Now he sits there, civilized in his designer shirt, playing fiancé and friend while my thighs ache from the bruises his fingers left. While I can still feel the ghost of his hand around my throat, cutting off my air at the exact moment I—
“Punk’s bringing people tonight.” Parker's voice slices through the memory. His hands land on my shoulders, and every muscle in my body locks.
Asher's expression doesn't change, but something lethal flashes behind his eyes. He takes a slow sip of coffee, tracking Parker's fingers on my skin. The same fingers that'll never touch me the way Asher's did. The way they will again.
Because that's the thing about last night. It wasn't enough. Not even close. He opened something in me, something hungry and vicious that recognizes its match in him.
Parker's grip tightens, possessive in all the wrong ways. “You'll play nice, won't you, baby?”
I meet Asher's stare over the rim of my mug. His tongue traces his bottom lip—the one I bit enough to draw blood—and I knowhe's remembering how I looked under him. How I sounded when he fisted my hair and made me take everything.
“I always do,” I say, but I'm not talking to Parker.
I force a smile up at Punk, both hands wrapped around my mug like it might protect me from whatever disaster is about to pop off this morning. This is robotic. From the outside, I seem engaged. Nodding, a few mmhmm’s and aha’s.
She drops onto Jord's lap. “Ivy, have you got all the ingredients you need?”
Fuck. I almost forgot all about my promise to cook tonight.
Punk quickly continues her chatter. “So are you guys going to come and drink tonight with us?”
I shake my head, doing my best to ignore Asher. “We'll be here. Making s'mores and letting you young people—” I wave my hand in front of me, the gesture dismissive enough to hide the knot forming in my throat. “—do all the young people things.”
Lucinda kicks her legs up and folds them beneath her butt. “Nah uh. I want to party too!”
Camille’s scoff comes like a bucket of ice water and my teeth clench. “No one is stopping you, Lucinda.”
Resting my head back against the bench, a lazy smirk tugs at one corner of my mouth.
Jord barks out a laugh. “That’s Ivy’sabsolutely fucking notface.”
I flash a smile at Jord.
Hands come to my shoulders and I jerk upward, adrenaline splitting my muscles open.
“Relax, it’s just me.” Parker’s voice creeps through my spine. “Jesus, why are you on edge this morning. Are you heading into town?”
I flash him my widest smile. “Sure. I have no idea what I’m cooking yet.”
Parker clucks his tongue, drawing in his lips. “That’s right. You don’t cook.” His attention snaps across the fire pit. “A woman who doesn’t cook. Where do I get a refund?”
His joke leaves no one laughing, and both muscles on the side of my jaw tense.
After a moment, a small laugh draws out of me. “Mmm. Hilarious.” I pat his hand that’s on my shoulder. “Mind your misogyny, husband.”
My neck straightens and both twins have their eyes locked on Parker. Atlas's brows climb high. Shock mixed with something like disgust. But Asher? Nothing. His mouth forms a flat line, and the temperature drops ten degrees where his stare lands.
Christ. That's the kind of look that precedes body bags.
I file it away.Never piss off Asher enough to earn that particular brand of nothing.This version of him isn't the kind I'd particularly like to know.
I finish my sentence. “Our friends might think you're fragile.”
His fingers dig into my shoulder like five pressure points grinding against bone. The muscle beneath my temple jumps. I swallow the wince threatening to crack across my face, keeping my expression neutral while Parker tests how much force it takes to make me break.
Moisture pricks behind my eyes, hot and unwanted. Oxygen vanishes. His rage fills every molecule of space between us, thick enough to choke on. Whatever easy warmth existed seconds ago dies instant and absolute.
My body locks down. Every muscle frozen except my lungs, which keep pulling in air like nothing's wrong. Like my husband isn't one squeeze away from snapping my collarbone in front of everyone.
