“Jealous. I can see exactly what your problem is.”
“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”
“You can’t stand the idea that she is closer to me than to any of you. And you know what? Shealwayswill be. It’ll be my ring she wears on her finger. It’ll be my name at the end of hers. It’ll always be my arms she comes back to. We can play at this little group thing, but at the end of the day, she’smine. And you can’t fucking stand that, can you?”
A ring? His name? He was going to propose to her? The fuck was he talking about? What would she say?
It didn’t matter. I wasn’t fucking jealous. There was nothing to be jealous of. She’d made it clear she wanted to be with all of us.
She wouldn’t change her mind…would she?
“Don’t read into things, bodyguard,” I hissed, sitting up. Who the fuck cared? He was an idiot.Thatwas why he drove me crazy. “You just piss me the fuck off with your overprotective attitude.”
Everyone could see how he wanted to keep her locked up in this penthouse like a princess from a fairytale. The way he looked at her when she said she killed Kofler—and the way she’d deflated afterward—had me wanting to rage ever since.
Well, she wasn’t a princess.
She was a motherfucking queen.
And the more he tried to hold her back from that, the more likely he’d hurt her.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not controlling her. Her life is my biggest priority! You weren’t there when we were running for our lives. You haven’t been glued to her side since you were kids. She needs me to keep her safe.”
“No, but I’m sure as shit here now, aren’t I? And I’mstilltrying to help her grow. I’m not the one holding her back. Your idea of safety is bullshit.”
“Protecting her isn’tholding her back, it’s?—”
“Keep telling yourself that,” I snapped. “And when she gets tired of it, we’ll see which arms she runs to then. You might be her past, but we’re her future. You are not one of us.”
Silence stretched between us as we both fumed. I wiped sweat from my brow while he limped to pick up his phone.
“Fuck this shit,” he spat, turning for the elevator. He did his goddamn best, but he couldn’t hide the pain no doubt shooting down his leg.
As I watched the elevator doors close, a wave of regret twisted my gut.
Shit. Leona was going to be pissed. Not only did I fight with her bodyguard, I went for his injuries. He’d been working hard to get back to normal. I ran a hand through my hair. If I set him back…
I picked up my knife from where it still lay on the ground, ribs on fire. Yeah, that would definitely bruise.
Maybe I should have just stabbed him and gotten it over with. One way or another, we were going to kill each other.
“Fuck!” I shouted as I threw the knife at the target so hard it embedded two inches deep. I sat on the press bench with my head in my hands.
She was messing with my head. All of this was messing with my head.
Since when was I sopossessive? I cringed, nose curling. I hadn’t ever given a shit about having someone all to myself. All I cared about was making enough money to be free.
But even that wasn’t the same anymore. I wanted to name my fucking club after her.
What the hell?
None of this felt like freedom. It felt like a heavy anchor dragging me down, waiting until I drowned in the depths, or the pressure imploded my lungs. Either way, I ended up dead.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I didn’t let my dick make business decisions. I’d known that for ten years. I couldn’t get in over my head with this. It was just fun. Just play. My body wanted hers,badly. But that’s where it stopped. When things went wrong, I had my exit strategy. I had my backup plan.
“So stupid,” I groaned to the empty air. I stood and yanked my knife from the target. I’d come down here to workout, burn off some energy, and I’d do exactly fucking that.
