I swear a small scoff leaves her lips despite my physical threat, but I don’t manage my annoyance any differently. I acted on impulse, and that’s not something I do.
I fucked up.
“You’ve got…ten seconds…to let me go,” she gets out even though it’s a rasp. “Or I’ll?—”
“Go ahead,” I challenge, already awaiting her knee to my balls. It’s the only move she has. “Do what youneedto do.”
“Ozzy…” It’s my last warning.
The last opportunity she’s going to give me until this goes south.
It might even be the last time she allows me in this house, to be with her, to call me her husband, all of that.
But she lied.
She lied to me.
And I can’t handle that.
Her heel comes down and strikes me in my foot. However, steel-toed boots come in handy not just for construction sites but fights.
Realizing her failed attempt, Bay doesn’t surprise me when her leg comes up to knock me between my legs, but I’m faster.
I’m already positioned to where she can’t land her shot, but I don’t anticipate her dropping her weight against my forearm, forcing me closer to keep her upright with the weight I need to place down, and that’s when she lands a fist in my ribs.
I feel the brunt of it, but I’m used to it. It doesn’t have me easing up on her throat any less but squeezing harder.
In the darkness, I can’t see much of her face, but I hear her choke. Her fingernails dig mercilessly into my forearm with one hand, but she keeps the other free. Just to use against me when she slaps me hard in the face.
But she doesn’t stop there.
Instead of nailing me in the balls again, she wedges her leg between our bodies, places one of her heels on my gut, and launches me backward, releasing my hold on her throat.
With a few steps, I stumble, and when I’m about to regain my position, Bay literally jumps me.
With her thighs wrapped snugly around my waist, her forehead slammed into mine, causing me to back up one more step with her full weight on me.
Her fist connects with the side of my fucking neck, and that’s when I pivot and slam her into the adjoining drywall to get somewhat of an upper hand on the situation.
She bats my hand away when I make another go for her throat, thrusting her head forward again, but I’m able to dodge another blast.
Her fingers latch around mine instead, squeezing at said body part to achieve the upper hand.
Bay doesn’t squeeze hard.
It’s more like a signal to stop my bullshit once and for all.
And I’m not entirely done making my point.
“Levi wanted to stay undercover to get to Matteo,” Bay blurts out before I can act. “He thought that, if he were dead, it would make him act carelessly.”
“You buried him.”
“I didn’t know he was alive until that day. Itrulythought he was dead.”
She’s lying.
“The day I went to the garage to grab his car…before the funeral. He came to me. You guys weren’t there.”
