He fucking hated having to always be the bad guy.
A minute later, JJ stormed out of the house and Brantley’s first thought was: would she be coming to work tomorrow?
He was a truly shitty friend.
***
When JJ left Brantley’s house, her entire world had been encased in a red haze. Everywhere she looked, the red film of anger clouded her vision. Still did as she pulled into her driveway.
How could Dante do this to her? He was the one who had pursued her, and despite her reluctance, he was the one who had insisted on exclusivity. She hadn’t wanted any of this.
He was such a fucking asshole.
Storming into her house, she threw her purse and keys on the coffee table, marched into the kitchen. She flung open the refrigerator, stared inside. She had no idea what she was looking for, but was certain something would ease the fiery anger that blazed through her. Wine, beer, whiskey. Something.
Only she didn’t want to get drunk. It never turned out well for her. She and booze were a toxic combination.
She would be the first to admit she had a temper. It was something that Dante had always been able to incite in her. And she suspected he did it on purpose. Back when they’d dated in high school, she’d been angry all the time. Back then, her anger had been joined by a need to hurt someone. She could still remember the night the shit had hit the fan with Dante. She’d been so pissed that he was cheating, JJ had lost complete control. Whaling on him had been the answer and it resulted in her getting a black eye. To his credit, Dante hadn’t hit her. It had been an honest accident, something she had pretty much done to herself. He’d gotten shit for it from everyone, and at the time, JJ hadn’t cared.
The shithead.
Of course, that had been the very last time she had ever hit anyone. She’d been so overcome with remorse, confused by how she could do such a thing. To a degree, she figured she had deserved the black eye she had sported for a week and a half. Then they had gone their separate ways.
Years later, Dante would come back into her life, requesting her help with his work. JJ had figured she owed him for that little outburst. Having intended only to help him the one time, she was still confused how she had allowed that to continue. How she had even started considering dating Dante on a permanent basis.
What she didn’t understand was why Dante insisted on chasing her when he clearly wanted to be with other women. They’d been doing fine these past few months. Sex, nothing more. Casual encounters, no entanglements. But he could never let it go, always claiming he wanted more. And when she’d stopped fighting…
The fucker.
JJ slammed the refrigerator shut, marched across the kitchen. She pivoted at the back door, headed the opposite direction, then continued. Again and again, she paced the length of her kitchen, hoping it would settle her.
It didn’t.
Although she would prefer simply never talking to Dante again, she knew she had to confront him. Otherwise, he would continue to pretend nothing had happened. After all, she had talked to him last night and he hadn’t bothered to mention he’d brought his slutty assistant to Moonshiners and gotten into an altercation with Brantley. No, he had conveniently left that part out.
The bastard.
Grabbing her phone, JJ resumed her pacing, tried to relax her shoulders and breathe. She couldn’t call him in this state; it wouldn’t do any good. She needed to calm down.
In the grand scheme of things, Dante didn’t matter to her. She had known all along that this thing between them wasn’t going anywhere. He was a means of passing the time. Her in-between. JJ had always figured she could use him until she found someone better. After all, that was what he was doing to her.
However, she was not going to fuck him while he was parading other women around. If he wanted to be discreet, more power to him.
But he’d fucked up by trying to make this serious between them.
Finally calm enough to dial, she pulled up Dante’s contact information, hit the button to place the call.
“Hey,” he greeted.
It was then she realized he was hesitant, the same as he’d been last night when he called. Dante wasn’t sure if she knew and he was preparing for her wrath.
The dickhead.
“Is there somethin’ you wanna tell me?” she asked by way of greeting.
“I’m sorry.”
Great, now he had that haughty air he took on when he knew she was upset.
“It’s been brought to my attention you’re spendin’ quite a bit of time with your new assistant.”
“Who told you that?”
“Come on, Dante. Don’t be a douche. You brought her to Coyote Ridge. Surely you expected me to find out. Otherwise, why bring her here? You’ve got no business in Coyote Ridge.”
