“You walk around with a gun like it’s normal. Act like you own this town. Talk about hunting people, about missing girls, about things you won’t explain. Maybe I should be the one who’s pissed.” Her chest rose and fell against mine.
I hated that it stirred something in me. Well, more specifically, in my pants, but I didn’t want her to have the power over me. Not right now. Fighting with her shouldn’t turn me on, but fuck if it didn’t. “The things I do, the shit I’m involved in, it’s dangerous. It’s not a game. Did you ever think I kept that part of myself locked away for a reason? Maybe it was to protect you?”
She shook her head, eyes blazing with a fire to match mine. “I never asked for protection. Not from you. Not from your family. I can’t believe I thought even for a minute you might be a good guy.”
My laugh was short. Bitter. Ugly. “That’s your first mistake.”
She flinched, stepping back. “Get out!” She pointed a finger at the door.
“Gladly.” I tossed the knife back on the bed, pissed off at not just her but myself. I felt so used…so stupid. How could I have fallen for such a trick? I actually started to feel something for her. I’d thought maybe she might be what I needed to cure this infatuation I had for Kaylor. The only time I wasn’t thinking about my brother’s girlfriend had been when I was with Hales. And now…
I stepped away from her, and her lips parted like she might say something else, but instead she wrapped her arms around herself, eyes bright with tears, chin still lifted in defiance.
What a fucking mess.
I turned and walked out, not sparing a glance back. If someone had broken in, for her sake, I hoped he really was gone.
Unlatching the locks, I flung the front door open and headed out into the night air. I hadn’t heard her come down the stairsafter me, but I heard the door slam shut behind me. Hell, I felt it, the echo vibrating in my bones.
My Jeep sat at the curb down the street where I’d inconspicuously parked it. I climbed in, gripping the steering wheel as I stared at her house through the windshield, and tried to ignore the way my chest felt hollow. To pretend the ache wasn’t real.
“Fuck this.” I put the Jeep in drive and left before I did something stupid like go back inside.
The bag swung.Hard. Chain rattling against the beam overhead, chiming through the empty gym as my fist drove into it again.
And again.
And again.
Each hit sent a jolt up my arm. My knuckles were already raw, skin split in places where I’d been hitting too long without wraps, blood mixing with sweat. But I didn’t stop. Couldn’t. There was too much in my head, too much crawling around that I couldn’t shake off.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
The words looped over and over. A mantra of confusion, anger, and something else I didn’t want to name.
I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of Hales stalking herself, and it made me question everything. My instincts. My reads on people. Skills I’d honed over the years, partially from watching my father manipulate and scheme.
So how the hell had I gotten Mallory Hales so damn wrong?
Another punch. Harder this time.
She had betrayed me.
I’d had girls pull shit before. Lie to get closer. Manipulate situations to create opportunities. Do crazy things just to get my attention.
But this?
This was a whole different level of twisted, fabricating an entire stalking scenario. The details it took to pull it off…
Should I be flattered?
I didn’t feel flattered. I felt played and used, but honestly, I wasn’t sure I had a leg to stand on, considering I’d used and played plenty of people in my life. Did I even have the right to be angry? Some of the shit I’d done couldn’t light a candle to Hales’s little scheme.
My fist slammed into the bag again, a frustrated growl ripping out of my chest.
“You’re hitting that bag like it stole your girl…which, honestly, might be an upgrade for her at this point.Ifyou had a girl.”
Mason.His name rumbled in my head.
