Page 173 of The Blocks We Make
“Okay, Mr. Philosopher,” someone mutters. “What changed?”
Greer glances around the room, like he’s enjoying the attention more than the question itself.
“I wanted to be closer to my fiancée.”
There’s a second where nobody reacts because it takes a second to register.
“Fiancée?” Talon echoes.
“Yeah,” Greer says casually. “The whole long-distance thing wasn’t working. I wanted to be closer to her.”
“All right. Well, now you have to tell us who,” Kade says. “You don’t get to drop that and just—”
Greer’s mouth curves like he’s enjoying this part.
“Atlee Rowden.”
The room doesn’t explode, but the air shifts immediately. I can feel every set of eyes slide from him to me. I’m halfway out of my gear, bent over my stall when I stop.
“Rowden?” someone repeats. “As in—”
“The fuck you just say?” I straighten, shoving my gloves on the bench.
The tension in the room turns sharp fast. Questions start firing from every direction—half of them some version ofRowdy’s sisterandholy shit.
“What? You didn’t know?” Greer asks.
I don’t answer him. I step forward before I’ve fully thought through my next steps and shove him back.
He goes back hard, slamming into the stall behind him when I swing and land a punch against his jaw.
There’s no way this smug motherfucker is engaged to my sister and shows up here dropping a bomb like it’s nothing.
There’s no way I’d let this prick anywhere near my sister.
“Coop—”
“Whoa, whoa—”
Hands grab at my arms, pulling me away. Talon and Kade step between us, and I stand there, staring at him.
Greer pushes himself back up, using the back of his hand to wipe the blood dripping from his lip with a smile.
He doesn’t look pissed or embarrassed. The asshole just has the nerve to laugh.
Like this is exactly the reaction he expected.
And standing there watching him, something settles low in my gut.
Because if Macklin Greer came to Rixton for my sister… then this season just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
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