Page 26 of Falling for Fury

He still stuck his dick elsewhere, and when I found out, he used my issues as a reason why he wasn’t able to break up with me.

I bite down on the inside of my cheek to stop the rage that begins to climb its way up my spine.

“How have you been?” he asks, sliding his eyes to me quickly then back to Addison.

“Fine. Same old stuff, you know…” She shifts uncomfortably on her feet again, looking down to her fidgeting hands, and damn if it doesn’t tighten something in my chest. She is all brawn and bossy with me. I hate that she falls in on herself around him. I step forward and throw my arm around Addison’s shoulders to pull her against me, giving myself something to do with my hands that isn’t slamming it into the jaw of this prick. I ignore the way she relaxes into my touch and the way her ass presses into my side as I thrust my free hand between me and Jake to introduce myself.

“Noah, nice to meet you, James.”

“Jake. My name is Jake.”

“Ah, easy mistake.” I give him my most arrogant grin. I look down at Addison. “We should get going, shortcake. We don’t want to be late.” I release her from my grip on her shoulders and trail my fingers down her arm to lace my fingers with hers, loving this excuse to touch her. I feel the prickling of her goosebumps and heat of her hand as she slowly turns her head to me.

“Yeah… late,” she whispers as her lips part on a sigh. I try, and fail, to stop my eyes from lingering on those full lips. A growl releases from my throat as I force myself to look in Jake’s direction again, cursing him for ruining this moment with his presence.

“Lovely to catch up, Jack. See you around.” And I pull Addison along with me as she remains silent.

Jake’s discomfort is visible as his eyebrows crease. A frown forms on his face. “Jake. It’s Ja—”

“Of course.” I cut him off with a wink as we walk past him. I don’t allow a look back, but I can feel his stare burning through my shoulder blades. Addison is still silent but has yet to draw her eyes away from me.

“What?”

Her eyes skim down my arm to our hands that are interlaced and she stares. Oh right, you’re holding hands like you’re a couple and you just had a fit of jealousy. I casually shake our hands free as she looks forward to the park.

“Um… thanks… for that. Whatever that was.” She shakes her head, and I can see the look of defeat reach her face again. I stop myself from grabbing her hand or wrapping her in my arms for comfort.

“It was nothing, really. I could see you get all shifty and wanted to leave the awkwardness as quickly as possible. Your ex?” She nods. “You know you have nothing to apologize to him for, right?”

“What?”

“You said sorry, back when you ran into him. You don’t need to be sorry for just being here.” Her face contorts, and I realize she hadn’t even realized she’d said it. It was just a reaction, like an instinct to apologize for taking up space.

The heat rushes me at the realization, anger at the people who have hurt her to the point where she apologizes for existing. God, what is this anger? I need… fuck. I feel like I need to break something right now.

Addison shakes her head and shrugs as we continue to walk towards the picnic area. I can see her locked in her brain, spiraling in her thoughts as she gets lost amongst them. I remind myself to wipe the look of anger from my face. Correcting my emotions in a second to be the picture of calm.

“Things did not end well between us… as you know. I am actually surprised at his audacity to speak to me.” Her tone has a touch more rage than I assume she intended to give.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not much else to say that I haven’t already told you, I guess. We dated for six months, broke up almost twelve months ago, actually on our last trip here. He couldn’t handle my moods,” she says in air quotes. “I caught him cheating here the first time, which it turns out he had been doing for almost the entirety of our relationship. When I found out, he tried to justify his actions by saying I apparently wasn’t easy to break up with because of how fragile I am all the time.” She ends on an eye roll, but I don’t miss the rage sitting on her face. I stop in my walk to the park, my mind and body fighting with each other. I really should go back there and slam that fucker’s head into the ground.

The audacity, as Addison put it, is correct. This fucking guy. Maybe I should throw him off the pier, right into the lake with rocks tied to his ankles. Hike up to the top of the trail in the mountains behind the lodge and throw him off a cliff. Is Addison’s rage contagious?

“Noah… are you okay?” She pulls me from my descending thoughts. I have no idea if I am okay because I have never felt rage like that before. I shake my head, trying to release some of the smoke blocking my brain.

“Addison, are you okay? I can’t believe that you had to experience that. That an actual human treated you like that. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but how are you not angrier?” I say with more aggression in my tone than I planned, and I instantly regret how I handled this as I watch the walls slam down in her eyes.

“I am angry, Noah. It is my default setting. But I refuse to give him the benefit of seeing how he affects me. He has taken enough from me.” She looks over her shoulder in the direction of her family at the picnic.

“Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there and pretend like you have a right to my rage?” She turns on a heel and storms towards them.

I release a breath and curse myself for being a dick. What has gotten into me? This one feisty woman strolled into my world, sunk her talons deep into my chest, and no matter how much I try to pry them out, they remain immovable. Shaking my head at my idiocy, I stroll towards the picnic area following at a distance behind Addy.

Lunch passes in a bit of a blur as I am stuck in my own thoughts about our earlier interaction with Jake. He looked about five-foot-six, maybe -seven, a pale sack of skin and bones with a very, very punchable face, and it makes me wonder what Addy saw in him in the first place. She keeps me at arm’s length, but dated that guy for six months? I grunt as I work to ignore the way jealousy tightens my chest. Schooling my features into an unbothered placid smile, so as to appear that I am listening to the conversation, but it isn’t until Addison’s dad addresses her with a flat tone from across the setting that I am suddenly paying attention. “Addison, how is your study going?”

“Fine, Dad. On top of things, but we are technically on break at the moment, so I am letting myself enjoy the vacation.” He ignores her tone that suggests she doesn’t want to talk about it, and he continues.

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