Page 26 of The Sweetest Chirp

Fuck off.I tell myself as Drouin throws his hands up, and Audrina steps back quickly, her eyes bugging out and going wild.

“Thatcher, what the hell?”

I glare at her, limping toward her. “Don’t ‘what the hell’ me. I heard you flirting?—”

“I was not! I was joking around!”

“Dude, it isn’t like that.” Drouin tries sitting up. “We always mess around, I promise.”

That does not help the rage I feel.

“Always, huh?” I snap at her, and her face fills with color.

“It’s not like that. It’s just to pass time.”

“He had his hands on your ass. Is that how you do your job? Hands all over you and them?” I yell, and her eyes narrow as she steps toward me.

“Do not try to make what I do sexual. It is health care, and that’s it. I am doing my job.”

The rage is eating at me, and all I see are his hands on her. “Your job is not to flirt with everyone and touch them.”

“This is ridiculous. I am doing my job.” The rational part of my brain knows this, but her track record isn’t helping. Especially since it’s so damn fresh in my mind. She just hooked up with Dart six months ago, and I’m still a bit butthurt about it.

“Your job is to press your genitals to his?”

“Thatty, stop. That’s not what was happening! His hip needed the stretch. There was nothing sexual, and you know it.” While she seems calm, her face tells a whole other story. She’s freaking out. She knows she was caught, and I don’t get that. Why is there guilt if she did nothing wrong?

Instead of asking that, I throw out, “Is this how it is with all your clients?”

“Do not question my integrity.”

“Integrity? Weren’t thinking about that when you slept with Dart?” Her eyes go dark, her pupils blowing out as her face flushes red with anger. “You were just ‘working on him,’ then you two went out for drinks, and bam, you fucked him.”

She slaps me. Right across the face. One would think that would force me in line. Make me think before I speak.

It doesn’t.

My face burns where she hit me. Both of us are breathing hard, our eyes wild as they lock on each other, and the room is so thick with tension, it’s suffocating. We’ve also drawn a crowd, everyone watching, and I don’t miss the way Owen shoots me a “Shut the hell up” look.

“It was a mistake, and you know that. I have not touched anyone else ever. And especially not at work.”

I forgave her. I did. So why am I bringing that up?

“Orlov, I swear, it wasn’t what it looked like,” Drouin tries once more, but neither of us pays him any mind. “Let’s just take a breath.”

I shake my head. I heard her, and as much as I want to believe she hasn’t been with anyone else on the team, how do I know? The only reason I found out about Dart was because he told me. My eyes narrow as my heart shatters in my chest at the thought of other men touching her. Hearing her screams, tasting her mouth, and feeling her strangle their dicks with her beautiful pussy. All that is mine. She’s mine. The thought of anyone experiencing what is mine has me ragey.

I swear I see red as I sneer, “How do I know that? Was it a mistake because you got caught?”

“Caught?” she snaps. “We weren’t together. I could fuck whoever I wanted.”

“I see you still can, huh?” Her mouth drops open. I’ll give her credit; she recovers quickly, but all I can hear is the roar of my blood in my ears. I need to calm down. I’m being a fucking asshole, but I can’t help it. Between my leg and my heart feeling like it’s breaking from seeing her with him, I don’t know how to shut up. “How many guys have you slept with from the team that I don’t know about?”

“What the hell, Thatcher?” Tears well in her eyes. “Is that what you really think? That I’m just whoring myself around?”

“If the shoe fits.”

She looks away, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you right now.”

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