I was absolutely incredulous. His assertion was so angry, so vulgar, so—
“Do you want an autograph or something?” he growled loudly, purely for the benefit of those nearby. “A picture with me? What is it?”
“You know damned well what I want, asshole.”
Cole’s lip twitched. He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice by several decibel levels.
“Walk with me,” he pointed with his nose. “Outside.”
“No,” I shot back. “But I’ll walk with youinside.”
After another long moment, he begrudgingly agreed. Together we walked the perimeter of the massive building, down along the far wall where the training area gave way to a full-blown gym. The clang of weights being dropped grew louder as we progressed.
“You need to leave me alone,” I started off, before he could even speak. “And you need to the leave the others alone, too. All three of them.”
Cole sighed as if he were carrying the whole weight of the world on his massive shoulders, and I was an annoying fly that had landed on his nose.
“What others?”
“The guys,” I spat acidly. “The ones you forced me to move in with, because you’re such a fucking psycho.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do,” I shot back. “And you’lldoit too. You’ll leave us alone, or I’ll go to the police.”
He threw his big head back and laughed merrily. “And tell them what, exactly?”
My nostrils flared. He was getting off on this.
“What will you tell them, Hayden?” he repeated. “That I moved all new furnitureintoyour apartment?”
“No, but—”
“Or maybe you’ll tell them how you got a whole bar full of guys to attack me, on Halloween night?” he smirked. “They’d probably be interested in that.”
Though he was walking beside me, the heat coming off him was almost unbearable. Cole wasn’t just covered in sweat, he was bathed in it. His blond hair looked so dark you could ring it out.
“What is it that you want, Cole?” I asked him point blank.
“I thought that was obvious,” he replied glibly. “I want you.”
I stopped walking. Cole went on a few more paces, then stopped too.
“You can’t have me,” I told him. “In fact, you never had me. You and I aren’t a thing.”
Cole stood there, staring back at me like I had thirteen heads. The expression on his face was unsettling.
“You really want me to leave those assholes alone?” he asked, pointing in no particular direction.
“Yes.”
“Then walk away from them,” he said simply. “All you have to do is leave.”
A knot had formed in my stomach, standing over the skeletal remains of Carter’s truck, earlier. Now that knot tightened, considerably.
“I’m serious,” he reiterated. “Go back to your place, and I’ll never go near them.”
I wanted to tell him that I no longer had a place. That he’d ruined it for me. That I’d never feel safe there again.
