“How’re you?” he asked, moving up close to her. That was when the warning bells began to reverberate in her head.
“Good,” she answered, glancing over at Sawyer, who was now engrossed in a conversation with some woman who was practically climbing his body. Jared seemed to have escaped. Lucky him.
“Can I get you a drink?”
Jessie stared at him in utter disbelief. And that’s when she realized what he was doing.
“No,” she said through clenched teeth. “You can’t.”
Brendon’s eyebrows rose.
“I’m not playing this game with you, Brendon. I can’t believe you’d even stoop that low.”
Jessie wasn’t naive. She knew good and damn well that Brendon was using her to make Cheyenne jealous. She doubted it would work in the first place, but God, the feeling sucked.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, but Jessie knew he caught her meaning.
“You can’t stand to look at me until you need someone to help you make her jealous.”
Brendon glanced over his shoulder, proving right then that she had nailed his motive.
“If you wanna buy someone a drink, you should try her. Ugghhh!” she growled and pushed past him. Jessie couldn’t believe the audacity he had. He couldn’t so much as talk to her, couldn’t give her enough respect to try to talk about what had happened between the three of them or even to tell her that he hoped they could be friends. But he could try to manipulate her to get what he wanted.
What in the hell had this woman done to him that would make him stoop so fucking low?
Jessie knew Brendon. He didn’t have a vindictive bone in his entire body. Sure, he was aloof and a little rough around the edges—unlike Braydon. But he wasn’t a womanizer. Yet he—
“Are you okay?”
Jessie stopped trying to push through the crowd when she heard Braydon’s voice.
“No. No, I am not fucking okay,” she yelled back at him, and then shrugged him off.
Unfortunately, the bar was so crowded, she couldn’t make her way through the people fast enough on her own. It wasn’t until Braydon stepped in front of her and began shouldering his way through with his massive body that she stood half a chance of getting to the door. She stayed right on his boot heels, doing her best not to reach for the belt loop on his jeans. She’d done that plenty of times in the past when she had wanted to remain close to him. But she couldn’t do it now.
As they stepped out onto the main porch of Moonshiners, humid, gasoline-tinged air mixed with cigarette smoke hit her face, making her feel nauseous.
“Jess, wait,” Braydon said, grabbing her arm as she tried to leave. Where she was going, she had no idea. She didn’t have a car. She didn’t even have a friend who could drive her home. Her sister was in there absorbed in conversation with her family, so Jessie was left on her own.
Which meant she was going to have to walk after all.
“Hold up,” Braydon growled.
Jessie stopped and spun around to face him. “Leave me alone, Braydon Walker. I’m not going to help Brendon and I’m not going to help you, either. I refuse to be used to help you or your brother land women. Using me to make her jealous ain’t gonna work because I’m not gonna let it.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he exclaimed, fury blazing in his eyes.
For the first time since she had met him, Jessie actually took a step back when Braydon’s voice rose. She fought the instinctive urge to flinch at his heated reaction, but just barely. His eyes glittered with anger, and his hands were balled into fists. She was immediately put on guard, wondering just what the hell he was going to do.
Not that she would ever think Braydon would hit her.
“Just leave me alone,” she said, lowering her voice a little. “Let my sister know that I walked home, would you?” she asked as she walked backward, keeping her eyes on him as she tried to put some distance between them.
“The hell you are.”
Jessie ignored him, continuing to walk until there was a safe enough distance for her to turn around. If she had been in Dallas, she would’ve called for a cab. But the chances of getting a cab to come all the way out to Coyote Ridge were slim, if not impossible.
The sound of boots crunching on gravel told her that Braydon was still behind her, still pursuing her. But she didn’t stop. She didn’t want to.
Jessie was still fuming over the fact that Brendon thought she was naive enough to let him use her to piss off that woman. And Braydon had come to save the day. Probably planning to take her back in and pretend to be her friend while the two of them plotted how to get Cheyenne into their bed.