappears, replaced with something I can’t decipher. His eyes trail back to Madison. “Okay, man,” DeLuca mumbles. “Fresh start.” He throws out his hand. I force myself to shake it. He adds, “We start tonight.” Then he kicks off the wall, makes his way over to our table, and sits back down.

And I have no fucking choice but to let him.

“Everything okay?” Madison asks as I get seated.

“It’s fine.” I pick up her hand and kiss her palm, then hold it on the table so DeLuca understands. It’s a sign—he needs to know that I’m not fucking around, especially when it comes to Madison. And if he keeps looking at her the way he is, the next sign he’ll get is my fist to his fucking jaw.

He glares at our joined hands.

I clear my throat. “DeLuca, this is Madison—Madison, DeLuca.”

“Madison,” he says, but it comes out a question. She nods; her lips pursed. His gaze flicks to our joined hands again. Then he rubs his thumb across his bottom lip as his eyes move back to her. She lets out a whimper from deep in her throat. I hate that he makes her uncomfortable. He continues, “Well, Madison, you can call me Nate.”

She fakes a smile and squeezes my hand to get my attention. “We didn’t eat. I’m a little hungry.”

DeLuca raises his hand to get the waiter’s attention. “They have awesome burgers here.”

“Where’s Jackson?” she asks me.

“He got a call. Emergency. Had to leave.”

“That sucks. We’ll have to catch up with him again soon.”

I kiss her cheek, thankful she’s thinking of the next time.

DeLuca orders our burgers and spends the next ten minutes ignoring me and giving Madison his full attention. He asks her questions I’ve never thought of asking. Like what TV shows she watches, what music she’s listening to, if she likes any restaurants or take-out joints in our area. She answers each one enthusiastically, and he listens to her intently.