“Leave me out of your . . . whatever this is,” Jared told them. “I’m starting to get annoyed because my questions aren’t being answered. The two of you seem to be more interested in griping at each other instead. So are you planning on answering me at any time?” He kept his voice soft but knew they heard the threatin it when Angie winced and North took a step back, away from her.
“Angie, sit,” Jared commanded. He’d noticed her trembling. She was still recovering.
She glared but sat on the bed.
Jared sat on the only armchair in the room. Then he pointed at Angie. “You. Speak.”
“You know, manners go a long way,” she said.
He shot her a look and she swallowed nervously.
“You might want to start thinking before you speak,” North told her.
“I know that. It’s hard, all right?” Her shoulders slumped and she gave them both an exhausted look. “After I got free of Fergus I promised myself that I wasn’t going to have to watch every word, every action. It took me a long time not to measure out everything I was about to say in my head first.”
Fuck.
He didn’t like hearing that.
“I am not like my father,” Jared stated.
In no way did he ever want to be compared to that bastard.
She stared at him worriedly. “No, I know. I didn’t mean to say that you were.” She rubbed her forehead. “See what I mean? Out of practice.”
Jared crooked a finger at her. “Come here.”
He wanted her close, partially because he liked touching her, but also because she looked slightly broken.
Jared turned to North who seemed to be studying her as well.
She sighed but didn’t argue.
“Nice to see you can obey,” North said as she got up and moved toward Jared.
“Don’t get used to it.”
North just glanced away.
Yeah, there was something going on there.
Jared drew her between his open legs. Then he lifted her to sit on one thigh. “Listen to me. I am not my father. You don’t have to watch your every word or movement. I will never punish you for what you say to me.”
“What if she’s saying negative comments about herself,” North suggested.
Hmm. That was surprising. He hadn’t thought that North would care if she said anything negative about herself.
“That’s different,” Jared allowed. “That’s against the rules.”
“I don’t have any rules,” she stated. “Because I don’t live here. I’ve been kidnapped. So you can’t make rules for me and you can’t punish me if I break them. Well, I guess you can, but it will be without my consent. Not that North seems to care about consent that much, anyway.”
North shrugged. “I don’t.”
Jared inwardly sighed. This wasn’t going well. And he still didn’t have his answers.
Plus, she was right. They didn’t have a right to make and enforce rules for her.
Because she didn’t belong to them.
