Ty sat back because put like that he did sound like a petulant child. “I didn’t mean to try to control anything.”
Michael was quiet for a moment as though he was trying to figure something out. “I don’t know if you’re lying to me or yourself.”
That was a good question, and one he should be honest about. He was good at one, not so great with the other. “Probably both.”
Michael pointed a finger his way. “And now we’re somehow both in trouble with Lucy and my coat is in that cabin and I’m fucking cold and it’s fucking your fault.”
A sense of dread was starting to replace the righteous anger he’d felt. Had he been wrong? He’d seen what was going on and hadn’t bothered to ask why they’d been doing what they were doing. What would he have done if he’d been the one alone with Lucy and he’d had the chance to kiss her? Would he have stopped and said hell no, honey, we have to wait for Michael? We have to make sure we each get equal time with you. If I touch your boobs, you have to let Michael touch them, too.
How had he thought this would work?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how it would feel when I saw you with her. I thought I could handle it,” Ty said quietly.
Michael groaned, and his head fell back against the seat. He did that huffing thing that made Ty wonder if he was thinking about punching someone—usually him.
“I could go and knock on the door and ask for your coat,” Ty offered.
All he got for the offer was a grunt.
“Man, I don’t speak your language yet. I’m going to need more than a huff or a grunt because all I pretty much get from those sounds are that you’re pissed at me.”
“Good. Then you’re learning. And you can turn on the heater because I’m still freezing.”
There was a knock on the window and Ty damn near jumped out of his skin. He turned and Jax was standing there, Michael’s coat in his hand. At least that solved one problem. He rolled the window down and held a hand out.
“Lucy wanted me to bring this out here,” Jax explained.
He gripped Michael’s coat and passed it over. Now the other man could leave him alone to his misery. He could get in that SUV of his and head back to his shitty place on the mountain and he and Lucy could start over without him tomorrow. “Thanks. Sorry for wrecking the homecoming.”
Jax grinned. “Hell, no. It was a very Bliss way to come home. And now I’ve got pizza.”
It was okay since he wasn’t hungry anymore. Why wasn’t Michael moving? He kept his attention on Jax because there were still some problems he hadn’t considered at all. “Are you going to let Lucy stay in the guest room tonight? She doesn’t have anywhere to go.” He looked Michael’s way. “Unless you were planning to take her back to your place.”
“Ty, I don’t want to go back to my place,” Michael shot back. He’d covered his torso with his coat like it was a blanket. “I told you it’s fucking cold and now I’m hungry and that dude’s going to eat my dinner.”
Jax gave him a thumbs-up. “I am. It smells delicious, and aren’t you the survivalist guy? Shouldn’t you forage or find something to kill and eat?”
“He’s not a survivalist.” Apparently Jax hadn’t spent a lot of time with Michael during his brief stay here.
“Then why would he live in that rattrap?” Jax asked. “It’s cold as hell and that place doesn’t have heat, from what I heard. I thought he was probably writing about how to survive or maybe he was trying to stay off the grid for some reason. You know you can be off the grid and still have heat.”
“I had my rage to keep me warm,” Michael growled back. “And honestly, I’m not much of a hunter. I’ve been living off MREs and canned chili. I was looking forward to the pizza.”
He was going to ignore Michael for now since he didn’t seem to be going away. “Can you let Lucy stay?”
“Oh, I don’t think River would let her leave at this point,” Jax replied. “They are doing that thing that women do where they way overshare. This could take all night. Lucy can stay in the guest room for as long as she needs to. So don’t worry about her. Worry about her ever talking to you again and the way the whole town is going to react to this scandal.”
“Scandal?” He wasn’t sure why anyone had to know that he’d gotten shut out.
“Yeah, it’s a fucking scandal because you acted like an ass and made Lucy feel bad for being with one of the men who is trying to date her,” Michael said, his jaw tight. “It’s like you slut shamed her for kissing her boyfriend, which is stupid because I’m not a boy.”
“Yes, whole-ass-grown-man friend is better,” Jax replied. “We should call you that.”
“It’s not a scandal because no one knows about it.” Now that he really considered it, Michael had a point. He should have communicated better. He should have been calm and asked them if they’d meant to leave him out and explained how it made him feel.
There was a dinging on his cell phone that let him know a text was coming through. Maybe it was Lucy. Maybe she knew he was out here and wanted to explain what had happened now that they had calmed down. There was another ding from Michael’s cell which made Ty wonder how the man charged his phone at his rage-heated home.
They both pulled their phones, and Michael started growling again.
Gentlemen, it has come to our attention that you’re struggling. I invite you to come out to the estate tomorrow for breakfast to talk about this problem.
“Why is Stef Talbot texting me?” Stef was kind of a big deal in Bliss. “What problem is he talking about?”
Before Michael could reply, there was another ding. Ty glanced down. This one was from Max Harper.
Dude, you fucked around and Stef found out and now I have to get my ass up early in the morning. Fuck you, Ty.
Max made it clear how he felt with a series of poop emojis. A cold chill that had nothing to do with the fact that it had started snowing went through Ty. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
“It means we’re getting called to Stef’s so the men of Bliss can drag us over hot coals because you’re a jealous little shit,” Michael said. “There better be bacon, and if it’s not a buffet, I’m eating yours.”
“How do they know?” Ty whispered the question because now he was a bit worried Stef had the whole town wired for sound.
Michael sent him a look that let him know it was a dumb question. “I would say your friend there is a meddling asshole.”
Ty turned to Jax, who gave him a thumbs-up. “Stef sent his personal plane to pick us up from Dallas but he told me I had to monitor the situation with Lucy for him. Apparently the Men’s Council on Bliss Relations is worried you two won’t be good at sharing and will give the whole town a bad reputation.”
“With who?” Michael asked. “Is there a Zagat rating system for towns filled with freaking threesomes?”
Jax shrugged. “It’s a bigger community than you would think. I was just doing my job. Have fun, you two. I’ve got pizza to eat and a whole lot of naps to take. I’ve spent years on the run waiting for someone to kill me or to get arrested and thrown in some European jail. I’m going to enjoy every minute of the rest of my life.”