“Ashton—” I start.
“New rule,” Ashton says tightly. He points at his brother. “You don’t get a say in any of this.”
“And why would I agree?—”
“Next rule, I don’t give a shit if you agree to anything,” Ashton says. “You’re the reason she’s not talking to us. You’re the reason she doesn’t trust us. So you can shut up, and?—”
“At least I never lied to her,” Sebastian fires back. And for a moment, my heart stops.
He knows.
“How long were the two of you planning on pretending to be the good guys?” Sebastian asks. “Taking her on dates? Wooing her? Pretending the whole time we don’t have blood on our hands?”
“Shut up,” Ashton warns.
“Or what?” Sebastian mocks. His lips curve into a cruel smile. “What will you do if I don’t?”
I put out my hand, halting Ashton as he stands up and takes a step toward his brother, violence dancing in his eyes.
Sebastian’s lip curls. “At least I was honest with her. I may have scared her, but nothing I’ve ever done has been to sugarcoat who I am. And I’m the only one respecting her wishes bystaying away from her,” he says. Lost in his own world, Viper cackles. My palms are pressed hard against the desk as he turns to me. “And you want me to violate that.”
He is driving closer and closer to crossing a line with me, and I don’t tolerate insubordination or disrespect. Not even from my brothers.
I stand up but keep my palms pressed against the wood. I need to regain some of my control and get through this before I punch a hole in the wall.
“I don’t give a fuck about your motivations right now,” I seethe. Sebastian doesn’t move, barely even blinks in the face of my anger. “Don’t contact her, don’t let her see you,fine. But you will keep an eye on her. That is an order. We can’t be leaving her unprotected. Not if someone is after her. Do you understand me, Doc?”
He doesn’t answer, not at first. He just stares at me, eyes cold. Glancing between the two of us, Viper shifts in his seat, a dog torn between two masters.
“Whatever you say, boss,” Sebastian says, finally, lips pressed into an angry, straight line.
“Go.” I motion toward the door, dismissing him. Viper follows. But when Ashton moves to leave, I shake my head. “Not you. You stay.”
He stops in his tracks and slowly turns back to me.
“You need to stay away from her,” I warn him. “If Dante is alive and watching and Doc is right about how he’d play this, we can’t bring more attention to her.”
Ashton’s shoulders sag. “Save your breath. She already threw me out today, okay? She wants nothing to do with me thanks to that asshole.” He gestures at the door Sebastian slammed as he left. “And I can tell you right now, she wants nothing to do with you either.”
“Right now, webothstay away from her. For her safety,” I insist. “We fix this mess we’re in before any of this shitstorm comes raining down on her.”
It takes a while, but the words finally seem to sink in. “Fine,” Ashton murmurs. “Can I go now?”
He’s angry. And, childishly, he’s not doing the one thing that would help him focus this anger into something useful.
“No.” I lean further over my desk. “You’ve been missing sessions with your trainer.”
Ashton stares at me like I just told him the sky is pink. “Who the fuck cares?”
“I fucking care,” I snap between clenched teeth. “You’re no good to me, or our company, when you’re this wound up.”
The look Ashton gives me lets me know exactly how little he cares about me and our company right now.
“I spoke with Jacob this morning.” Ashton rolls his eyes at the mention of his manager. “And I assured him there would be no more missed sessions, no more missed weigh-ins. Is that clear?”
“Crystal,” Ashton replies, tone laced with sarcasm.
I wave him toward the door, finally dismissing him. When he leaves, my fingers twitch with the effort not to check my phone.
