Page 205 of The Last Good Man

He doesn’t like what he sees.

And Marlowe Jones has no idea what he sees, but I get a hint of what might happen.

The confrontation seems unavoidable as Jax knows much more than I thought about my neighbor and takes two steps at a time up the stairs.

Within seconds, he closes the space between us.

“Who’re you?” Marlowe asks, realizing the man with an angry glint in his eyes is headed for him.

Without a word, Jax grabs the back of Marlowe’s neck, spins him around like a toy, and shoves him toward his door.

Hedefinitelyknows a lotmore about my neighbor than I thought he knew.

What the fuck?

Does he know who Marlowe Jones is?

“Go inside and shut the door,” Jax growls under his breath, but Marlowe doesn’t go to the gym for nothing, and he thinks that twirling around and shooting a well-rehearsed jab at Jax is a great idea.

Breathlessly, I watch Jax as he ducks to the side, steps behind my belligerent neighbor, and puts him in a chokehold.

I wholeheartedly appreciate that he has carefully considered his options and picked a defensive move instead of knocking Marlowe out and leaving him unconscious on the floor.

He drags the man to his apartment like it’s a rag doll and pushes him inside.

“Go in, man, and mind your own business,” Jax says, his hand on the doorknob.

He adds a few more words I can’t make out before he closes the door and comes straight to me.

Marlowe never opens the door again, and when Jax reaches my door, I’m already inside, bracing myself.

MELODY

The wooden floors creak under his boots, his coldness sending a shiver down my spine.

He runs a tense hand through his dark hair, his muscles grinding beneath his skin.

Dark jeans and a skintight T-shirt only emphasize his athletic frame.

“Do you know Marlowe Jones?” I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.

He flicks eyes muddied with fury to me.

“Do you?” he shoots back.

I hug myself, wrestling with the cold.

“What do you mean?”

His eyesare buried deep in my gaze, but his lips stay silent.

“Why are you here, Jax?” I ask quietly, grappling with a bad feeling.

He looks like someone who’s about to give up on me despite how stubborn and determined he usually is.

Maybe I am too much.

Maybe other things are at play.

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