“O-kay,”I drawled, resting my hip against the refrigerator door.
Andbless him, Nate didn’t waste any time cutting to the chase. “Are you fuckinghim?”
“What?”I asked, squinting my eyes and wrinkling my nose. “Am I fuckingwho?”
“Him.”
“You’renot helping me here, Nate. At least give me a hint.”
Hegroaned and slapped a hand against his thigh. “Devin!” he shouted.
“Oh,great. Let everybody out there know who we’re talking about. That’s cool, thankyouverymuch,” I hissed, exacerbated. “And the answer to your questionis,no.God, no.”
Heshook his head. “You know what? I don’t believe you.”
Ilaughed without a shred of humor. “Well, who’s problem isthat?”
“Youcan pin this on me all you want, but there’s nothing normal about the way thatguy treats you.”
Ishook my head, snorting. “God, Nate. This is pathetic. You know that?”
Natesmirked, snickering. “You really don’t see it, do you? You are reallythatfucking blind to the shit, right in front of your face.” He jabbed his thumbback over his shoulder. “That guy out there? He wants to fuck you, if he hasn’talready. And I have spent the last six months of my life in an impossiblepissing contest over you, and I’m done. Do you understand that? He is ruiningyour chances of being with someonedecent.”
Icouldn’t help myself—I chuckled. “Look, I have no idea what’s going on in hishead, but I can tell you right now, if he’s the reason for us breaking up, he’sdoing me a favor.”
“Yeah,I figured you would pick the trash,” Nate said, a look of pompous pride washingover his face.
Avile taste flooded my mouth as my lips parted, staring at him with disgust andloathing. “You need to get the fuck out.”
ButNate wasn’t one to follow orders, especially not from me. “After all of this,I’m really not surprisedat allthat you and your mom had no idea thatyour dad stole—”
Ididn’t have time to react as the door was thrown open and Devin had Nate by thecollar of his shirt, pressed against the side of the refrigerator. Lifting himby the lapels, his feet hovering inches off the ground. I saw a furious fireblazing within Devin’s eyes, and in Nate’s? Panic.
“Whatthe fuck!” Nate’s words erupted from him in a wheeze, the impact of therefrigerator against his back leaving him breathless. “What the fuck are youdoing?”
“Apologize,”Devin growled.
“Getthe helloff ofme! Before you dosomethingyou’ll regret. Remember I work for a few of the best lawyers in the state, andyou cannot afford to win that fight.”
Devindared him with his eyes. “Isaid,apologize to her,” he repeated, hisvoice calm and controlled while his nostrils flared.
“Nofucking way—” Devin shoved him harder against the refrigerator, the contentsinside rattled with the impact and my teeth clenched together. “Okay, okay! I’msorry!” And with that, he was released and dropped to his feet. “Jesus Christ,youfuckingpsychopath. Do you always listen in on herconversations?”
“Onlywhen I don’t trust the piece of shit that’s dragging her away by her arm, likehe fucking owns her or something.”
“Oh,right,” Nate said, shaking his head, pursing his lips like he’d just eatensomething sour. “That’syourjob, isn’t it? To own her?”
Devindidn’t flinch. “Get the fuck out of here, Nate, or I’mgonnahave my cop buddy out there remove you in his squad car.”
Thethreat of Officer Kinney worked, and Nate bid his farewell by telling me I wouldnever see him again. He pushed through the swinging door, leaving Devin and meto stand in the cold, clean kitchen. He turned, casting angry eyes at me as hisjaw ticked underneath a layer of stubble.
“Areyou okay?” he asked in a raspy voice.
Inodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. You really didn’t need to—”
Devintipped his head downward, glowering at me. “When someone grabs you like thatand hauls you off?Yes. I needed to.”
“Icould’ve handled myself,” I insisted.
