Page 42 of Entwined Hearts

“She’s got no right!” he roars, his eyes wild. “Let me handle this.”

“No, Scott, stop!”

When I try to pull him away from Paige, he shoves me away. I come back, already swinging.

Scott lets go of Paige as my punch lands somewhere on his chest, but he’s made of steel. My fingers practically buckle. He lands a solid hit to my jaw, but the adrenaline surging in my blood doesn’t allow me to feel any pain. I only have one goal—keep everyone safe.

“Get Maddy,” I bark at Paige, whose eyes are black holes of fear.

“You told me you’d look after her,” Scott yells, landing a punch to my gut. “Where the fuck were you, huh?”

Paige screams.

“Scott, she’s not sleeping around,” I growl as we grapple. When I’m pushed into the counter, something falls, loudly crashing to the floor. From the corner of my eye, I spot Paige whipping around the corner on her way to Maddy’s room.

“Let’s talk this out,” I grunt, shoving him back.

“No!” he shouts. Poking his finger at my chest, he bristles with rage. “I didn’t come all this way for her to make me look like a fool.”

“So the answer is to hurt her?” I say.

“She deserves it,” he growls. Although I see something shift behind his eyes when he says it.

“Nobody deserves to be hurt by the people they love,” I say, breathing hard.

The time it takes him to downshift may as well be a dozen lifetimes. When he finally does, it’s like watching the clouds part after a storm. His lips regain their color, the blood vessels in his temples flatten, and his fists relax.

“Goddamn it,” he breathes out, a pained expression tightening the skin around his eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if someone tried to steal her away from me.”

“Nobody’s going to take her,” I say tiredly. The adrenaline ebbs from my limbs. It leaves me feeling as jacked as I do after nailing a problematic crux.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go for a drive.”

It’s midnight and an empty six-pack of beer later that I remember the restaurant.

Anya.

Twelve

Anya

Ilay my head against the corner of the backseat, the cold from the window glass cooling my cheek. The radio plays softly in the background while Kabir and Jo talk, but I’ve lost track of the conversation.

Colby still hadn’t returned when the food arrived, so we decided to eat without him. I started worrying. Did something happen? He said he needed to check on something, but what?

I remember the tattoo on his arm. Was it about his niece and sister?

Though why wouldn’t he come back? Or at least send me a message to explain what was going on?

Because he doesn’t care about you, a voice inside my head says.

I shut my eyes as a tightness spreads through my chest. I think about the way he kissed me and how we rushed back to his truck last night. Even though I knew it was wrong, even though I knew the risk, I let myself believe that I was somehow different.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I was hurting after seeing Jake with someone else. I wasn’t thinking straight.

The tightness spreads into my belly, turning my dinner into rocks.

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