“Hey, man,” he stated, stepping back and holding his hands up. He still wore that smirk, however. “I was just asking. You’ve been MIA most of this week. Then we come in here and find you lip locked with her.” He gestured to Deborah.

“With her?” I repeated, again not liking his tone.

“Yeah, a fucking stripper no less.”

The final word was barely out of his mouth before he was stumbling backward from a right hook I sent to his jaw. And just as I’d always suspected, Jack was a bigger pussy than most. He crumpled to the floor faster than a house of cards.

“What the hell?” he yelped, holding his jaw.

“Watch your fucking mouth,” I growled.

“Robert!” I heard Deborah yell from behind me but I kept my gaze trained on Jack.

“Man, what the fuck is your problem?” Jack implored, stumbling as he rose from the floor. “She’s—”

“You don’t know when to fucking quit!” I grabbed Jack by the thick parka he had on and pushed him through the back door of the cabin until we were both out in the night air.

“What’s your problem?” he shouted, stumbling in the snow.

“You. You’re my fucking problem right now!” I growled.

“No, she’s your problem!” He pointed inside. “She’s not one of us, man! She’s white trash!” he yelled, and ducked as I took another swing at him.

I missed his jaw that time because he covered his face, but the blow still sent him stumbling to the ground.

“Stay the fuck down!” I growled, lifting my booted foot to press against his chest, trapping him to the ground. “You talk too fucking much.” Pressing my foot down harder, I leaned in closer. “I’ve threatened my own flesh and blood over that woman. Don’t think I’ll have any hesitation breaking everything you love over her, either.”

“Robert, let him up. Come on, man, you know how Jack likes to mess around!” one of our friends, Brandon, said from behind me.

It wasn’t Brandon’s words that finally got me to release Jack. It was the fact that spending even another moment with him was taking away time that I could be spending gazing into Deborah’s eyes. I had better things to do.

That reminder spurred me to remove my foot from Jack’s chest, spin on my heels, and push past the group of four or five guys that’d followed us out of the cabin.

I turned toward the loveseat we’d been sitting on but she was gone. I looked around the room and my eyes landed on Kimmy.

“Where is she?” I questioned, moving over to Kimmy. Her startled expression didn’t discourage me.

“Who— Oh, Deborah?”

I gave her a scowl. Who the hell else would I be talking about?

“I helped her up to our room after you got into it with Jack.”

I didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence. “You’re going to have to sleep somewhere else tonight.”

“What? That’s my room!”