CHAPTER TWENTY

Sutton—

I hear Kyle's pickup truck and glance out the window. By the time I reach him, he's at the passenger side to hold the door for me.

My eyes scan over the trailer. "Looks like you've been busy. All the mud's gone."

"It was a mess, wasn't it? I spent an hour scrubbing down the RV before I returned it to Green."

"I should have helped you," I say.

"Nah. I took it to the clubhouse and had the prospects help me."

"Oh." I slip inside, and he goes around and gets behind the wheel. The truck shifts with his weight. It smells like his soap, and I breathe deep, stealing any bit of him I can get.

I've thought a lot about things, and I know things can't go on the way they have. I have feelings for Rafe, but I've come to realize they'll never be the kind of feelings that are made to last a lifetime—the kind someone uses to build a lifelong relationship.

I have those feelings for Kyle, and that makes this situation impossible. I can't come between two brothers who are as close as these two men are.

I'll have to decide how to end things with Rafe in a way that doesn't leave him blaming or hating Kyle. Though, I'm not even sure how strongly Rafe would react.

In the meantime, I can't leave Kyle hanging with no help at the food truck, even though it's becoming an increasingly unbearable situation to be working in such close quarters. Being near him drives me wild, and it's crazy to put myself or both of us through this absolute torment.

We set up and work the lunch rush.

At one point, a van for the local news station pulls up, and a cameraman climbs out. Behind him, I recognize one of the local newscasters. Her name is Amy, and she does a fluff spot called About Town with Amy.

I peer out the window. "I wonder what Channel Five is doing here."

Kyle dips his head. "No clue."

He gets back to making food, and Amy approaches the truck.

I smile and wave. "Hi, Amy. What can we get you?"

"Hi, there. I was looking for Kyle." She cranes to peer around me.

"Oh, sure." I glance over at him. "She wants to talk to you."

He frowns, busy with what he's doing. "Who does?"

"The lady from Channel Five. Amy Armstrong."

His eyes shift to me, then dart to the window. "She does?" He walks over and leans down. "I'm Kyle. What can I do for you?"

"Could I speak with you for a couple of minutes?"

"I'm kind of busy."

"I promise it won't take long."

He drags in a breath.

"Go," I tell him. "I've got this. Besides, it might mean some publicity for us."

"Maybe you should talk to her. You're better than me at this stuff."

"It's your truck. Go. Hurry."

He unties his apron and tosses it. "Fine. I hate this stuff, you know."

I make a face, and he finally puts a grin on, then steps from the trailer.

About twenty minutes later, he comes back in, and we finish the line.

"Thanks for covering for me," he says with a strange look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing. News about the festival travels fast, I guess. They had heard reports about how I gave away food to those in need." He suddenly cocks his head. "Did you post about that?"

"Who me?" I put a hand to my chest. "I may have posted a shot of the line waiting in the rain and mud."

"She must have seen it. Apparently, it's spread all over the internet. She wanted to interview me about the situation up there from my perspective."

"That's great."

"She said they're always on the lookout for feel-good stories to share, and what I'd done was encouraging and uplifting for a lot of people. It'll be on the air tomorrow night."

"Wow. This is great news. Aren't you happy?"

"I guess."

"Maybe it'll help business."

"I hope so. I need to make up the money I lost at the festival."

Just then, TJ walks to the window. "Did you say you lost money?"

"Hey, brother. Yeah. I came out in the negative."

"Well, that sucks."

The line has died down, and I see Gigi behind TJ. I wave to her, and Kyle notices.

"Why don't you go take a break?" He shoves a container of freshly made onion rings at me. "Here. Go have a chat."

I'm not sure if he's trying to get rid of me so he can talk MC stuff with TJ, so I accept them. As I step out of the truck, I hear TJ ask him a question.

"You tell her about yesterday?"

I turn around, and Kyle stares at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What about yesterday?"

"Nothing," Kyle snaps.

TJ sticks his grinning face in the window. "He took care of that slime ball for you. The one with the photos."

My eyes widen, and Kyle throws a spatula across the grill. "You need to learn to keep your mouth shut, asshole."

TJ grins. "I knew you'd keep it to yourself. She deserves to know."

"What did you do, Kyle?"

Again TJ answers for him. "He took a ride to his garage and beat the shit out of him."

I put my fingertips to my mouth. "Oh, my God. Did you really?"

He won't look or answer me.

"Kyle…"

"Okay, yeah. I did. But you weren't supposed to know about it."

"Way I heard it, he broke the dude's leg," TJ says, still volunteering information and making Kyle glare at him.

"Shut the fuck up, brother."

I stare at Kyle until he turns to me. "Thank you," I mouth.

He gets fidgety, rearranging things. "It was nothing. He got what he deserved."

"It wasn't nothing to me," I reply.

"Go take that break," he growls.

I bite away a smile, climb out of the truck, and walk with Gigi to a nearby table.

She heard everything and studies me with a grin.

"Wow. He really stepped up for you, huh?"

I stare at the truck. "I've been thinking of quitting."

"What? Why?"

"Because I can't do this anymore. I'm starting to have feelings for him."

