Ollie walked closer to me and Cole, and my heart felt like it had wings of a hummingbird. His eyes were set on Cole with a loathing inside of them that I’d never seen from him before. He looked a lot like his older brother at that moment. “The better question is…” He got even closer to me, so close I could smell his cologne, his blue eyes growing a shade darker. “What the hell are you doing here…with him?”
I was too baffled to answer him, too caught up in being so close to him—so close that I felt his body heat—to come up with a reasonable answer. I couldn’t tell him the truth, and now, to make matters worse, I had to figure out a way to find this Tank guy without Ollie butting into my business. Lovely.
“I recognize you.” Cole stepped closer to me, and now I felt like I was the red flag between two bulls. Ollie didn’t take his eyes off mine; his tall stance loomed over me like a nightmare in a pitch-black room. I swallowed as Cole’s arm brushed along mine. “Is this him, Piper?”
“Wh-what?” I asked, continuing to stare up into Ollie’s eyes. His breath was coming out warm and heavy, brushing over my face. I felt Cole’s hand slide around my bicep, and before I could do anything, he snatched me over to his body, leaned me back, and placed a wet kiss on my mouth. His tongue plunged into mine, and I froze. Bile was rising up in my throat, and I couldn’t figure out if it was because I was getting kissed by Cole in front of Ollie, just getting kissed by Cole in general, or if it was because I was about to meet with a drug dealer who’d beaten my brother senseless and threatened to kill him the night before.
Cole’s tongue swiped over mine once more before I finally unfroze and pushed him off. He went willingly with a smirk plastered to his face when he’d stood up straight. “What the hell, Cole?” I yelled, taking a step back from not only Cole, but also Ollie. I need air.
“You’ve got about two fucking seconds to get the fuck out of here before I rip that grin off your face.” Ollie’s voice was rough, as if he had reached down, grabbed a handful of gravel, and swallowed the pebbles before speaking.
Cole’s smile grew even wider, his white teeth shining behind a glimmer of mischief. “Oh now, there there, little Powell brother...I’m just giving you some payback for that one night you and your psycho brother decided to crash Andrew’s.” Cole swung his gaze lazily from Ollie to me and then back to Ollie. “Do you remember that night? The night your brother nearly put me in the hospital for a rumor his ex-girlfriend made up?” Cole’s face was becoming darker, a red tint forming on his neck and cheeks. “I should beat your fucking ass right now, pussy.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I do not have time for this.
Ollie seemed calmer, but I could still sense anger boiling under his skin. “From what I just witnessed, it doesn’t look like my brother beat you up for a rumor. I hear things about you, Cole. Oh, and…” Ollie chuckled, looking down at the grass below our feet for a moment. “I wouldn’t be too keen on spreading that around. It makes you look like the pussy. I don’t even think you got one hit in that night.” Ollie’s laughter filled the air, and for a moment, it made me pause as warmth washed over me, but then I looked past his body and saw a large crowd of people and remembered what I was doing.
Cole took a step closer to Ollie as I took another step away. “I’m not a fucking pussy. I was blind-sided. Pretty unfair, if you ask me. Your brother all but attacked me from behind.”
My foot stepped to the left just as Ollie was about to say something back to Cole, but instead, his head flicked over to me at the last second. I jumped like I was caught doing something I shouldn’t. “Where do you think you’re going?”
A twinge of anger was meddling in with my anxiety as I squared my shoulders. “Away from this pissing contest.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Piper?” Ollie’s square jaw was tight as he waited for my answer. He stood half in front of Cole, like he wasn’t sure if he should protect me from him or not. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure either.
“I’d kind of like to know the same thing.” Cole turned his body around and was now standing beside Ollie. Both of them were staring at me intently, like they were about to gang up on me.
This was such a terrible idea. I should have just paid for an Uber instead of asking Cole for a ride. The wad of cash I had in my pocket was burning a hole in my conscience, and if I didn’t do something about it soon, I wasn’t really sure what would happen. What if I didn’t help my brother? Was he being serious? They wouldn’t kill him. Would they? Cole and Ollie began arguing about me again as I stood and contemplated what to do next. My brother’s sad face flashed behind my eyes, and unknowingly, I began walking past Ollie and Cole.
I had to do something to help my brother.
My conscience might be slightly ruined by enabling my brother, but it would be downright destroyed if I didn’t help him.
Chapter Four
Ollie
I wasn’t an angry person by nature. Anger wasn’t one of those emotions I was so in tune with that it didn’t even phase me when I felt it. No, I knew when I
was angry because every single nerve ending in my body sparked with a raging flame. And I was on fucking fire when I saw Piper walking along the high grass, mainly because I was pissed she was in my secret hide-out. But then I saw who she was with, and I was pretty sure I turned into the raging devil himself.
I walked up to the pair of them, telling myself to stay calm because what I wanted to do was grab her by the arm and snatch her away. But I was a level-headed guy. I thought about my actions, and I wasn’t sure what was worse: knowing you were doing the wrong thing and still going through with it, or blaming it on being blinded by irrational behavior and losing your self-control. Either way, when Cole kissed Piper, I thought I’d never be able to breathe again. The rational part of my brain that I was so keen on keeping alive disappeared. I wanted to kill him.
Maybe it was because I wasn’t used to seeing Piper with anyone else because—let’s be frank—I’d sent out a massive ban over her months ago. Any guy that sent even the slightest compliment her way had a loathing look coming from me. It wasn’t fair, I knew that much. Piper wasn’t mine to play around with, yet something inside of me grew twisted, and my thoughts became fuzzy and distorted where she was involved. I didn’t act like myself. I was on edge, and I desperately tried to cover it up with this side of myself that I didn’t like to visit often, but here I was, ready to rip Cole’s head off for even breathing in her direction.
Speaking of… I moved my body over to the left to give Piper another what-the-fuck-are-you-doing-with-him look, and I was met with the line of trees and a fading sunset. I moved over to the right, around Cole still running his mouth, and she wasn’t there either. I quickly spun around, and my arms dropped to my side.
God damnit.
“What the fuck did she say when she brought you out here?” I quickly turned around and faced Cole again.
His I-eat-crayons face was flabbergasted for a moment before he recovered, realizing that Piper slipped out from our presence the second he started running his chops again. “Fuck, nothing, really. I thought she wanted to fu—”
I growled, interrupting him. “I’m trying to help you out here. Don’t finish that fucking sentence.”
Cole looked as if he were about to start his shit up again, but he refrained, sighing. “She texted me for a ride. That was it, really. Very cryptic, that one.”
A heavy sigh left me as I turned on my heel and started to follow after Piper. Her tight ass was swaying in her skinny jeans, and her copper hair was brushing back and forth along her shoulders. I didn’t see her in skinny jeans often. It was usually her long, lean legs in her plaid skirt at school that I was used to, and I had to admit, this look was really workin’ for her. Which was exactly why I was all but running to catch up to her. Every guy at the race was going to be falling over his own feet to get her attention, and I couldn’t have that. Most of these guys were scum.