Page 41 of Anger Bang
“East Coast or West?”
“East.” She put her hands on top of his, stilling them. They were about to hit the point of no return, and she had to try one last time, because this man deserved the peace that was so obviously eluding him. “If your mom came all the way out to Colter’s Hell, don’t you think maybe you should at least hear her out? I’m not saying take her out for a belated Mother’s Day dinner, but fifteen minutes to listen with an open mind? See what she has to say?”
“No,” he said, the curt tone of his voice ending the conversation.
Thea let out a frustrated huff. “You’re the most stubborn person I know.”
“As a fellow East Coaster, I’m gonna take that as a point of pride.”
Her brain automatically wanted to ask where. The questions came into her head almost as fast as her pulse picked up with excitement. He’d mentioned being an Ice Knights fan—was he close enough to Harbor City that she could fly out to see him or he could come to see her? Was it within driving distance? Was there a chance that maybe this could last beyond the next few days?
“City or small town?” she asked before any of the other questions could slip out first.
He slid his hand down her abdomen, his fingers spread wide as he went south at his usual torturous pace that had her spreading her legs years before he got down to the top of her already wet core and stopped tantalizingly short of her clit.
“I live in a midcentury fixer-upper outside of a city with my dog and a trio of feral cats who seem to show up on my back porch every morning while I’m having coffee.”
“So you feed them,” she teased.
He kissed her shoulder, somehow making it into one of her top five erogenous zones. “Just some leftovers when I have them.”
“Which is every morning?” she teased again.
“Brat,” he said as he cleared the last inch to her clit, circling the sensitive nub with his fingertip.
After that, there wasn’t any more talking.
Chapter Seventeen
Kade should have stayed in bed with a naked Thea.
But like an asshole, he’d left her there and had shown up on time to the groom’s lunch that was being held in a small barn near the skeet shooting range. That’s when he’d found out he’d been sandbagged. Instead of the groomsmen sitting with Dex at the table loaded down with burgers and fries, it was their mom.
Oh, and a whole camera crew that were already rolling, catching his every reaction as realization struck.
Kade jerked to a stop inside the door, his guts churning and bile coating the back of his tongue with its foul taste, and looked from a determined-looking Dex to a nervous-looking mom, who had her arms wrapped around her middle. He had half a heartbeat when he felt bad about that, but then almost two decades of resentment went off like cherry bombs in his chest.
Ignoring his mom, he focused all of his fury on his brother, who fucking knew better.
“Are you kidding me with this?” He ground out each word through clenched teeth.
“No,” Dex shot back, the level of pissed off in his tone nearly matching Kade’s. “It’s beyond time you two finally worked this shit out.”
“I didn’t know about this, either. I just thought I was coming to lunch,” his mom said, her voice soft but sure as she stepped between the brothers as if her presence could possibly lessen the tension. “It seems like a good idea, though.”
Kade barked out a laugh.Shethought it was a good idea. Well, she also thought abandoning her family was a good idea, so he’d withhold judgment on that one.
One of the cameramen sneezed, yanking Kade’s attention off his family. Usually there was just one cameraperson and a production assistant filming. But there were two camerapeople, three assistants, and the producer, Justine, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, since they were all squeezed into the same small space. That’s when it all made sense to him, and his whole body went ice cold with the knowledge. He knew why Dex was doing this ridiculous wedding. But why their mom had shown up had escaped him. Until now.
He turned his frigid gaze on his mom. “Yeah, I imagine that’ll make for great TV. Everyone loves a redemption arc. It doesn’t get better than being at the center of that, huh, Mom?” His attention ping-ponged over to his brother. “And the ratings? Through the roof. Perfect for someone willing to do whatever it takes—including getting married—to get as many people as possible to watch his show and get his movie distributed.”
“Fuck you, Kade,” Dex said, his hands fisted at his sides. “You don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about.”
There was only one thing he could do in reaction to that kind of bullshit. He threw back his head and laughed.
“So you love Jackie Pope?” He wiped away pretend tears of amusement, dialing up the asshole factor to a million. “You actually want to be married to a woman who treats her own sister like the shit on the bottom of her shoe?”
Dex had the decency to drop his gaze to the floor and look embarrassed. “We’ve talked about that. Jackie’s got pressures of her own, obligations.”
