Too emotional and too close, it's almost suffocating.
The music pounds faintly behind the metal wall while tension crackles violently between us.
“You disappeared!” I scream, stepping into his space and pounding my fists against his chest. “No calls, no nothing, Hayden! Then suddenly, you’re back acting like I’m the villain?”
His face twists into something almost pained. “I wrote you,” he whispers, and I freeze.
“What?”
“I wrote you every fucking week!” he growls. “Letters, calls, requests for visits. You never answered.”
My stomach drops, what?
“Wait, where were you?” I ask, and his face falls.
“Whitestone Pen,” he states, and I gasp.
“Hayden… I never got anything.” I say, but he doesn’t respond. Silence. Real silence this time. The kind that changes things.
He stares at me while realization slowly crawls across both of our faces. Then anger floods him all over again.
“The notes I left… Jesus Christ, you really thought I was dead.”
“You were supposed to be!” I cry “That’s what everyone told me!” I scream, and his expression changes again.Lethal and dangerous.
Then suddenly, his eyes drop.
To my hand. The ring.
Brayden’s engagement ring glitters beneath the warehouse light.
Shit, I forgot to take it off after church.
Everything inside Hayden goes still.
“What…” His voice drops dangerously low. “What the fuck is that?”
My stomach drops.
“Hayden–”
Before I can finish, he grabs my wrist hard enough to make me gasp. His eyes stay locked on the diamond like it personally insulted him.
“Tell me he didn’t put this on you.”
“It’s not—”
His thumb drags over the ring violently before he suddenly yanks my hand upward. Then his mouth closes around my finger.
I gasp sharply. His eyes never leave mine while he sucks the ring free with slow, deliberate pressure before spitting it onto the pavement beside us like poison.
The diamond bounces once against the concrete.
Hayden steps closer immediately, caging me in against the warehouse wall.
“You don’t wear another man’s fucking ring,” he growls against my mouth. “Not while I’m breathing.”
My heart slams violently in my chest.
