Play It Safe

Freddie was not wrong. Lash was g*y but that could turn pretty much anyone on.

The kiss ended in a way it was obvious neither participant wanted it to end. Freddie and Lash didn’t move as, lips nearly touching, Cody and Ivey whispered to each other. Cody smiled, Ivey returned it, he touched his mouth to hers, gave her a squeeze then he lifted his lips and kissed her forehead.

Then he let her go and she turned to the doors to the pool. She threw a beaming, radiant smile over her shoulder at Cody then sashayed toward the pool deck.

Lash Caldiwell knew who he was and how he was for a very long time. But that didn’t mean watching Ivey Larue’s ass swaying in bikini bottoms didn’t remind him that more than once in the seven years he knew her that he considered switching sides.

Lash took his eyes from his friend and they went to Cody and he remembered instantly which side he was on.

He also saw that Cody was watching Ivey walk to the pool too. Lash’s view of him was only a hint of his profile, Cody’s head turned mostly away, but even that showed pain.

Lash barely knew the man but he knew and loved Grayson Cody’s woman. For Ivey Larue there was one man on earth for her. Seeing Cody now, that expression on his face, loss close to the surface, Lash knew with no doubt there was one woman on earth for him.

The burn he’d been fighting anytime over the last day that he thought about what was done to them fired in his chest.

He beat it back when Cody turned and started walking their way. He caught sight of them and jerked up his chin.

Lash returned the gesture, Freddie probably did too.

You loved Ivey, you saw those two together, even for a second, they won you over. It was the simple matter of fact that, at a glance, you knew they belonged together.

That said, Lash had thought that it would take Cody some effort to win over Freddie who was arguably more protective of Ivey than Lash. An occupational hazard, he’d seen many men eyeing her, he’d warned others off, he’d stepped up for her frequently, he’d had her back for six years.

But he accepted Cody easily.

Lash knew what it was. That beaming, radiant smile.

Ivey was happy.

That was all it took.

Cody stopped at them. “Gotta get back to Mustang. Got shit to do. Ivey says you guys are leavin’ tonight. She wants us all to have dinner. Know a place, I’ll call for reservations.” One side of his lips twitched and he said, “Warnin’, won’t be fancy.”

“Food good?” Freddie asked and Cody looked at him.

“Yep.”

“Works for me,” Freddie muttered and both sides of Cody’s lips twitched.

Then his amusement fled and his gaze slid between both Lash and Freddie.

“You got time before I leave, I need it. Shit you need to know.”

Lash went alert as he felt Freddie do the same.

“Do we need privacy?” Lash asked and Cody studied him before he looked over his shoulder toward the pool.

Then his eyes came back to Lash and he nodded.

“Right, let’s go,” Lash murmured and led the way.

Conversation was scarce as they made their way to Lash’s room. Inside, Lash took a seat in an armchair and rested his arms along its sides. Freddie took his place at a wall, shoulders to it, arms crossed on his chest, habit. It was a stance he assumed often when he was close to Ivey.

Cody stood in the room, muscled legs planted slightly wide, arms crossed on the wall of his chest.

Christ, Lash thought as he took him in. He’d noticed it but only in a vague way as other things took his attention. But, if this man lived his entire life in a small town or not, he was not someone to f**k with. Everything about him screamed it.

Which made Lash wonder why it was clear that for years someone had been f**king with him.

Then it hit him, Cody was a challenge.

He presented a challenge. Man like that with looks like that coupled with natural authority, easy confidence, a lesser man with a sick twist in his head would stew on that, want to take him down a peg.

Obsess about it.

Fuck.

“I can assume,” Cody started, “you both are in the know ‘bout all that went down, then and now.”

“You’d assume correct,” Lash replied, he’d briefed Freddie on the way to visit Cody the day before.

Cody nodded. “That shit you all did a day ago, that shit’ll rile Bud Sharp.”

“Not a surprise, dude,” Freddie muttered. “Saw the guy, one glance, instant dick.”

“Right,” Cody muttered back then, “You get that, you’ll probably get that he had a focus. Now he has two.”

Freddie and Lash had talked about this but having it confirmed made Freddie growl.

Lash sighed.

“Rue,” Freddie grunted.

“Yeah,” Cody confirmed. “I figure she’s told you about our history. Somethin’ that was probably throwaway to her was not throwaway to Bud and if you don’t know about it, you need to know about it. Man hates me. He’s been gunnin’ for me since junior high. May have a lock on why but still don’t get it. But Ivey bested him at pool and when I say that, she made short work of makin’ a fool of him. Worse, he was hopin’ to get in her pants at the same time and he’s not used to not gettin’ what he wants. Whole thing lasted maybe half an hour. Still, he rounded up his boys to pay her hotel room a visit. What they intended to do, I have no clue. I’m not a man like that. Four men, one twenty-two year old girl, turns my stomach but I could guess. She beat him in two games of pool and didn’t respond to his flirtin’. Whatever four men could do to a lone girl in a hotel room is not fair payback for that, then again, it’s not fair payback for anything.”

He stopped talking, the air in the room was thick and when neither Lash nor Freddie spoke, processing their own thoughts, Cody gave them time then he continued.

“With you two, she bested him again a day ago and not a handful of people in a bar saw it. Probably by this point, everyone in two counties is talkin’ about it. He is not the kinda guy who makes a lot of friends. Folks in Mustang, his home, especially are not real fond of him. They are eatin’ this shit up. Janie’s spreadin’ what went down with Ivey and me and if Ivey had folks who didn’t think much of her, what you all did a day ago and with Janie sharin’ what went down, that’s gonna change if it hasn’t already. They’re lovin’ this and Buddy Sharp is gonna feel that and he isn’t gonna like it.”

Cody quit speaking, letting that sink in then he went on and when he did his voice got quieter and his tone made both Lash and Freddie, already alert and hyper-attentive, become acutely so.