Leaning into her pretty face, I darkly whisper, “You really shouldn’t have said that, angel.”
Plucking the drink out of her hand, I put it away. No way she’s having a drink bought by another man. As she gasps, I grab the back of her stool and drag it away to get in the idiot’s face, still wearing a hopeful expression that she’ll go home with him.
Over my body.
Nope-Hisdead body.
“The last man who touchedmyArya, I sliced all of his fingers.” I hear Arya choke behind me, but I keep my attention focused on her pale faced date. “If you’d like me to take it a step further and chop off your hands, leave the club with your dignity and limbs still intact.”
His eyes widen into saucers while he turns white as a ghost. Then stammers, “I-I didn’t know she’s your girl, man.”
“Now you do.”
“I swear I was told she’s single. I’m sorry.” Throwing up his hands, his stool scrapes across the floor as he stands up. “I’ll go.”
“Consider your membership cancelled.”
“N-No problem.” Swallowing in fright, he throws some bills on the counter and hightails it out of the club.
The cloud of fury no longer muddling my senses, I become aware of the eerie silence in the room. Of course, everyone paused to stare at the spectacle. I can sense their disappointment that a brawl didn’t break out.
Paying them no mind, I turn toward the person that possesses the power to make the world around me disappear.
Arya sits rigid as a stone, her breathing fast, and wearing a fuming expression. “Are you finished ruining my night?”
Eating the distance between us, I lift her off the seat and haul her against my chest. I drag her to the dark hallway in search of one of the spare rooms to make my intentions with her clear without an audience.
She pummels my biceps and shoulders with her little fists, behaving like a wildcat with deadly claws. “Put me down! Where the hell do you think you’re taking me? I don’t want to come with you. Let me go, you diabolical caveman.”
I shove us inside the one first empty room I find and lock it.
Across us, there’s a full-length mirror and I take in her leaves-little-to-the-imagination sexy minidress. All I see is alluring and soft brown skin. The hem fights to stretch below herround and perk ass, barely covering her cheeks that I want to spank red.
I can’t believe she left her apartment in this.
In her car or a cab? Neither option lessens my protectiveness.
Twisting around, I lower her to the carpeted floor and cage her against the door. Bending my head because even in her heels, she doesn’t reach past my shoulders, I growl irrationally, “How dare you go on a date with another man when you’re mine? I told you I don’t fucking share.”
“Yours?Yours?” she shrieks in outrage. “I am not fucking yours, Nathan.” Her palms hit my chest. “You let me go, remember?”
“And for all your claims how badly you yearned to be mine, it didn’t take you long to move on,” I seethe, the image of her and Rithvik flashing in my brain.
Fifteen days, nine hours to be exact since I walked out on her.
I can’t seem to kill the habit of counting down days when it comes to her.
Her hands drop to her sides, her expression stunned. In slow motion, a vindictive glint sharpens her coffee-brown eyes. “What did you expect, Nathan? That I was going to stay sad and heartbroken and become a nun because you dumped me. I will never allow a man that much power over me. If you aren’t going to man up and date me, there are plenty others who will beg for a chance to be mine. So, don’t act like I cheated on you. We are nothing to each other.”
Her powerful words like an axe, they carve my chest in two. I deserve it for the pain I put her through by being cold. As excruciating as it is to listen to her say all of it, it only ignites my oath to win her back that much more.
“You are right on all counts except for one, angel,” I rasp, while fisting her silky curls and tipping her head back. “The only one that matters. We arenotnothing to each other.”
“You had a brilliant way of showing it,” she accuses, defiance lacing her seductive voice. She tries to hide it but underneath lies the hint of hurt caused by my actions.
“Wrong decision,” I admit hoarsely. Grazing my lips against hers, I confess, “I might have let you go, but the truth remains that you’re not meant to be anyone else’s but mine. It gutted me to see you on his arm. I never want to feel that way again.”
Only I know how miserable I’ve been without her.
