“Why?”
“Because,” he yelled and commenced to lean solidly on the down button.
Myrna gathered him into her arms, and he stopped harassing the elevator.
“You don’t hate her,” Myrna said.
“I do.”
“No, you hate that she turned one of your best friends into a pussy-whipped douche.”
He almost chuckled. It came out more like an exasperated gasp.
Myrna squeezed him, and he relaxed slightly. He knew he’d gotten himself overly aggravated on purpose; it was a whole lot easier to focus on hating Jessica than on loving Trey. Brian would never play the guitar again if they lost that ornery little shit. No one would be able to replace Trey in Brian’s life or his career. No one.
“Take a deep breath and let it go,” Myrna said. “You’re not going to change Sed’s mind about her. If they’re right for each other, you’re going to have get used to her and if they’re wrong for each other, they have to figure that out on their own.”
“I know,” he said. “I just can’t deal with it on top of everything else.”
“We’ll sort it out when Trey’s better.”
He knew she was right. He needed to focus on the more important tragedy in his life. And when Myrna kissed him, he was sure he could let go of his disapproval of the romantic relationship between a rather large douche and the pussy that whipped him. At least he thought so until Sed stepped up beside him with the woman in question hiding behind his broad back.
“Hey,” Sed said.
“Hey,” Brian answered, and it would have stopped at that if Sed hadn’t been dumb enough to talk about what was bothering Brian.
Brian’s heated and loud argument with Sed escalated quickly. The idiot couldn’t see what a blight Jessica was on everyone’s life, not just his own. When the elevator finally arrived, Myrna shoved him inside with Sed and said, “We’ll meet you at the bottom. You two have a little talk. Or slug it out. Whatever.”
Oh, they were going to have it out. Minimal talking, maximum slugging.
“How could you take her back?” Brian yelled at Sed. “Do you realize how much shit you put me through while you were trying to get over her?”
“Is it my fault your chicks like to fuck me better than they do you?”
Perhaps he should have been grateful that Sed knew how to push his buttons. He’d needed to explode, and Sed had just pulled his trigger. Brian punched Sed in the jaw, his knuckles protesting the force of the blow. Sed hit the back of the elevator car and then launched himself at Brian just as the elevator doors slid shut. Sed popped him a good one in the mouth, and Brian let loose all the fury that had been building inside him since his honeymoon had been so unceremoniously interrupted by the jackass and his trophy stripper. Brian was completely winded by the time he realized how one-sided the fight had become. Sed was far larger and a much more experienced brawler than he was, so why was he landing two or three punches for every one of Sed’s? His anger spent, Brian took a step back and glared up at Sed, breathing hard and clenching his fists.
“Feel better?” Sed asked before he tongued at the blood on his split lip.
“I won’t feel better until you dump that fucking bitch.”
Sed wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “You’re going to live a miserable life then, my friend.”
If Sed kept Jessica around, that would make two of them. Or rather as soon as she up and left him again, Sed would back to his miserable ways. She’d dumped him once over money—did he really think the money-grubbing bitch had changed so much in two years? Brian closed his eyes and let out an exasperated huff.
“If you need to punch me some more, you better get on with it,” Sed said. “We’re almost to the lobby.”
Brian laughed and scrub the tension out of his forehead with his palms. “Fuck, Sed. You’re an idiot around that woman. Don’t you recognize that?”
“Yeah. But does it change how I feel about her?” He shook his head. “Not one bit.”
Maybe seeing her in a different light would change his mind. “If it wasn’t for her, Trey wouldn’t have been injured. He could have died. He could still die.”
Sed lowered his gaze and shook his head. “If you’re going to blame someone for what happened to Trey, blame me. She didn’t ask me to grab her off that stage.” He chuckled and rubbed his jaw. “In fact, she was pretty pissed off about it.”
“So pissed off she landed on her back with you between her legs?”
Sed scowled. “I know you’re upset, but watch your fucking mouth. I won’t let you talk about her that way.”
The elevator dinged as they reached the ground floor. Brian stumbled as a pair of hands reached into the car, grabbed him by the shirt, and slammed him face down on the hard tile floor.
“Whoa,” Sed said. “Easy with the guy’s junk. He has a new wife to bone tonight.”
Brian doubted he’d be doing very little boning for the rest of the night, but he did appreciate Sed’s concern for the well-being of his junk. He wouldn’t mind equal concern for his chest and face.
“Hospital security. We saw the pair of you fighting in the elevator,” a voice said from somewhere above where Brian lay sprawled with a sharp knee in the center of his back.
“We’re friends,” Sed assured the guard. Somehow he’d avoided getting forced to the ground. Maybe the pair of guards didn’t think they could take him on. “Just needed to work out a bit of tension between us. We’re good now. Right, Brian?”