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Pain flashes across his expression immediately.

Real pain.

Nora grabs my arm. “Rhett.”

But I barely hear her.

Because something ugly and violent already snapped loose in my chest the second he touched her.

Mine.

The thought hits harder this time.

Possessive.

Primitive.

Dangerous.

“Alright,” Travis gasps. “Jesus Christ.”

I let go abruptly.

He stumbles backward clutching his wrist while everyone in the store pretends not to stare.

Nobody says a word.

Nobody challenges me.

Travis leaves immediately.

Nora’s quiet beside me afterward.

Too quiet.

“You okay?” I ask once we’re outside again.

She stares at me for a second too long before answering. “You almost broke his wrist.”

“Yeah.”

“You did it fast.”

“Yeah.”

Snow crunches beneath our boots while silence stretches between us.

Then quietly, “You scared me a little back there.”

That lands harder than it should.

I stop walking.

“So did he.”

Her breath catches slightly.

Because she knows that’s true.