Free Destroyed by the Bad Boy by Madison Collins Page B

showered and his hair is still damp. He laughs at something Tripp says, and I can see a bruise forming on his jawline. I want to check on him to make sure he’s okay, but he hasn’t even glanced in my direction.
    I slide into a seat at a booth. After that conversation earlier with my dad, I was ready to talk to Cage. To try and understand what last night meant, if I mean anything to him at all. But the reality of the situation slams into me. He’s ignored me all day, and even though he saw me walk in, he turned his back, like he wanted nothing to do with me.
    A waitress swaggers over to me. “What’ll you have, sweetie?”
    “The strongest drink you have.”
    She rolls her eyes but leaves to get me a drink. Hopefully she doesn’t decide to get snarky and bring me a lemonade.
    Tripp slides into the seat across from me. I don’t want to talk to Tripp. I stare a hole through the table.
    “You okay?” he asks.
    “Not really.” The waitress slams down a shot in front of me. I take it without looking then grimace. Tequila. It’ll do.
    Tripp’s eyebrows climb his forehead. “Take it easy, tiger.”
    “Don’t want to.” I wave the empty glass at the waitress. “One more.”
    “Hey.” Tripp catches my hand. “Have you talked to Cage yet?”
    “No. We don’t have anything to talk about.”
    The waitress brings me another shot but Tripp pushes it out of my reach before I can down it.
    “I think you should talk to Cage. And you shouldn’t be drunk when you do it.”
    “Talk to Cage,” I say in a nasally whine. “That’s what you sound like.”
    Tripp rolls his eyes. “Real mature, Lily. Between you thinking the solution to your problems is pushing people away and Cage running from everything, it’s a wonder you two ever crashed into each other at all.”
    “We didn’t. We both crashed into you. Or maybe you guys crashed into me? I’m never having a three way again. The semantics get too confusing.”
    Tripp smiles and suspicion begins to rise in my mind.
    “Wait. Did you crash us into each other? Is this whole thing a set up?” I can’t believe it, but now that I’ve thought of it, it makes sense. The whole three way thing was a set up. Which officially made it the weirdest set up ever. “You had sex with me to try to get me to date your brother? Couldn’t you just have sent me a text message?”
    Tripp shakes his head. “I never said it was a set up. You’re jumping to conclusions. And if the whole thing was a set up, I would like it noted that I was only driven to such extremes because both of you are idiots.”
    “Hey, didn’t you call me smart earlier today?” I make a grab for my tequila shot but Tripp keeps it away from me. “And no matter what fancy speech you give me, it doesn’t change the fact that Cage wants nothing to do with me. If he’s been secretly longing for me for two years, why is he sitting over there instead of talking to me?”
    “Oh, fuck it,” Tripp says. He picks up my tequila shot, and downs it himself, then stands up.
    “That was mine,” I say in shock. Tripp is never anything less than polite. I can’t believe he’s doing this. He walks away from me. So much for being my hero.

Chapter Eight
    Cage
     
    I fume silently as my brother flirts with the woman who’s stolen my heart. I can’t understand why he keeps pushing me toward her than snatching her up for himself. Fucking bastard. Besides, if Lily is off limits for me she should be off limits for every fighter, including Tripp. Hell, maybe she should be off limits for every other man in the universe. I fantasize briefly about stomping over there and carrying Lily away on my shoulder like a caveman.
    “Cage,” Tripp says right beside my shoulder, startling me.
    “I thought you were talking to Lily,” I say.
    He shoves me. It’s not what I was expecting him to do and tilt sideways on my bar stool before I can catch myself. “What the fuck, man?”
    “What’s wrong with you?” Tripp shouts,