Page 12 of Sugar Coated

Good. I shouldn’t even have to say it.

“Mike,” she said my name again, softer this time, “I’m sorry I snuck out—”

Okay, I couldn’t hold it back any longer. “Sorry you snuck out? That’s all you’re going to say?” My teeth ground as I glared at her. “Laina, you could’ve been seriously hurt. Or worse. I don’t thinksorrycuts it.”

Laina reached for me, and in the next moment her small, slender hand curled around my forearm, the warmth from her palm seeping into my skin with an alarming rate. “Don’t be mad at me—”

I jerked away from her as I got to my feet. If I let her keep touching me… holding myself back would become an impossible feat. I paced along the side of the bed, dividing my time between glaring at her and at the floor.

“Mad?” I echoed with a frown. “You think I’mmad? You think putting your life in danger makes me mad?” With a shake of my head, I stopped pacing and met her pink stare as my hands flexed into fists at my sides. “No. It makes me so much more thanmad. I’m fucking furious.”

Laina didn’t say a word to me, but the way she bit her bottom lip, the way her gaze fell to her lap, how she fiddled with her hands, highlighting the lack of fingers on her left, all told me she knew she was in the wrong.

“You could’ve died tonight,” I told her through gritted teeth.

She scooted to the edge of the bed, saying, “But I didn’t!”

I dropped to my knees beside the bed, bringing myself closer to her level and probably so close to that pouty mouth it might be hazardous for my health. “Only because of sheer dumb luck,” I whispered.

The look Laina gave me after that made me regret the hardness of my tone, cooled the raging fire inside of me, and though it was probably a mistake, I found myself telling her, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something would’ve happened to you tonight.”

This girl… she pushed me. Pushed and pulled in a constant rhythm, and I couldn’t break myself free regardless of how I tried. This wasn’t the first time I was told to protect someone, to keep an eye on them, but it was the first time failing would’ve killed me.

The corners of her mouth quirk upward in a soft smile. “When you say things like that, it makes me think you care.”

My lower gut hardened, and the words were on my tongue before I could stop them, “I do.” Of course I did. If she really thought I didn’t give a shit about her… she was either blind or I’d spent too long keeping my emotions to myself, too good at masking them.

Laina reached for me, and before I knew what her goal was, she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged herself to me, scooting to sit on the edge of the bed to get a better angle. Her top half curled against me as she whispered, “Thank you for saving me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it wasn’t for you and Fang.”

I knew, but I didn’t want to say it aloud:died, probably.No, saying that aloud again only would make things more real. Things were already too damned real.

I should’ve pulled away from her, put some distance between us. I should’ve lifted her arms from around my neck and stood up, told her to go back to sleep; something, anything other thankneel there and lose myself in the way her body curled against my chest.

My arms had a mind of their own. After a few seconds, I wrapped my arms around her and held onto her tightly, closing my eyes and allowing myself a short respite. The rage in me, the anger over Laina’s choice to sneak out; it all faded just like that. It was impossible to stay upset with her when she clung to me like a spider monkey.

A hard, long breath came from me, and I angled my face in toward hers, burying my nose in her hair and breathing deep. This girl… she’d drive me mad before this whole thing was over. I knew it. I knew it as a fact and yet that knowledge wasn’t enough to make me pull away and stop myself from being so goddamned relieved.

“Laina…” The only thing I could seem to say was her name as one of my hands fell down her back. That hand curled along her backside of its own accord, like it had a mind of its own—and the very second it found the bare curve of her ass, I realized she had no pants on.

No pants. Just panties that covered next to nothing.

My eyelids snapped open, and I yanked my face away from her. As I did so, my eyes noted a dark spot on her neck—something far different than the bruise on her cheek and jaw. Was that a… ahickey?

Fucking Fang had her in his bed, wearing only panties and a t-shirt, with a goddamned hickey on her neck.

Oh, I was going to kill him. Wring his neck and yank out those fucking teeth.

The new flavor of rage must’ve been written on my face, because Laina set a hand on my cheek and forced me to gaze into her eyes. “Don’t you dare.”

My eyebrows lifted as I wordlessly asked her for more clarification. Don’t I dare… what? Go after Fang and put a bulletin his head for taking advantage of her? Don’t get pissed that Fang was able to spend time with her here, alone, while I had a bloody mess to help clean up?

Laina was as blunt as ever, “You have no right to be jealous.”

“Jealous?” I echoed with a frown. Her hand still rested on my face; it’s the only reason I didn’t pull away from her completely. That, and the fact that my own hand remained on her soft, round ass… her bare fucking ass since her panties were insanely small. “I’m not—”

“Really?” she cut in with an unimpressed look. “You’re really going to try telling me you’re not jealous when you’re giving a face that tells me you want to kill Fang? Try again.”

I closed my eyes for a split-second as I worked on relaxing my facial features. When I opened them, I found Laina was still giving me that know-it-all look. “I’m not jealous.” This time, when I said it, it was almost believable.

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