Page 65 of Bad Boy Neighbor

“You might want to watch where you’re going, mate.”

He’s taken aback and cocks his head with widened eyes.

His friends—the bunch of dickheads—snicker behind him.

“You’re not from around here,” he notes with dark amusement. “Lost, are we? Missing your kangaroo?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“C’mon, Nicholas, leave the guy alone.”

The name struck a chord. Prince Charming. Anger boils deep in my system as hot as lava. It churns within, hungry for destruction, and I know it’s too much for me to handle. The pressure of this raging sea of anger will force me to say things I do not mean or to express thoughts I’ve suppressed for weeks.

Is this him?

The guy Gabriella is forced to marry.

The guy she will spend the rest of her life with if her father has his way.

The man who will implant his seed and give her a family for all the wrong reasons.

“Nicholas… I’ve heard that name before.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, a friend of mine. Good friend. Actually mentioned it as the guy she won’t commit to.”

I watch as the whites in his eyes turn a pure black as his irises glower teal. His lethal stare warns me to stay on guard, his clock is ticking, and my time may run out.

The guys behind me rile him up.

My eyes wander toward his fist, clenched tight, ready to unleash. In a darting moment, he throws a punch, but I knock him back, blocking him until all four of them try to jump me.

The short, stumpy one gets me in the mouth. The taste of blood lingering as security guards step in, demanding I leave. This is their town, apparently, and I, as the unwelcome visitor, need to get out of here or pay the price of being locked up.

At the hotel, I almost punch the wall in frustration. That most certainly was the guy Gabriella’s thinking of marrying—the asshole trying to woo her with expensive gifts into a life she doesn’t want. How dumb must she be not to see what she’s getting into? A man should worship the fucking ground she walks on.

Then why don’t I?

There’s a bang on the door, and careful that it might be him, I open slowly. That’s when I see her wild eyes staring back at me until she pushes my chest.

“You asshole,” she screams. “What did you just do?”

“Me? I did nothing! Your so-called fiancé was being a jerk, and I put him in his place.”

“Do you know how much you’ve messed it all up?” she cries, throwing her hands in the air like a crazed woman. “I was planning to… you know what, never mind?”

“Planning to do what?”

“Nothing. Nothing matters now.”

“Oh, that’s right… Miss Scaredy Cat is too frightened to stand up to her daddy and jerk of a fiancé. Go on then… run away, run back to your money because that’s what matters here, right?”

“Oh, like you’re any better. Called Bianca back yet? Yeah, you aren’t the only one with skeletons in your closet.”

“Just go.”

She leaves, slamming the door behind her. I run my hands through my hair, pacing at the door, desperate to bring her back to me. I was a fucking idiot to say the things I said. This should have been her fight, not mine, and I probably did fuck it all up.

---