Hand outstretched, Eric stepped forward. “Pat—”
“I don’t want to hear a single thing from you.” Beneath his faded black shirt, Pat’s shoulders heaved. “Not a single damn thing ever again.”
Mouth hanging open, Vaughan didn’t seem to know where to look. All of his family and friends gathered around him and now this. What should have been a positive experience had hit the wall.
“I trusted you,” snarled Pat. “I trusted both of you.”
“Enough,” said Vaughan, shoving a hand through his hair, obviously struggling. “Leave, Eric. Now.”
“Christ.” Eric hung his head, giving a harsh laugh. “I came here to smooth things over with you. To bury the hatchet. This is such bullshit.”
“Man, c’mon.” Joe grabbed at Eric’s shoulder, but he shook it off.
“Bullshit is it?” Pat took a step forward. “You fuck my wife and that’s bullshit?”
“You know what I don’t get,” said Eric. “You walked out on her, man. So why are you so bitter about this? Got some regrets, Pat?”
“Stop it.” Nell groaned, tears coursing down her face.
“She wasn’t your wife,” continued Eric as if he hadn’t heard. “You heard her. You two had been separated for ages. It isn’t like you’ve been waiting for the divorce to come through before moving on, is it? More like making up for lost time if you ask me.”
“Both of you assholes, shut up now,” yelled Vaughan. “You don’t make my sister cry. Not here, not in this house.”
Lip curled, Pat glared at Eric. Neither of them moving.
Vaughan took a deep breath, visibly reaching for calm. “I think it’d be best for now if both of you left.”
A sobbing sound came from Nell and she turned her face away, obviously distraught. Funnily enough, the fury in Pat’s eyes faded when he saw her in that state. But I don’t think Eric noticed at all, cruel gaze and handsome face warped with anger.
“You know, Pat, I thought you were crazy sticking with the one woman all these years,” said Eric, holding his face up. His smile was more of a sneer. “But now I understand. Fuck me, if Nell isn’t the hottest piece of—”
With a roar, Vaughan suddenly launched himself at the man. Fists flew, sickening thuds. “You don’t talk about her that way!”
Feet kicking, voices shouting, wood splintering as the coffee table exploded beneath the brawling men. Things moved impossibly fast. Someone was screaming. Nell, I think. It was all too much for my drunk dazed mind to comprehend.
Rosie grabbed my arm, hauling me as best she could over the back of the couch. I scrambled to keep up. To get to safety. The two men were like a hurricane, destroying everything in their path. Warm blood splattered my face, then I was up and over, falling onto the floor, crawling away to stand by Nell.
Both Joe and Pat entered the fray. I think Joe tried to tear the men apart, but Pat seemed to have lost his senses. While trying to land a punch on Eric, he clipped Joe’s arm. Joe defended his brother. Of course he did. The couch was shoved back, sliding toward us. I put out my hands, pushing back before it made impact. Rosie grabbed Nell’s arm, dragging her into the hallway.
Fuck. I’d never seen a fight before. Not like this.
I wanted to heave. And Vaughan was in there, caught up in that mess. The thought of him getting hurt made me want to do something extreme. God knows, he’d stood up for me more than once.
“Don’t,” said Andre, pulling me farther back before I could do something stupid. Probably unnecessary, my feet were stuck, frozen. The rest of my body was pretty much stuck too, deep in shock.
On the floor, the four men fought it out. I could only see blood and violence, Vaughan and Eric still struggling on the floor. In the hallway, Nell gave into the impulse to puke. The sound and smell made me swallow hard. I took deep breaths.
Time seemed to be messed up. Because it didn’t feel like that long until I heard sirens fill the air.
“Thank god,” I said, sagging against Andre.
His arm tightened around my waist, his head leaning against mine. It wasn’t sexual in the least. We both needed the comfort.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “They’ve all been friends for a long time. They’ll work it out.”
“You really believe that?”
He puffed out a breath. “No.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I stood at the foot of Vaughan’s bed, slowly looking the half-naked man over. Moonlight shone through the open window, a summer breeze toying with the curtain. The things he did to me. All the emotions and effects of just being near him. Crazy. It was crazy.