“Nope.” I spin away from the Kincaid crazy and snag Madilyn’s arm in a tight fist, then I swing her back until she slams against my body, and her breath explodes out on a gasp.
Heels or not, she still has to look up at me. My turf or not, she still juts that proud chin out and dares me to react.
“Why are you inside my gym? And give my fucking hat back.”
“I’m here for business. And not until you give Jackson’s car back.”
“You took somebody’s car?” Mom shrieks. “Bryan!”
“It’s Jackson Price’s car, and he’s a little bitch anyway. He gets nothing from me.”
Finally, my mom’s rage simmers. “Jackson Price?” she growls. “He deserves a kick in the balls, if anyone ever did.”
“What?” Madilyn spins and commits suicide when she squares up to my mom. “Jackson is my friend, and I have it on good authority your son bullied him all the way through school.”
“Ha!” Evie bursts out on a fast laugh. “Jackson Price was the prick that wanted Bry’s attention so bad that he’d snivel and sneak. He hit on anyone with the last name Kincaid.” She pokes a thumb back at herself. “Including me.”
Ben’s eyes whip to his fiancée. “What?”
She nods. “He tried one after the other until he finally lucked out with Brooke. She’s always in her own world, always minding her business, so she hadn’t gotten the memo yet that he’s a sniveling prick. She said yes to a date, and he sent her home with tears in her eyes.”
Lyss jolts in Ben’s arms. “What?”
“Jackson Price is a sweet man,” Madilyn volleys back, because she likes being in the fire, I guess. “He’s always been sweet to me, he’s fiercely protective of his sister. Which is why he hates you.” She pokes my chest. A poke. An actual poke, instead of the oxygen-stealing thump my mom gave me. “This guy you all think is so sweet did something horrible to Jackson’s sister, humiliated her, sent her home, and ruined a relationship in the process.”
Mom’s eyes fly to me.
“That’s all hearsay!” I argue. “And it was after he messed with Brooke.”
“Hearsay?” Madilyn questions. “He wrote his name on her body and sent her home to her fiancé!”
“Oh shit.” Sophia sits on the table they were using for their meeting, tears open a Snickers bar, and nods. “Tell me more.”
“It was lipstick!” I bellow. “It didn’t leave any permanent damage.”
“Except a broken engagement!” She moves past poking and heads straight into shoving. “You broke up an engagement, Bryan!”
“To be fair,” Mac ponders. “If she was an honorable woman, she wouldn’t have lent Bry her lipstick.”
Bean buries her face against Mac’s chest and hides her laugh.
“That’s why you’re pissed at me?” I ask. “That’s why you kicked me in the nuts? Because your boyfriend’s sister’s engagement ended? Seriously?”
Evie scowls. “Jackson Price is your boyfriend?” She turns to Sophia. “Is there a cooling-off period in that contract? Because I’m not feeling good about her decision-making anymore.”
“My relationships have nothing to do with business!” Madilyn snaps. “We have a contract, we have an agreement, and it was fine until he,” another poke, “decided to come in here and shove his nose into our business.”
“This is my family’s gym, Princess. If there’s a meeting being held here, then it’s my business.”
“I was meeting with Stacked Deck,” she seethes. “Not the Kincaids as a whole.”
“Aw shit, Maddi.” I scrunch my nose. “Too bad I own shares in that tournament.” I look to Sophia. “Confirm?”
The ballerina nods. “He paid his dollar. He has shares.”
I turn back to Madilyn. “Whatever business deal you just made; that includes me. I trust my family to make good business decisions, so they didn’t have to consult with me to sign, but I’m sure as hell gonna enjoy the shit out of our next board meeting when they tell me how – contractually – you’re connected to me now.”
She spins to Evie and snarls. “You didn’t mention there were others who owned Stacked Deck.”
“You didn’t tell us that you’re Jackson Price’s girlfriend! Seems we both forgot to mention these pesky little details.”
Madilyn growls. She lets out an actual huffing growl that ends on a squeak, before spinning on her heels and snapping her arm from my grasp. “We have an agreement,” she says to Evie. “And personal business never has to come into this. What I do in my private time has nothing to do with Monaco or Stacked Deck.”
“It does if you make our brand look bad,” Evie tosses back. “I assure you, the moment you or Monaco harm Stacked Deck in any way, our legal team will be all over it. We’ll take your four-point-five mil, we’ll take a hell of a lot more than that, and then you’ll be out of a job. Stacked Deck is family, and around here, we’re very protective of family.” She looks to me. Then back to Madilyn. “Kick my cousin in the balls, have at it—”
“Hey!”
“He can protect himself,” she continues. “He’s a big boy. But defending Jackson Price when we were all witness to Brooke’s humiliation is a bad move. My cousin is sweet, she doesn’t hurt anybody, and she was too trusting of a douchebag that took her out to dinner. Now he knows what happens when you fuck with a Kincaid. You don’t want any of that heat, Madilyn. Make good choices.”
With a huff, Madilyn storms out of the room amid clicking heels and pissed-off grunts. And when I turn back to my family, I’m faced with a bunch of shocked expressions.
I look to Ben. “You got Lyss for a sec?”
He nods. “I got her.”
“Good.” I spin out of the room and sprint along the hallway.
Madilyn’s heels no longer click along concrete, which means she’s either stepped onto rubber mat, or outside. Since I doubt she’d ever lower herself to work out in a sweaty hotbox, I race through reception and into the sun outside.
Iowa and Brooke pull up in my Camaro and park right beside the Audi that Madilyn hurries toward. Sensing my anger, Iowa shoots out of the car like a whip. He’s conditioned to bad news. Always.
“What’s wrong? Where is she?”
I blow past him. “She’s completely fine. She’s inside with Ben.” I look to Brooke as she climbs out of my car. “Go inside.”
“Bry?” She studies me. Then Madilyn. The Audi. “What’s going o—”
“Go inside, Brooklyn!”
I storm straight past her to the shiny, black luxury car, then I grab Madilyn’s arm a mere second before she slides in.
I spin her back out, and slam her against the car frame so her back molds to the shape of the car, and her eyes widen with panic as I lean in close and snarl, “Why are you here?”
“I… uh…”
I’ve terrified her. “You wanna bitch me out at the tracks, that’s fine. You wanna listen to rumors and gossip, you wanna listen to your pouty fucking boyfriend whine about how much of a prick I am, if you wanna believe him when you have absolutely no proof, then I’m not gonna stop you. But coming to my gym is crossing a fucking line.”