"Oh," Gigi whispers and tilts her head. "That is a dilemma." She nabs an onion ring and munches on it. "I hear the club will be back soon. TJ thought they'd hit town anytime now."

My shoulders slump.

"That's not exactly the reaction of a girl excited her man is coming home."

"I know. It's horrible, isn't it? I'm horrible."

She reaches across the table. "You're not horrible."

TJ wanders over and snatches an onion ring, his eyes shifting from me to Gigi. "You ready to go?"

I surge to my feet. "I've got to get back to work."

"Sutton, wait," I hear Gigi say, but I'm already fast walking to the trailer. There's another line.

I climb inside and barely look at Kyle. He seems uncomfortable now that I know what he did for me. I still can't believe he rode to Burbank just to put Jerry in his place. No man has ever done that for me. I don't know if Rafe would have done the same. I never told him. Maybe because I was afraid he wouldn't care enough to do anything, and I didn't want to face that.

I slice more onions to batter and put in the fryer.

Kyle glances over his shoulder. "Sorry I didn't tell you about Jerry."

I slip and slice my finger, cursing and dropping the knife.

"You okay?" Kyle's at my side in an instance.

The cut is deep, and blood is pouring out.

He responds quickly, grabbing a bunch of napkins and pressing it to my hand. "Put pressure on it." Then he dashes to the back door. "TJ!"

He catches them right before TJ climbs in his truck with Gigi.

Kyle motions him over, and they both come running.

The next thing I know, they're herding me toward their truck to take me to the emergency room, and Kyle is at my side.

"I've got to shut the food truck down, then I'll be right behind you, okay?"

"That's not necessary," I protest, but he won't hear it. His eyes latch onto TJ's. "Hurry up, brother. It's bleeding bad."

"I got her, Kyle. Don't worry."

Then TJ is pulling away, and Kyle stands at the curb, watching us.

We get to the hospital, and I'm rushed into the second curtained cubicle. A nurse checks me and wraps a clean bandage around my wound.

"The doctor will be in to see you shortly."

"Will she need stitches?" Gigi asks.

"Possibly," the nurse says, being non-committal. She leaves us, and Gigi squeezes my uninjured hand.

"Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just throbbing."

She grins. "Maybe they'll give you something good for the pain."

That gets a smile out of me.

"Can I ask you something?" she says.

"Sure."

"Every time I see you and Kyle together, I can't help feeling that it's you two who should have ended up together. Not you and Rafe."

"Do you want to know the truth? It was Kyle who first attracted my attention. But then Rafe made a move, and Kyle just backed off."

"I wonder why he stepped aside."

"I guess I was easy to give up."

"You have no idea how untrue that is," a deep voice says.

I jerk my head and see Kyle standing there.

Gigi's gaze shifts between us. "I, um, think I'll go get a coffee. Want anything? No? Okay."

She steps out.

Kyle moves forward, gesturing to my hand. "How is it?"

"The doctor should be in soon. The nurse thought I might need stitches."

"I'm sorry about that. Guess you can claim workman's comp."

"I'm not going to do that, Kyle."

"Rafe's on his way. They just hit town. I told him to meet us here."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Sorry it took so long for me to get here. It took me a few minutes to unhitch my pickup from the food trailer."

"You could have stayed and worked. You didn't have to come."

"Yeah, I did." Kyle stands there, a ballcap in his hand, squeezing it and bending the brim. He looks like he wants to say something, but before he can get the nerve, the doctor comes in.

"I'm Dr. Kendall. Let's have a look at that hand."

Before I know it, he and a nurse have crowded Kyle, and I see him step outside the curtain. The Doctor examines me, then prepares a hypodermic needle.

"This will pinch, but it'll numb the pain."

And then he cleans my wound and put two stitches in. Afterward, it doesn't take him long to bandage me up.

I hear a scuffle and raised voices in the outer room. The doctor and nurse look at each other but keep going. Once they're finished and step out, Gigi slides back in.

"They're getting the paperwork to release me," I say, then hold my hand up. "Two stitches."

She nods but doesn't smile.

"What's wrong?" I frown. "What was that commotion?"

"Rafe and Kyle got into it."

"What do you mean?" Fear flashes through me.

"Rafe was pissed you got hurt, and he was also pissed you two were out of town for so long. He acted like Kyle did it on purpose."

"That's absurd," I hiss.

"I know. Kyle tried to tell him that."

I roll my eyes. "Men can be so sophomoric."

"Yeah, they can." She glances nervously toward the hall.

"What is it?"

She sighs. "There's more."

"What?"

"Rafe challenged Kyle to a cage fight."

My brows lift. "Did you say cage fight?"

"Yeah. There's an MMA cage in the back part of the clubhouse. They hold fights about once a month."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Why does Rafe want to fight Kyle?"

She shrugs. "I think it's over you."

"That's insane." I shake my head. "I never meant to come between them." My eyes glaze, and Gigi puts an arm around my shoulders.

"Don't cry." She squeezes me. "Maybe this is what they need."

"To fight? That's crazy."

"This has been building for a long time… maybe before you came. I think it all has to do with Rafe's injury."

"Rafe takes advantage of Kyle. Is that what you mean? Even I see it."

"Maybe a good brawl will get it all out in the open."