Page 83 of Tangled in Vows

“Maybe I am?”

His words are a drop of water on a hot rock, sizzling away my resolve instantly.

The question remains: will I let this storm consume my life, or will I retreat back to safety?

Is Holden worth the risk?

Chapter 26

Holden

Day 937 without you: Losing my freedom is nothing compared to losing you.

Ifinally emerge from my office with Jax, only to find Archer alone in the kitchen. I peer around the open space, then go to the patio doors to scan the backyard.

“She went to her room,” Archer says with a sigh.

I turn toward him, expecting a cocky smirk. Instead, his expression is almost solemn.

My brain is immediately on alert, and my heartbeat speeds up. “What happened?”

He frowns. “What do you mean? Nothing happened.”

Jax takes a bite of the brownie he must have picked up, his gaze ping-ponging between Archer and me.

My steps are loud in the otherwise quiet room as I cross it. I lean forward, placing my hands on the edge of the cool kitchen island. Closer to Archer. Narrowing my eyes at him. “Is she okay?”

Archer rolls his eyes. “Always so dramatic.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

He sighs. “She was okay when she went upstairs.”

I knew it. “But she wasn’t before?”

“I went outside, and she was crying. But I don’t know why. She didn’t tell me.”

I want to wrap my hands around his throat for not giving me this information the second we entered the room. And he knows it too.

He lifts a brow. “Don’t give me that look. Just because you want to get into her panties doesn’t mean you get the right to everything else about her too.”

It only takes me a few long strides to get around the island to Archer’s side. My hands connect with his chest in a hard shove. “What’s your fucking problem?”

Jax steps between us, holding a hand toward both of us. “Whoa, let’s calm down, okay?”

My chest heaves, filling with oxygen. I try to calm down, knowing I’m overreacting. I don’t even know why. If it’s about Olivia, I’ve always been slightly irrational, I guess. I told myself it was because I was protecting her and taking better care of her than my sister. If I said that out loud, Archer would laugh straight in my face. Rightfully so.

I stare at my best friend. He’s breathing like a bull, ready for a fight. I’m unsure if what happened with Olivia triggered him, but something is going on.

Taking a step closer, I try to get past Jax. “Is there something you want to say to me?”

“Fuck you.” He storms off, barging out of the patio doors and down the path toward the pool house.

Jax scrubs a hand over his head. “Shit. What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing.” I grab my nape with both hands and close my eyes.

My brain is spinning, and I know what I have to do. Deep down, I understand why Archer is so upset, or at least one of the reasons, because I’d probably feel no different if the roles were reversed. We butt heads sometimes because we’re too similar—we are protective to the bone. I knew he’d get attached to Olivia in no time, the same way he did back then.

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