Page 187 of Charming Deception

No, I hated him the moment Cole first told me about him. Even before I loved Megan.

“We’re kind of in the middle of something, man.” His voice wavers a little as he takes in the men behind me.

“No. You aren’t.” I seethe. “Megan just asked you to leave. So. You back away from my wife and get the fuck out of her mother’s house. I’ll give you thirty seconds to comply. Then I beat your ass.”

I’m already yanking off my tie, and he looks scared. But also outraged.

His ego deplores this.

“You want to make it a fair fight,” I tell him, “I’ll have the other guys step outside while I stomp your head in.”

It still wouldn’t be a fair fight. I have fifty pounds and a few inches on him.

He glares at me like he’d prefer I go flush my head down a toilet, but swallows.

Then he glares at Megan again.

“Don’t look at her. Don’t say another fucking word. Just start walking. Or should I tell her about the other women you slept with behind her back?”

After a long, tense thirteen seconds—I count, mostly to keep my cool—he finally starts walking, stiffly, like he’s on death row and this is the end.

Maybe it’s the way Locke and Rurik are watching him from the doorway.

He passes between them in silence. The dog pops to its feet again, watching Troy go, anxious.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell Megan, my adrenaline still pumping.

I vaguely notice her mouth is open, but she doesn’t say anything.

Locke gives me a warning look as I follow Troy outside. In the driveway, I grab him by the back of his shirt and spin him around, pushing him up against his truck.

“Listen, asshole,” I growl in his face, low enough so only he can hear. “You don’t speak to her again. You don’t reach out to her in any way. You’re done with her now, just like she was done with you when she left you. You try to contact her again, I send a lawyer to deal with you next time and you will not like my terms.”

I shove him away from me like the trash he is and take a step back before the urge to hit him becomes too strong to resist.

I won’t risk that. I don’t think Megan would want me to.

“Now, get in the truck you bought with the money you stole from her, you piece of shit, and get the fuck off this property before I have you arrested.”

He tears open the door and climbs in. “Fuck you, man,” he grumbles before he slams the door. Then he backs out of the driveway and tears up the street.

Fucking coward.

Locke squeezes my shoulder.

“How did I do?” I mutter.

Then I fold forward, hands on my knees. It’s strangely exhausting fighting back the urge to strangle someone to death for hours on end.

Who knew.

“Not bad,” Locke says. “I would’ve run him over accidentally with the truck myself. But we all have our methods.”

He’s trying to ease the tension, so I grunt a laugh.

When I finally catch my breath, I realize Megan is standing in the entrance of the house, watching, the dog at her feet. The dog starts barking again, at me this time. Megan turns and disappears into the dark of the living room with the dog, and the dog quiets again.

I follow her inside and catch her arm, turning her to face me. “Are you okay? He didn’t touch you, did he?”

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