Then Brock was standing to my right, looking directly at Grady. He held the man’s stare like he used to hold the stares of his opponents during weigh-ins and before the matches, smiling narrowly.

Clearing his throat, Grady removed his hand from my arm.

My hands slipped off the table and fell into my lap.

Brock’s eyes were cold and flat as he extended his arm over my plate. He spoke, but it sounded muffled since he was speaking to my deaf ear.

“Grady Thornton,” I heard from my left, and I realized Brock had introduced himself. Grady’s hand was all but swallowed by Brock’s much larger one. “You know Cam?”

“We’ve met a couple of times.” Brock placed his hand on the back of my chair, the gesture oddly intimate and possessive. “I met him and his lovely wife through Jillian.”

I stared straight ahead, counting under my breath.

“Really?” Curiosity filled Grady’s tone. “How do you two know each other?”

“He works—well, worked for my father,” I answered before Brock could.

“Ah, come on, that’s not the whole story.” Brock chuckled, and I widened my eyes. “We actually grew up together. There’s barely a thing I don’t know about Jilly.”

What in the actual hell of all nine circles of Hell was this?

“And how do you know everyone here?” Brock asked, and since he shifted closer, I could hear him even though it sounded like it was at the end of a tunnel.

Grady’s gaze darted between Brock and me. “I’m a friend of Cam’s. We work together.”

“Interesting,” Brock murmured, still smiling. “You’re coaching soccer now, right?” When Cam nodded, Brock turned back to Grady. “Are you also a coach?”

“No.” Grady sat a little straighter. “I teach chemistry at Shepherd.”

The smile on Brock’s face went up a notch, and I wanted to slip under the table. “A professor? Wow. And how do you know Jillian?”

Oh my God, this was an interrogation.

Grady picked up his bottle as he smiled at me. “We just met, but I think we’re . . . going to be pretty good friends.”

“Good friends?” Brock chuckled, and my hands tightened into fists. “Sounds about right. Anyway,” he said in a way that dripped dismissiveness, “I don’t want to keep you all from your dinner. Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I’ll hit you up later,” Brock said to Cam before focusing on me in that intense way of his that made you feel like there was no one else in the entire world but you.

He tapped the tip of my nose.

I blinked.

Brock grinned. “I’ll see you again soon.”

He then stalked away, drawing attention from nearly every table as he made his way toward the front of the restaurant.

“That was unexpected,” Cam said with a laugh. “You didn’t know Brock was in town?”