Fang glances around, seemingly unaware we’d switched places during our altercation. He steps sideways, and then gestures for me to leave.
Asshole.I’d walk my ass out of the room to prove a point, but where would I go? I’m not finished here yet.
And he goddamn knows it.
“What have I done to deserve this, Fang? Why target me?”
He shakes his head, cruel smile curling his lips. “You really don’t know?”
“Would I be asking if I did?”
He stalls a moment, gaze searching mine. “You’re fucking entitled, Jenna. We bring you back here and save you from a fucking future of possible rape, mutilation, enslavement, or maybe even being killed, and you act as though it was your goddamn right to have us risk ourselves to help. Not once have you said thanks.”
Is he fucking serious?“My apology. I didn’t realize you showed up last night purely for accolades.”
“Fucking quit it,” he gripes with a roll of his dark eyes. “Quit with the fucking attitude.”
“Would you rather I was an inconsolable mess like Kathy? High anxiety like Mila. Or perhaps you want me more submissive? What suits your stereotype of a broken woman better?”
Fang takes a long stride forwards, eviscerating the space between us. “I want you to drop the fucking act and be real with us. You at least owe us that much.”
Chest heaving with the desperate need to maintain my cool, I swallow, slowly, painfully aware of how quickly the situation turned around. “What if thisishow I am?”
Fang’s gaze drops to my mouth for the briefest moment. “Then it makes me wonder how a ballbuster like you ended up there in the first place.”
“Apparently I’m real good at making bad decisions.” Like choosing to stay within this man’s orbit.
A muscle twitches beside his nose. Fang’s hooded gaze drops to my mouth again.
Leave.Internal monologue screaming, my limbs can’t find it in them to give a fuck.
I’ve been used, threatened, and bullied. Just this once, I want somebody else to take the initiative to do better. To choose better.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I whisper the question between us, white-hot disgust pulsing through me from the understanding that I really do find this guy attractive.
Asshole behavior and all.
“Yeah.” He regards me with the same conflicted need. “I do.” The same repulsed desire.
So I do what he’s incapable of and take a step back, breaking the spell.
His throat bobs with a hard swallow before he abruptly strides to the dresser behind me, arm brushing mine featherlight when he passes to snatch up his keys.
“Thanks for letting me have the room to myself.” I can’t resist.
Fang huffs a sound of disbelief and then strides to the door, tearing it open. The man hesitates, turning back to throw a final, “Find somewhere else to sleep tonight,” at me as though that wasn’t already my plan.
To get as far away from this complication as possible.
I wait for the fucker to hit the stairs and then lift my middle finger to where he was.The audacity.Have fun making me jealous… I’d actually have towanthim first for that to happen.But you do, don’t you?Maybe not him, but somethingabouthim I actively seek out. Some unidentifiable quality that appeals to the broken parts of me.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I duck my head out the door to make sure he’s really gone, and then push it most of the way shut before darting over to the wardrobe.Swear to God—if he’s taken that thing…Reaching high, I slap my hand along the shelf, seeking out the hard edges of the phone.
I find the box.
“Shit.” I search the room for something to boost me and end up perched on the foot of the bed, leaning forward at a precarious angle to brace myself in a bridge between the bed and the wardrobe. Balancing on my tippy-toes, I move the dusty clothes and riding accessories aside to find the damn device.
