To Claim the Mountain Man

Chapter 31

HEATH

I could count on one hand the number of times Garrett and I had fought over the years.

Once, when we were twelve, he refused to speak to me for a week after I failed to pick him first in a pick-up hockey game. We ended up on different teams, and Garrett's team won, but he still hated that I chose Aaron Rodriguez before him. Another time, Allison Donovan went with me to the eighth-grade dance, but she kissed Garrett during the slow song. The next week at school, I took it upon myself to tell our teacher when the pair tried to slip out of seventh period early to meet up and kiss again.

Our most serious fight by far occurred when Garrett left for college. I resented him for being able to go away from Laurel Peak and start his life, while I remained stuck in our hometown, taking care of my mother. It wasn't Garrett's fault, but, at eighteen, I hated him for it.In the depths of my self-pity and festering bitterness, I would've thrown away our entire friendship.

But Garrett refused to let me push him away. He loved me like a brother through my worst moments.

And, God, I hoped he'd love me through this, too.

Because I didn't want to have to choose between him and Isla. Between my best friend and the woman that I'd begun to imagine as my future. His little sister.

"Heath," Garrett seethed, stalking across the living room with his finger pointed like a dagger at me. "I'm not going to ask again." He stopped in front of me, blue eyes alight with something akin to disgust. "What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. With. Isla."

Isla had gone stiff on my lap, her eyes glossy and wide and scared. "Garrett..."

She immediately shifted to stand up when he reached us, as if hoping to quell her brother's anger by putting some space between us, but I splayed my fingers on her hip and nudged her closer to me. Sliding my fingers over her soft curves, I rubbed a soothing circle over the soft fabric of her dress.

No way in hell was I going to let her brother bully her.

Those baby blues flickered to me for one second, then she relaxed back on my lap, and I turned all of my attention to Garrett.

"Be reasonable, Garrett," I warned, willing my voice to remain even and my temper to remain sheathed. Garrett had a short enough fuse for the both of us, especially when it came to Isla.

He glowered at me. "I hope this is some sort of sick joke."

"Garrett, I'm not some little kid anymore." Isla turned her chin up at her brother, though she wrung her hands in her lap. "You don't get to decide who I can and cannot... date."

I didn't miss how she hesitated on the word. Date.

Was that what she and I were doing now? Dating? I supposed it was a good enough label for this situation, though I hadn't even taken her on a proper date. Somehow, the bond that we shared, the attraction and history and easiness... It felt far more important to me than any other woman I'd 'dated' in the past.

"Jesus, you're not dating. Heath doesn't date, Isla." Garrett ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "He fucks women a handful of times and grows tired of them, and you're not going to be different."

Isla flinched.

I tensed and sat up a bit straighter, every muscle lining my spine pulling taut. My temper spiked, but Isla's weight on my lap grounded me. She alone kept me seated, even as my hands curled into fists.

"I would never hurt Isla like that." I struggled to keep my voice even, to keep from shouting the words instead of seething them. "If you don't realize that, then we aren't as close as I thought."