Chapter 26
Dante
She dragged herself through this like she was heading for execution—and it thrilled me more than it should have.
From the way she wrenched the door open, letting it almost slam into me as it closed, to the way she had to drag her body up the stairs. All of it was her way of showing me she didn’t want to do this.
Or, she wanted to do it, but she didn’t want to do it with me there.
Tough shit.
Contrary to popular belief, I actually couldn’t give a fuck that Rachel went on a few pathetic dates with this guy. As far as we were both concerned, the relationship between me and her was over and done with. She was free to see whoever she liked.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t have intervened had it got serious. But it wasn’t, and so I had no problem with the odd awkward kiss and a fumble at her front door.
I’m not sure why she was acting as though I was one breath away from tearing the guy limb from limb. I wasn’t that insecure.And it amused me to no end that he thought he had a chance with her.
Rachel might like to play her game of pretence, but the only person she was fooling was herself. She craved the darkness, she just didn’t like to admit it. Any run of the mill, vanilla relationship would soon grow boring to her.
It’s why I didn’t feel so guilty about keeping her shackled to me. If she really wanted to go, she would have. I’d track her down, and I’d make her pay, but the point is, she liked being here. She liked the drama and the chaos.
She just didn’t like owning that shit.
As we got to the top of the stairs, I almost smacked into Rachel as she hesitated.
That’s what you get for staring at her ass and not paying attention!
“Problem?” I murmured, doing my best not to laugh at the way she looked at the office doors and then back at me.
“Look,” she said, turning around to face me. She placed her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look her way as she stared down at me.
Just.
She was a few steps above me, so she was only just slightly taller.
“John… well, he was good to me. He helped me when I had no one else. If you’re going to insist on coming in that room with me, then Lord knows there’s nothing I can do or say that will stop you. But I want you to promise me you will not harm him in any way.”
“Why, Rachel, I didn’t realise you cared so much. You’re going soft in your old age.”
“I don’t care,” she was quick to respond. Like fuck she didn’t. I felt myself getting more and more pissed off at how much she was willing to defend this bloke. Did she have stronger feelingsfor him than I had suspected? “I don’t want you going in there all guns blazing, because he doesn’t deserve it. He was just a guy who offered me a job.”
“And that’s it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“No,” she said, and then sighed heavily. “Look, you may as well hear it from me now. And I don’t want you kicking off or making some silly threats. It’s in the past.”
“Go on,” I said, growing impatient.
“Promise me, Dante.”
“I promise you I will not kick off in this stairwell, no matter what you say. Scout’s honour,” I said, holding up my fingers.
“I still don’t believe you, but here goes. John and I went on a few dates—nothing serious, and it was over before anything even started. But it happened.”
“If it was nothing serious, why are you telling me about it?”
“Because there’s a chance it might get brought up. I figured the best way to keep your temper under control is knowing about it in advance.”
“If it was nothing serious, why would it get brought up?”
