He looks at me, and I want to curl up on his lap until the world doesn't feel so heavy all the damn time. I think if anyone could make it lighter, it's him. Like Atlas, he was built to carry it on his broad shoulders.
God, I didn't even know he was home from overseas yet! And now he's here… watching my date try to convince me to sleep with him before there's even water on the table.
I'm never dating again.
"What do you say?" Alex says, lacing his fingers with mine.
I flinch, and Jasper sees it. His expression turns pitch black, his jaw pulsing with anger as his eyes drop to Alex's hand around mine.
I look too, my stomach churning at the way he grasps my fingers, his hand cold and clingy. This isn't the man I spoke with online. That man was a mask, a lie he sold to get me here.
I shouldn't have come.
"Do you want to—"
Jasper is at my side before Alex even finishes speaking. He moves like a ghost, silent and deadly. He's so much bigger and more imposing than Alex, like a beautiful monster looming over a flea. "Take your fucking hand off her before I break it," he says, his voice an ominous snarl.
And I have never—not ever in the history of my obsession with the man—been happier to hear his rumbling voice. Toseehim.
"What?" Alex's brows furrow as he glances up at Jasper. "Who the fuck are—?"
Jasper moves before Alex can even finish the question, yanking him out of his seat. The stool scrapes across the floor before Alex is pressed against the wall with Jasper's hand around his throat.
"You ever touch her again, and I will fucking kill you," he says into the sudden silence.
Alex's eyes dilate with fear, as if he knows Jasper means it. "I'm sorry, man. I—"
Jasper releases him, taking a step back. "Get the fuck out of here before you give me another reason to break your fucking jaw," he snaps, exactly like a man who has spent his life in the military, barking orders and expecting to be obeyed.
It's way hotter than I'm prepared to deal with at the moment.
Apparently, it's more terrifying than Alex is prepared to deal with, too. He jumps like Jasper just set off a bomb, rushing away from the table so quickly he stumbles over his own feet.
Jasper stands there for a long moment, taking deep breaths, before he turns to face me. "You good, baby girl?"
Baby girl.I die a little every time he calls me that.
"I…" I gulp and then nod. "Yes, t-thank you. Um…" I suck in air, trying to get my mind together. "Had I known he was g-going to be likethat,I would have canceled the stupid date."
"What?" Jasper's brows furrow.
I wave in the direction Alex just disappeared. "He was my d-date. Or supposed to be my date." My shoulders slump, my bottom lip quivering even though I try to hide it. "Had I known he was g-going to ask to sleep with your sister and me before we even ordered, I w-wouldn't have come."
I don't care what Olive says, I'm going back to my books and my fantasies of her brother. They may never come true, but at least in them, men like Alex don't even exist.
Chapter Three
Jasper
My night is not going well. It's not going well at all. And I'm not entirely sure what's going on… But I have the sneaking suspicion that my infuriating sister is somehow at fault.
She usually is when shit spins out of control.
"So…" I say, just to make sure I've got shit sorted. "You think that prick was your date?"
"His name is Alex," Sarah mumbles, chewing on her pouty bottom lip. "We met online."
Yep. This has Olive written all over it.
