Emmie raised her head, a frown creasing her forehead. “Of course he is.”

“No, Em. He fucking is not coming. I don’t want him here.” I carefully untangled her from around me and stood. I was trying to stay calm, not act like a jealous asshole. But the more I thought of Axton Cage close to my girl, the more I saw red. “He has no business here.”

“What the hell is your problem?” she demanded. “Ax is our friend. If he wants to take time out and come visit us he can.”

“Friends? He had his hands all over you more than a week ago, Em!”

Green eyes narrowed dangerously on me. “He kissed me. Big deal. He was just messing around. We both know he didn’t mean anything by it.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” I raked my hands through my hair. “He has a thing for you. Everyone freaking knows it. Even Brie.” Gabriella Moreitti hated Emmie just as much as Em hated her because of it.

My back was turned to her as I tried to calm down enough to keep from punching something. Of course it didn’t help, so I didn’t see the look on Emmie’s face, didn’t see the hurt and anger that filled her green eyes. I was lost to everything but my own jealousy as I glared out at the Gulf.

“Emmie?” Jesse’s voice was full of concern, and I turned to glance at my friend. His eyes were on Emmie, who was still sitting where I had left her. “Emmie, deep breaths.”

Tears were pouring down her cheeks as a silent sob had her catching her breath. I was so startled to find her like that my legs nearly buckled. “Em?”

She sucked in a deep breath and a broken sob escaped her, waking Drake. “You have a lot of fucking nerve.” Scrubbing a hand over her face, she stood. “One stupid, innocent kiss and you act like I committed adultery. Fuck you, Nik. And fuck precious Brie too. Oh, wait. You already did that!”

“What?” I blinked, unsure I had heard her right. “What did you say?”

“You fucked Gabriella! Don’t act all innocent. She told me all about it just days after it had happened while we were still in Australia last year. You think that was fun for me? Having one of your fuck buddies tell me the details?” Her phone was clenched in her hand, but she used it as a missile and threw it at my head. “So you can get over Axton because I had to get over Gabriella.”

She walked away from me, tears still pouring down her face while I just stood there. Too stunned to do more than stare after her. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about and it only made my head hurt to try and comprehend it all.

Sex with Gabriella? Had she lost her mind? I didn’t even like the little Italian spitfire. Sure she was hot, smoking hot at that. But Axton had hooked up with Gabriella not long into the tour and that had meant hands off in my book. Not that I would have touched her if they hadn’t. By that time Emmie had invaded my head to the point that I couldn’t think straight, and the few girls I had been messing around with had reminded me of her.

“Well that explains a lot,” Jesse muttered.

Drake groaned and turned over on his lounger. “I’m surprised that Em didn’t scratch her eyes out when Gabriella told her that.”

I glared at my two friends. “Did she really just accuse me of sleeping with Brie?”

Jesse sighed. “Dude, if you want to keep your man parts, I suggest you drop the little nickname that Ax gave Gabriella. That isn’t going to win you any points with Em. And to answer your question, yes. I had suspected something like this at the time, but Emmie would never tell me for sure or not.”

“There was a rumor going around that you had bagged the little Italian.” Drake shrugged, reaching for his half empty bottle of Jack Daniels that was sitting on the deck beside his chair. “I didn’t pay any attention at the time, what with her being with Axton.”

I groaned. “So she really does think I slept with Br—Gabriella?”

“You mean you didn’t?” Drake questioned, taking a pull from his bottle.

“No!”

“Dude, chill out. I believe you.” Drake grimaced. “It’s Emmie you have to convince.”

It seemed like all I was doing was cursing as I threw a few more at my friends and headed into the house after Emmie. Of course she had locked herself in our bedroom. I stood there glaring at the offending door that stood between me and the woman I loved. It might as well have been a thousand foot wall because until Emmie was ready, I wasn’t going to get through it.

I tapped lightly and like I had expected, I didn’t get a response. “I love you, Emmie,” I called to her. I waited in vain for her to scream at me through the door, anything. Nothing came and I reluctantly left her.

Why had Gabriella lied to Emmie about the two of us having sex? Had it been because Gabriella sensed what I had always sensed? That Axton Cage was half in love with Emmie? I had suspected it for years, and it wasn’t just my imagination. When I had been so jealous of Jesse, part of me had known that it was just my possessiveness and jealousy rearing its ugly head. But with Axton there was definitely something there.

I couldn’t really blame the man for having feelings for her. Not really. Emmie was amazing. She was strong and brave. She had her head on straighter than most women twice her age. She was sassy and feisty and so, so very beautiful.

There wasn’t any other reason I could think of that Gabriella could have had to fill Emmie’s head with lies. But whatever her reason, that didn’t mean I could condone them. Her toxic lies had poisoned my relationship with Emmie and I hadn’t even known.

Grimacing, I stomped back downstairs and out onto the deck where Drake and Jesse were still seated, quietly watching the water hitting the beach and rolling back out. I had left my phone out here so I snatched it up and pulled up my contacts. Axton’s information was near the top and I hit connect.

It rang three times before my friend answered. “Still pissed at me?” He sounded amused but I could tell that he really was upset.

“We need to talk, Ax.”

“Is this about me coming out there in a few days?”

“Yes. No… No, this isn’t about you coming. Actually, it would be better if you came today.” I was pretty sure that Axton’s presence was the only thing that was going to help me convince Em that Gabriella and I had never happened.

“Ah, does Nikki miss me that much?” Axton taunted, laughing. “Sure, man, I’ll grab the first flight out.”