"Don't," I warned him.
Stefan let go of me and rubbed his cheek as I left the room. I made my way into the living room, taking deep breaths to calm myself down.
"I get what he did, but you need to calm down," Dante said.
Luc looked ready to fight his friend. "She went to go and see him!"
"I went to go and see him so I could tell him to leave me alone," I informed them.
Both men turned towards me. I walked over and looked at Luc's face. Stefan had managed to throw some decent punches but there was only a single cut across Luc's cheekbone. Luc had inflicted more damage and Stefan would feel the repercussions for some time.
"D," I said. "Can you go and grab me some rubbing alcohol and ice?"
"Sure," he said and left us.
I guided Luc to the couch and made him sit down. "You shouldn't have hit him."
"No, I should have done worse," Luc seethed with rage.
"Luc," I started, not sure how to calm him down.
"Mia! He did this on purpose," Luc told me angrily. "That manipulative piece of shit. I want him out."
Luc attempted to get up from the couch and I pushed him back down. "Where's he going to go?" I asked.
"Do you think I care?" Luc responded. "I'm not having him under the same roof as you. I don't trust him."
I wasn't sure I trusted Stefan either, but I thought of Maria at the hospital. She was the reason that Stefan came back home. They didn't know how long she would be here for and the stress wouldn’t help her condition.
"Think about your Mom," I told him, taking his face into my hands.
"He lied," Luc said, calmer now.
"I know."
"Would you have kissed him?" he asked me.
I thought back to that night and just how resigned I’d felt. I had spent so much time with Stefan that he had become my normal, what I believed my life would be. I felt that if I had kissed him it would have been paying back a debt that I owed. After all he had done for me, this was what he wanted in return. Looking at Luc now, I knew it wouldn't have come from the same place. Wanting to kiss Luc felt like an overwhelming desire that I had no power against whereas wanting to kiss Stefan had felt like a duty because of how kind he had been to me.
"I don't know but it's not what you think," I said. I couldn’t lie and tell him no.
"I don't want an explanation, Mia."
I closed my mouth. The way Luc looked at me reminded me of when I first met him. There was a reason Lucas ran this town and why people listened to what he said.
"You're mine," he told me firmly. I felt goosebumps appear on my skin from the statement. "If he comes anywhere near you..."
"Luc, we live in the same house," I reminded him.
"I don't care, Mia. I broke Dante's arm for less and that was before anything happened between us."
It was difficult to forget the weeks Dante was in a cast for simply being himself. I dreaded to think what Luc would do to Stefan given half the chance.
"You're mine and if I find anyone near you, I won't hesitate. I told you that."
I nodded my understanding as Dante walked back into the room shaking a bottle and holding some cotton pads out to me. This was no longer a game. There was no question that hung over us anymore, no uncertain territory. Luc had staked his claim.
"Say it, Mia," Luc demanded.
