“I’m doing exactly what you did to me, asshole.” Michael settled his big body on the seat, slamming the door. “You pulled me into this situation. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want the damn responsibility, which is precisely why I stayed away from her. But now I’m here and I have to be the reasonable adult, and that means getting into this Jeep to talk some sense into you, and I don’t like it at all. In fact, I’m pretty pissed about it.”
“Then feel free to get the fuck out.” He was pretty pissed about everything.
“I can’t, you asshole,” Michael replied with the huff Ty had started to understand meant he was resigned to something. “You brought me into this, and now I realize why you and Lucy haven’t gotten together.”
“I’m sure it’s because I’m not half the man you are.”
“No, it’s because the two of you don’t fucking communicate for shit. I thought it was fine, Ty. I thought it would be fine to kiss her. I didn’t realize you had some rule against how she and I should act when you aren’t around. I needed clear guidelines because I thought my relationship with Lucy was controlled by me and not by you.”
Ty sat back because put like that he did sound like a petulant child. “I didn’t mean to try to control anything.”
Michael was quiet for a moment as though he was trying to figure something out. “I don’t know if you’re lying to me or yourself.”
That was a good question, and one he should be honest about. He was good at one, not so great with the other. “Probably both.”
Michael pointed a finger his way. “And now we’re somehow both in trouble with Lucy and my coat is in that cabin and I’m fucking cold and it’s fucking your fault.”
A sense of dread was starting to replace the righteous anger he’d felt. Had he been wrong? He’d seen what was going on and hadn’t bothered to ask why they’d been doing what they were doing. What would he have done if he’d been the one alone with Lucy and he’d had the chance to kiss her? Would he have stopped and said hell no, honey, we have to wait for Michael? We have to make sure we each get equal time with you. If I touch your boobs, you have to let Michael touch them, too.
How had he thought this would work?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how it would feel when I saw you with her. I thought I could handle it,” Ty said quietly.
Michael groaned, and his head fell back against the seat. He did that huffing thing that made Ty wonder if he was thinking about punching someone—usually him.
“I could go and knock on the door and ask for your coat,” Ty offered.
All he got for the offer was a grunt.
“Man, I don’t speak your language yet. I’m going to need more than a huff or a grunt because all I pretty much get from those sounds are that you’re pissed at me.”
“Good. Then you’re learning. And you can turn on the heater because I’m still freezing.”
There was a knock on the window and Ty damn near jumped out of his skin. He turned and Jax was standing there, Michael’s coat in his hand. At least that solved one problem. He rolled the window down and held a hand out.
“Lucy wanted me to bring this out here,” Jax explained.
He gripped Michael’s coat and passed it over. Now the other man could leave him alone to his misery. He could get in that SUV of his and head back to his shitty place on the mountain and he and Lucy could start over without him tomorrow. “Thanks. Sorry for wrecking the homecoming.”
Jax grinned. “Hell, no. It was a very Bliss way to come home. And now I’ve got pizza.”
It was okay since he wasn’t hungry anymore. Why wasn’t Michael moving? He kept his attention on Jax because there were still some problems he hadn’t considered at all. “Are you going to let Lucy stay in the guest room tonight? She doesn’t have anywhere to go.” He looked Michael’s way. “Unless you were planning to take her back to your place.”
“Ty, I don’t want to go back to my place,” Michael shot back. He’d covered his torso with his coat like it was a blanket. “I told you it’s fucking cold and now I’m hungry and that dude’s going to eat my dinner.”
Jax gave him a thumbs-up. “I am. It smells delicious, and aren’t you the survivalist guy? Shouldn’t you forage or find something to kill and eat?”
“He’s not a survivalist.” Apparently Jax hadn’t spent a lot of time with Michael during his brief stay here.
“Then why would he live in that rattrap?” Jax asked. “It’s cold as hell and that place doesn’t have heat, from what I heard. I thought he was probably writing about how to survive or maybe he was trying to stay off the grid for some reason. You know you can be off the grid and still have heat.”