It’s not my favorite. Dalton always got it for me because he said I shouldn’t drink my calories or I wouldn’t fit into all my fancy clothes anymore.
“I don’t want it.”
“You’re acting like a child. Maybe that’s why you’re now dating one.”
“We agreed to ignore each other in public,” I say, stepping back.
He steps forward, and we’re deeper in the shadows of the ballroom, most of the crowd concentrated in the middle. He slides the two drinks onto a high table near us.
“We didn’t agree to anything. We didn’t speak. You had some misguided ideas about a restraining order, and I assured Officer Foster that wasn’t necessary. Your behavior was an overreaction at best and an outright lie at worst.”
I hadn’t asked for the restraining order process from Stephen, and I can’t decide if I’m glad for the threat or not. One thing I learned while dating Dalton is that you don’t deliberately poke the bear.
“As far as I’m concerned, our breakup is a giant misunderstanding. You trip, and suddenly I’m the bad guy? Ijust don’t understand where the rational, reasonable woman you were went. Poof. Gone that night. Over nothing.”
He’ll twist anything I say into something else, so I just stare at him.
“You can’t possibly have anything in common with a kid who plays hockey for a living. One who never went to college or university. Someone who could never understand the life you’ve led or the island you love. You’re smarter than that.”
“Logan will be looking for me.” I try to move around him.
His hand snakes around my bicep, stopping me before I can get past. “That dress,” he murmurs in my ear. “Are you sending me a signal, Sawyer? Is your old, respectable self making a return? He’s a rebound, one last rebellion, and then you’ll come bouncing back to me?”
“You really need to remove your hand before I remove it for you,” Logan says from behind Dalton.
Dalton doesn’t drop his hand, but all the tension in me slides away.Thank god.
Dalton glances over his shoulder. “We’re having a private conversation.”
“And now you’re not,” Logan says, a hard edge to his voice that I’ve never heard. “I’m going to say it one more time—take your hand off her.”
He releases his grip, and I rub my bicep. A bruise will probably appear tomorrow. Sadly, not a first. But it is the first time he won’t be able to claim that I bruise easily or that he didn’t even grip me that hard or that I’m overreacting. My version of an event or a conversation never matched his.
“You can leave now,” Logan says to Dalton, staring him down. “Other people might be fooled by this mask you wear, but I’m not.”
“You need to learn to respect your elders,” Dalton says. His tone is also full of warning, but it doesn’t have the sameintimidating force as Logan. “The Advisory Council controls almost everything on this island—including your team. You could say I’m your boss.”
“You wouldn’t be the first boss I’ve had who doesn’t know fuck all about anything and tries to cover it with arrogance instead of developing the proper skills. I’d say it was sad, but that would suggest I care.”
“You will,” Dalton says. “I’m going to make sure you care very much.” Then he storms off.
When Logan’s hand slides around my waist, I realize I’m shaking. “You okay?”
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“That’s the second time he’s been…” Logan seems at a loss for words as he draws me in closer.
“Weirdly possessive?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“We used to date.”
“He’sthe shitty relationship you just got out of?” Logan doesn’t even try to hide his disbelief.
“He’s not…” I hate defending him, but it also feels like I’m defending myself and my choices. “It’s unusual for him to let people see him like that.”
“Like he just was with you?”
