Page 49 of Seizing Control: Part One

Ignorant to my internal dilemma, and with an easy grace that belies the tension rippling through him, Zeke swings around so that my back is to the man he just tried to beat to death. He hooks his arms under my knees, bracing my weight to remove the pressure from his throat. When I let go of his neck, he holds me aloft for a second before he allows me to drop to the ground behind him. My feet make contact with the floor for a mere second before Zeke tugs me around to face him.

The hangdog air around him makes my entire body overheat. A trail of shame and regret travels from the middle of my chest, up my neck, to settle in my face. It’s impossible to meet his eyes. I don’t want to witness his pain, not when I know how he views himself. Stupid. Useless. Unlovable. His mother’s rejection lives in his head as surely as Alex’s poison resides in my psyche.

We’re two broken souls.

Matching puzzle pieces.

But like any jigsaw puzzle, there’s always other pieces that make up the whole picture.

Our closest part, the corresponding segment to our improbable trio, lays bleeding on the floor. Despite my guilt over Slash’s physical battering, I don’t know if I have it in me to mentally knock Zeke down to his knees next to him with the truth of my duplicitous heart.

Hurting them goes against every impulse.

Maybe they’ll settle down long enough to give me a chance to explain everything in private?

While Slash remains prone on the floor, Zeke turns his attention to me. “Why were you in his bed?”

The small flicker of hope I had of a reprieve is blown out by the intensity in Zeke’s query.

Mouth dry, legs like jelly, I swallow deep before I tell him, “We were watching Netflix, and I fell asleep.”

“That happen often?”

His tone brooks zero arguments. Knowing when I’m beat, intimately acquainted with the steely side of Zeke’s resolve, understanding that he cuts me a lot more slack than he allows anyone else in his life, I’m cognisant there’s no way to avoid this confrontation. The gauntlet has been laid by Bebe, and I’ll be deep diving into the inner workings of my relationship with Slash without preamble or excuses if I want to salvage any hope of peace between the two best friends. Straightening my shoulders and steeling my spine, I fix my gaze on my angry man’s generous lips. It’s the best I can manage since I still can’t look Zeke in the eye.

The betrayal in his uniquely coloured gaze is too much to handle.

I’ve rarely been on the receiving end of his judgement.

It’s not an experience I’ll be rushing to repeat.

Forcing saliva into my dry mouth, I whisper my response to his terse question, “Sometimes.”

“Why does she—” His gaze flits toward Bebe then back to me. “—think you two are fucking?”

That answer is easier to provide. “’Cause she accused him of it when they were together.”

“Why would she do that?” Zeke asks his follow-up question in the same flat, robotic tone he’s used to address me since I broke up the fight.

“Bebe thinks Slash is in love with me.” At the mention of his name, the big man drags himself back to his feet. While I can’t bear to look at Zeke, Slash has zero problem locking his focus on the man standing between us.

Literally and figuratively.

Red-hot rage has turned Slash’s ice-blue gaze into a silvery frost. The normally even-keeled man exudes animosity with an intensity akin to Cherenkov radiation. Caught between the fear of upsetting Zeke and permanently alienating Slash, I shake my head subtly in a silent plea for him to let me handle things. I can finesse my first love if the big man will let me.

In response, Slash looks me dead in the eye and takes a deliberate step forward.

He’s not going to yield this time.

It’s solely up to me to stop this from divulging into a bigger mess than it already is.

Yippee-fucking-yay for headstrong men... what a blessing it is to be caught between them.

Yeah, that was sarcasm of the lowest magnitude...

Shooting a dark look at Bebe, I admit, “It’s one of the reasons they broke up.”

Quick as lightning, my ex-fiancé quips, “Is he?”

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