Page 70 of Savage

Jaxon snorted rudely beside us.

After a narrowed glance between us both, Christian blew out a breath and shrugged his shoulders. “Sounds like you guys have some shit to sort out. I’ll be at the bar.” As he went to walk away, Jaxon commented under his breath.

“And you can stay there.” I should have been pissed off by his overbearingness but in all truth, it turned me the fuck on. I hadn’t liked being ignored, and I was unprepared for the fierce hunger that clawed like a wild beast inside me.

I watched in silence, chewing the inside of my lip as Christian turned back towards us briefly and raised his hands in mock surrender. He shot me a warm smile before his eyes switched to Jaxon. “Apologies. I didn’t know I was pissing on someone else territory.”

Jaxon didn’t take his eyes off me as he said, “Well, now you know.” That was enough to send Christian scurrying away with a chuckle, his shoulders shaking as he went. What the actual hell? Talk about mixed signals. Jaxon was like Jekylland Hyde.

I exhaled noisily and crossed my arms over my chest as Jaxon ran his eyes up and down my body. After he’d looked his fill, they finally came to rest back on my face.

“I’m confused. What the hell just happened?” I blurted with a nod towards Christian. He was now at Marcus’s bar talking to one of the other guys.

I wasn’t stupid, I knew the drill. It appeared Jaxon didn’t want me but he didn’t want anyone else to have me either. Fucking textbook shit. Why else would he have so outrageously cock-blocked his friend.

I kept my eye contact steady. Irritation was etched into Jaxon’s face as he bulldozed over my question, his voice gruff. “So, lover boy dumped you for some tart in France and now it’s rebound time is that it? Fuck you move on fast.”

I almost flinched at those words. “I don’t follow you,” I stuttered.

“You’re a shit liar,” he purred in a gravelly voice.

I watched with confusion, causing my temples to throb as Jaxon scrunched his eyes up, and raised his head toward the ceiling. It was almost like he was trying to control his temper. He then shot me a blistering glare, his jaw ticking. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I uncrossed my arms and dashed a hand over my hair. “Talking,” I informed him in a matter-of-fact tone. He didn’t even attempt to hide it, Jaxon was jealous, and whilst this would usually have given me pleasure, right then the main emotions I felt were confusion and frustration.

His breath hissed through his teeth. He was angry; all bruised masculine pride and why? Because I was talking to one of his army buddies when he’d ignored me for the best part of three days. “Just talking. Yes,” I reconfirmed, my eyes roaming over his face, looking for a sign of understanding. He was acting like the clichéd possessive boyfriend when we weren’t even together. Screw him and his shitty attitude.

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief and then copying my earlier stance, folded his arms across his chest. His muscles bulged; he was a tower of aggression and extremely intimidating, but I refused to allow him to gaslight me. I had done nothing wrong.

Before I could add to my comment, he cut in with, “Talking my arse. That’s not what it looked like from where I was standing. If you’re trying to do the whole get me jealous thing, I wouldn’t advise it.”

The threat sat between us like a growling dog.

“The Jealousy thing?” I quizzed, quirking him a look.

He nodded his head. “It’s the oldest trick in the book, but it won’t work with me.”

I sighed; the conversation was starting to drain away my joy. “You’ve lost me Jaxon.”

“Allowing another man to put his hands on you when you fucked me only a week ago. I have to say, that must be the tackiest way any female has used to get my attention.”

“You need to get over yourself, I wasn’t trying to get your attention,” I lied, only just managing to inject casual indifference into my tone.

“Well, now you have it. The question is, what are you going to do with it?”

My eyes were reduced to slits, taking in the tension in his face and the way he held his body. He didn’t look drunk but his behaviour was so extreme. I was used to the backlash from his mixed messages, but this was borderline mental. “Have you been drinking? I don’t understand why you’re acting like this?”

“What did we miss?” Chris suddenly uttered breezily as he appeared, like a bad smell beside Jaxon. He was with Melody and I so didn’t want them there just then.

Jaxon flicked Chris a dismissive glance. “Wynter whoring herself out to all my friends, apparently.” His words were like darts but I refused to flinch. I also couldn’t believe how loud he was, bearing in mind the room was brimming with people.

My temper shot forward and I took a step toward him, cocking my hip as I looked up, confused by his angry expression. “That’s not what I was doing at all,” I snapped feeling thoroughly embarrassed. His insult still didn’t melt the hormones raging through me like a river of fire.

He was still spoiling for a fight. Jaxon also stepped forward until we were almost nose to nose like two boxers squaring up before a fight. “Then why did Christian have his hands all over you?” he growled in a throaty voice, gesturing towards my body with a jerk of one hand.

My eyebrows inched further toward my hairline. “I wouldn’t quite describe it like that,” I panted out almost breathlessly, attempting to replay my conversation with Christian. Yes, I had flirted a bit but there was no pawing involved. Not as I remembered it anyway.

I was slowly losing the will. I couldn’t cope with Jaxon when he was on one. Nobody could, not even Marcus.

---