Page 151 of Interference

“You didn’t see a damned thing,” he growled through clenched teeth. “Nothing except a rich piece of ass you could—”

“Oh, really?” I laughed, pouring on the sarcasm. “So I’m a homewrecker and a gold digger now? Is that it? Jesus, Simon.” I rolled my eyes. “I know hockey players are flexible, but I didn’t know you could do the gymnastics it takes to convince yourself—”

“Oh, fuck you.”

“No, fuck you,” I spat. “You had every opportunity to make things right with him, and you pissed that away. Not me.”

“Nice to know he had a ‘friend’ who could swoop in and fuck him until he was over me, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged as flippantly as I could. “Didn’t seem like there was much for him to get over by the time I came along.”

His eyes flashed with fury, but there was also surprise in his expression, as if he genuinely didn’t know what to make of my sass.

“What?” I shrugged again. “Did you think you were going to come in here and intimidate me or something? Scare me into running away?” I gave a sharp, caustic laugh. “I’ve squared up with drunk Marines and soldiers twice your size, punk. I’ve shouted down a goddamned Navy SEAL. You don’t scare me.”

He definitely didn’t know what to do with that.

While he was still speechless, I went on, “No one’s expecting you to be thrilled about breaking up with Anthony, but this is where you need to grow up and accept it. If you actually gave a damn about him and not just your bruised pride, then you’d be happy to see him moving on. You’d want him to move on, just like he wants the same thing for you.”

Simon flinched, avoiding my gaze.

“There’s no reason you guys can’t be amicable about this,” I went on. “It isn’t like one of you cheated or—”

“Bullshit!” He snarled, locking eyes with me again. “I’m not stupid. I ended shit with him because he’d already moved you in right under my goddamned nose, and—”

“Because he was giving me a place to stay so my dog and I didn’t freeze to death!”

We both went still. He stared at me, and I suddenly realized he didn’t actually know how Anthony and I had crossed paths.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded.

“I was living on the streets.” I gestured sharply at Lily, who was still very much on guard beside me. “And she wasn’t going to survive a cold snap, so I asked the vet clinic if they’d let her sleep there.” My head swam with the memory, the visceral panic of facing down that night clawing at me as if it were happening here and now. I swallowed past the bile and gritted out, “Anthony offered me a place to stay.”

Simon stared at me. “So you were… Anthony replaced me with a bum?”

Fury surged through me. An intrusive thought suggested letting go of the leash so Lily could deal with Simon, but I shoved that away. I fucking hated Simon, but I wasn’t going to get violent with him, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let my dog be punished for it.

As calmly as I could—and that wasn’t very calm—I said, “I mean, replacing you with a bum sounds like an upgrade to me, so…”

“Fuck you,” he snapped. “You knew he and I were trying to work things out, and you—”

“That ain’t the way I heard it,” I growled. “Sounded more to me like—”

“You don’t know shit.” He stepped closer, looming over me. “You think you—”

“You might want to stop,” I said coolly, and tilted my head downward.

His eyes flicked in that direction, and he stiffened. Lily wasn’t nearly as intimidating as a Doberman with cropped ears, but any dog was menacing when they started growling. She already had the leash taut, and I could feel more than hear that low, warning growl.

Eyes locked on Simon, I said, “Back. Off.”

He swallowed. Then he backed off. I had no illusions he was intimidated by me; anyone with any measure of survival instinct knew when it wasn’t a good idea to challenge a dog. Especially when she was from a breed that was used as guard dogs for a reason. I considered telling her to watch my six so she wouldn’t be focused on him—I didn’t want her to be aggressive, after all—but I also wanted him just far enough off balance that he checked himself. He’d come in here ready to lose his shit and flip out at me, and Lily was probably the only thing keeping him from getting in my face and setting off my psychological landmines.

Voice decidedly calmer but no less confrontational, he said to me, “All I have to do is call animal control and tell them she attacked me.”

Rage and panic boiled inside me, and Lily quickly shifted from growling to leaning against me. She went from protecting me from him to protecting me from my own internal turmoil so fast, even Simon seemed startled, watching her with wide, puzzled eyes.

“You don’t have a mark on you,” I growled, narrowing my eyes, “and we both know very well that there’s cameras in here.” The words “I dare you” were dangerously close to the tip of my tongue, but I held them back. The last thing I wanted was animal control responding to even a hint that Lily had been aggressive, never mind attacked someone. Even if we had camera footage proving she hadn’t done more than growl at him, there was that risk of them making a file on her. No way in hell was I taking any chances with my dog.

---