“Oh, fuck,” Natalie muttered under her breath, but she was standing so close I was able to catch it. I glanced at her, curious as to what had made her sound so stressed all of a sudden. She was looking at something past my shoulder too, and inquisitively I followed her gaze.

My heart completely stopped at the sight of the man standing just a few feet behind me. Damn it, why did he have to look so good? His jeans hung off his narrow waist, his shirt molded across a hard chest and sculpted abdomen. His hair was a little messy, as if he had been running his fingers through it… But it was his eyes, those espresso dark eyes that made me jerk back.

They were blazing with a rage that left me breathless. His gaze was locked onto Rhett as if he wanted to break every bone in his body. I had little hope that that wasn’t the case. Jealously, pure and simple, was radiating through his rage, and I had two thoughts.

One, that I needed to save my friend from a date with death. And two…? That I wanted to kick Wroth Niall’s ass because he had no right to be jealous of anyone I was or wasn’t having a relationship with because he had lost all privileges to me and my life when he had cheated on me.

A growl came from Wroth and he took a step closer to me and Rhett. I started to get in between the two men when Linc and Natalie each took a hold of Rhett’s arms. “I’m hungry, Rhett.” Natalie told him with a beaming smile that almost hid her trepidation. “How about coming and eating with me? The buffet looks delicious.”

Rhett pulled his arm free from Natalie only to wrap it around her shoulders as they walked off, Linc standing behind the two as the three of them walked off. I breathed a sigh of relief as they got out of harm’s way, knowing that Wroth wouldn’t have thought twice about killing someone when it came to me…

It was just too bad he hadn’t thought about that when he broke my heart last year.

Wroth

I’d been glued to my seat when Luca had pulled Marissa’s top down, exposing those perfect tits to my eyes. Of course it had been to the eyes of every other fucker in the room as well. But I hadn’t really thought too hard about that as I’d watched her work her clothes free of the little dude and pull her top up. I had even had a small grin on my face as Layla had walked by me, still gently scolding her son for being naughty.

That grin had completely disappeared as the lead singer for Trance, one of the two bands that were opening for us this summer, joined Marissa’s small group. The way Marissa’s blue eyes had lit up at the sight of the guy had been like a kick to my chest, knocking all the breath from my lungs as a mixture of emotions had started to simmer in my gut. But I’d locked my jaw and tried to get control of myself, thinking that I had no reason to feel the way I currently was from just a look in Marissa’s eyes.

And then she had walked right into that douchebag’s arms and kissed his cheek. Still nothing to worry about, I’d told myself as I’d taken a swallow of my iced tea making sure that I got a few ice cubes in the process. It was when that creep had turned his head and kissed My. Fucking. Girl. That wasn’t when the rage had boiled over and I’d gotten to my feet. No, that had come when he had slapped her on the ass. That was when I’d seen red.

I’d taken slow steps toward the growing group, afraid I might destroy the entire room if I didn’t walk slowly. With each step, my hands clenched into fists and then relaxed. My voice of reason was trying to calm me down, tell me that it had looked like an innocent enough kiss. There had been no lingering touches, their lips had been closed. Marissa hadn’t clung to the guy. All of those things were in Rhett’s favor.

By the time I got to Marissa’s group she’d been joined by her brother and Linc. I liked Linc. It had made me sleep just a little easier at night knowing that that big muscle-headed fucker was watching over my Marissa. I was actually seeing a little more clearly by the time I stopped just a few feet behind Marissa…

“Wanna share a roost?” Marissa asked Rhett as she looked seductively up at the motherfucker.

My rage went from a low simmer to boiling over and catching fire. My voice of reason had been replaced with a voice that was shouting at me to kill. Kill. Kill that fucking bastard. Marissa was not one to openly flirt with a man. She did not tease or play sexual games with people. She was sweet, innocent. Pure. That she was doing the exact opposite with Rhett told me that Marissa was either sleeping with that dickhead or wasn’t far from doing so.

And. I. Was. Going. To. Fucking. Destroy. Him.

“Back up, Wroth.” Liam’s voice broke through the white noise that was like static in my brain, torturing me until I destroyed Trance’s lead singer. There was something dangerous in my cousin’s voice and I turned my head so I could focus on the man.

The personal training had paid off, because Liam was twice the size he had been on Valentine’s Day when I’d seen him last. Linc’s hard workout regimen was keeping my cousin and bandmate clean so I would be eternally grateful for Linc. I loved Liam like a brother.

But that wasn’t going to save him if he got in my way right now.

“What did you say?” I murmured.

“I said, back the fuck up. The room is full of little kids and every one of their fathers will hold you down and destroy you if you start a fight in front of their kids.” His words made me able to rein in most of my control, but I still had murder on my mind. It wasn’t the first time I’d killed a man, but it would be the first time I’d have done it with pleasure. Liam’s next words, however, cooled my rage to a small simmer. “And you don’t want to chance Marissa getting hurt, do you?”

My eyes snapped back to Marissa who was standing just a few feet away. I could reach out and pull her into my arms, hold her for the first time in a million years. I wanted to do it so fucking bad. But the way she was standing there, glaring at me with her own rage making her glorious body tremble, I knew that she would probably be the one to commit murder if I touched her.

“Mari…” She flinched at my use of the name only I have ever used. The sight of that flinch was like swallowing a glass of bleach, the effects were the same. My gut twisted in pain and my insides started to burn with poison. I cleared my throat because it was suddenly clogged with emotion. “Can we talk?”

“I have nothing to say to you.” She clenched her hands into fists, and I wondered if she was imagining pounding them against my chest or maybe knocking my lights out with a punch to the jaw. I deserved both from her and would have welcomed the punishment if it meant that she would have forgiven me. “Except to tell you to stay the hell away from me.”