Page 52 of Fall Into Me

“If I knew you’d be this unhelpful, I would have left you at home.”

Ash sighed but let it go, taking a long drink.

“You’re just going to keep being a dick and trusting it’ll work?”

“Yep.”

“Trusting who?” The voice was low and smooth. Declan stood at the edge of our table, his eyes already much too sharp like he was dissecting us where we sat.

“Oh, that’s funny,” Ash said, his tone shifting to something darker. Harder. “Because you’re not in this conversation.”

“What can I do for you, Declan?” I asked, keeping my tone neutral.

“Just overheard. Thought I could help.”

“No thanks. We’re leaving.” Ash dismissed him without looking, but I was watching.

Declan’s expression flickered, The tic in his jaw, the way his eye twitched just once, before his gaze swung back to me. His smile spread slowly, wrong in every way. “Back to that girl of yours, huh?”

The air around us shifted. His words hung heavy, but it wasn’t just what he said—it was the way he looked at me. Like he was peeling me apart, stripping me down. I’d felt that kind of scrutiny before, but from Declan the intensity of it was new. At least, the intensity of it directed right at me was new. I couldn’t exactly place why it felt so familiar.

“Careful,” I said, my voice level and controlled despite every muscle in my body being wound tight. The instincts I’d spent years suppressing clawed at the surface, whispering how easily I could wipe that smile off his face.

Since arriving in Darling, Declan had made it abundantly clear exactlywhathe was. I hadn’t given him more than a second thought before, but now he was intentionally placing himself right in my way.

I wasn’t stupid, there was no possibility that it was anything but intentional.

Iknewmen like Declan, someone who thrived on provocation, who saw every reaction as a victory. The kind of man who would burn the chessboard just to win the fucking game.

He leaned in slightly, his gaze flicking briefly to Ash before landing back on me. His smile didn’t reach his eyes, and whatever calming presence Dallas had instilled before he left corroded away. I didn’t succumb to violence, but where Cali was concerned, there was a part of me that I knew wouldn’t mind knowing what it felt like to have his blood coat my hands.

Then again, that wasn’t overly appealing to me either. Maybe something different. A way to render him a prisoner in his own body. A quieter sort of violence.

“I’m just saying, some things are better left in the past. But the past has a way of catching up, doesn’t it?” he said.

My hands flexed against the table, fingers curling into fists beneath it. For years, I’d suppressed this part of me—the part that craved to break something to stop it from breaking me first. Violence had always been a temptation. I’d slipped just once when I was seventeen, and since that moment I’d built my life around walking away from it. But where Cali was concerned? There was no line I wouldn’t cross.

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. But I could feel the shift under my skin, and I wondered if he could see it. If he’d been taking these jabs at me just to prove to himself that there was something wrong inside of me.

It had terrified me that there was, but when I felt it stir now, thinking of Cali, I couldn’t find it in myself to care that there was a part of me that would burn the whole fucking world down to keep her whole. Healthy. Safe.

“Good night, Declan,” I said, keeping my voice neutral, though my jaw ached from how hard I was clenching it.

“Sweet dreams, boss,” he replied, his tone light, but the words felt like a threat.

The fascination he had with calling me boss made Ash talk about how he was pretty sure Declan had some workplace romance kink. I definitely hit him in the balls for that one.

“You good?” Ash asked.

I just nodded. “Watch yourself around him.” I frowned at the door he left out of.

I didn’t have to be looking at my best friend to hear the eye roll in his words. “Yes, Mom.”

“And thanks for tonight.”

“Yep.” He nodded at me once before walking out in the same direction that Declan did. I had to bite my tongue to make sure that Ash wouldn’t go looking for trouble.

I drove home, replaying every moment between Cali and me since I’d gotten to town. It sure as shit hadn’t gone to plan, but it was either the path I was on now or being shut out completely.

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