Page 76 of Here In Your Arms

“I’m tired of you thinking this is a choice. I’ve given you space. I’ve let you have some time to yourself. It’s time to stop pretending now. Your ass is mine and you’re coming home with me.”

Nathan starts his sentence angry, but as he talks, he gets calmer, and my fear ratchets up about ten notches. Quiet isn’t good with him. Quiet means that he’s got a plan. It means he’s thinking about how to trap me. I can see him forming a plan as we talk, tucking his anger away to use on me later. My back is to Morgan, so I have no idea if she was able to text the guys or not.

“You need to get over yourself. We’re done. We’ve been done. I moved on a while ago. I’m not yours and I never will be again.”

“Apparently, you’ve lost your manners. Do I need to make plans to put them back in place? I got the lip out of you once. I can do it again. Maybe you just need a firmer hand.”

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Olivia exclaims.

Nathan’s gaze snaps over to her, completely iced over. “Stay out of this, bitch, it doesn’t concern you.”

“The fuck I will! You don’t get to threaten someone like that! Especially not one of our friends!”

“Fuck. Off,” Nathan says coldly, staring at her.

“Olivia, it’s fine,” I tell her.

“You coming with me, then? Finally figured out your place?”

I have no plans to go with him, but I’m not sure what to say to diffuse this situation. I don’t know how to get out of this without caving, but I know the second I do that it’s game over for me. Maybe not with my physical body, but with everything else in me. In the last year since I’ve been free of him, I’ve found my voice again. Maybe I’ve still hidden from people, but I remember my worth. I know what I deserve from relationships.

Nathan will break me. Again. He’ll seep into every thought I have and twist it to make me believe I’m worthless. He’ll lord it over me and insist that he’s the only one who could ever love me. I’ll believe him after he wears me down long enough and I won’t see my new friends here at this table. I won’t have Kyle. I won’t have Wes. As these fears cross through my mind, I realize how much those men have come to mean to me. How much I want them in my life. They’re worth the fight. I need to fight.

Before I get a chance to make the effort to get out of this, a couple of men approach the table. They’re both tall, one with blond hair pulled back into a small, low ponytail, and the other with short hair and a face that looks like it’s usually friendly. Now, though, there’s definitely some fire in him as they walk over to the table. I feel Morgan’s hand on my back, a steady reassurance. I’m not sure what she’s reassuring me of, but I’m taking the comfort, anyway.

I reply to Nathan as I keep those two approaching men in the periphery of my vision. “I’m not going with you.”

“You fucking bitch!” he seethes quietly.

While I’m grateful for the lack of volume, I am still very aware that his quiet is dangerous.

“You better not be calling our girl a bitch,” the blond one all but growls as they approach.

Charli’s face instantly changes to one of relief. She turns her head to the men and holds out a hand. The quiet one takes it, and a small smile graces his face, while the blond one hasn’t stopped glaring at Nathan. Nathan’s face is starting to turn red with rage, and I’m unsure what to do, how to handle the situation now that these new men are involved. Maybe this was what Morgan’s hand was for. Maybe they’re calvary.

“Stay out of it. This doesn’t concern you,” Nathan replies.

“It concerns me when my girl is involved. Time for you to leave before we kick up a real fuss and get you thrown out.”

Nathan gives him a cursory look, turns his face toward me, then evaluates the blond guy again. His jaw sets in determination, but he focuses his attention back on me instead of keeping it on the new guy.

“I’m coming for you. You are mine and you don’t get to escape me.”

He turns and walks away, his posture deceptively calm and cool. Once he’s at the door, the table finally relaxes and the blond guy turns to look directly at me. His eyes are piercing, and I’m caught off guard by the direct stare he’s giving me.

“What the fuck are you getting my girl into?” he asks, firm but not necessarily unkind.

“Roman!” Charli scolds.

His eyes flick to her, but he shrugs and directs his stare right back to me. I shrug back as a response. What does he want from me? I don’t know what to tell him. Sorry, wrong place, wrong time? He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would go for that.

“Could you not be an asshole for five minutes?” the other guy asks.

“I’m a nice guy,” Roman protests.

Olivia coughs something that sounds suspiciously like bullshit into her hand. Morgan and Courtney both snicker. Roman rolls his eyes and pulls a chair over to the table, grumbling to himself as he sits between me and Charli. She pokes him in the side.

“Move, I want to sit by my new friend.”

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