Page 24 of Dangerous Devotion

And I definitely had enough of the interruptions and Alex’s hovering. I strode to the door, ready to give him a piece of my mind.

I threw the door open, my jaw clenched. “What the fuck, Alex? Don’t you have anything better to do than play hall monitor?”

Alex stood there, arms crossed, an annoyingly smug grin on his face. “Just making sure you two don’t get…distracted.” Then he pushed me aside and stepped into the room. He grabbed Jemma, examined her from head to toe, then turned her around and did the same before he pulled her into his arms. “Thank fuck, you’re okay. Fee would’ve killed me if there was a single scratch on you.”

I clenched my jaw as I watched Alex embrace Jemma. A surge of indignation and jealousy coursed through me, hot and irrational.

I knew Alex was with Fee, that his action was nothing more than an expression of brotherly concern, but I couldn’t shake the possessiveness flaring in my chest. “Alright, that’s enough,” I growled, stepping forward to separate them.

Alex raised an eyebrow at me, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. “Easy there, tiger. Just making sure our girl is in one piece.”

Our girl. The words grated on my nerves. She wasn’t “our” anything. She was mine.

I took a deep breath and reined in my temper. This was ridiculous. I was being unreasonable, and I knew it. Alex was family, for all intents and purposes. He had every right to be concerned about Jemma’s well-being.

But as I watched Jemma’s easy smile, the way she leaned into Alex’s side, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of…something.

Not just jealousy but a strange sense of exclusion.

How many men in her life were allowed to touch her so freely? To hug her without hesitation?

Even Hawk had embraced her earlier with a familiarity that made my skin crawl. And who knew how many others there were that I didn’t know about?

I shook my head, trying to clear these thoughts. I was being ridiculous. Jemma was mine. She was here, in my room,wearing my sister’s clothes. We’d just shared an incredibly intimate moment planning our future.

I had no reason to doubt her.

And yet, as I watched her interact so comfortably with Alex, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that I was still somehow on the outside looking in.

That there were still things we hadn’t yet talked about, hadn’t yet told each other. Things we didn’t know about each other.

Jemma escaped his hug, stepped in my direction, and stopped once her hand touched mine. “I’m fine, really.”

I interlaced our fingers and squeezed, and she squeezed back.

Alex looked at our joined hands, then at me. “The two of you look surprisingly cozy,” he said.

“Things change,” I said simply, my thumb tracing small circles on the back of her hand.

She glanced up and gave me that small smile. Her gesture was so intimate, so open, that I felt it deep inside my bones.

Alex nodded slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed as he studied us. “I can see that,” he murmured. Then, louder, “Well, I came to tell you that Craig’s here. He’s waiting downstairs—for now.”

I nodded calmly, despite my pulse speeding up slightly—preparing my body for battle.

Time to face the music.

Jemma’s hand tightened in mine.

“We’ll be down in a second,” I said, my voice leaving no room for argument. I stared at him, and when he didn’t move, I raised an eyebrow.

“Right.” Alex nodded, his gaze still moving between us as if trying to solve a puzzle. “I’ll go downstairs and let him know you’re coming.”

As Alex turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of something in his eyes—concern, maybe? About me being beaten to a pulp by Craig Donnelly—since the same thing happened to Gabe? Or was it approval?

But before I could decipher it, he was gone, leaving us alone.

I could sense a whirlwind of emotions in her, so I turned her to me. “Don’t be scared.”

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