Page 30 of Rush of Jealousy

“Sweetheart, give the phone to Ethan, please.”

I do as I am told and offer my phone to Ethan. I’m not even sure how well they know each other, but knowing that Graham has access to all of the clients in the Entice database, I assume he has done his research—even if it is from the sidelines.

I stand in silence as the men exchange some messages back and forth with minimal clues from the lack of words Ethan speaks. When he hands the phone back to me, I am shocked when Graham sounds like he is already in his car.

“Stay with Claire until I can be there. Do not leave her side. I mean it. It should only take about ten minutes,” he directs. “Just wait for me, baby.”

“Okay, I will wait.”

6

Ethan guides me and Claire out onto the front porch, and we watch as the ambulance drives away with Tracy. I keep alert for anyone who is on their phone or looking guilty. I want to force myself back into the house to look for Paul. I want to keep snooping in his room. I want to find out who Tracy was seen with prior to the episode.

Claire links arms with me. “You are getting too close to all of this.”

I give her a weak nod. She is right. But I cannot stop seeing Tracy’s convulsing body in my mind. I am way too involved to back down now. For the sake of protecting us girls, I need to find out the answers.

“I mean it, Angie.”

I look up into her bloodshot eyes and give her a sympathetic look. “I know,” I mouth. What else can I say? When I have my mind set on something, I cannot just give up easily. Maybe it’s a character flaw, or maybe it’s some quality inside me that I should embrace rather than try to keep contained.

I watch the curb as Graham pulls up and exits the driver’s side in a hurry. He trots up the steps, pushes past a cluster of people loitering at the top, and finds me instantly over in the corner. It’s as if his whole body knew where I was located like a magnetic force.

He pulls me into his arms, and I melt into him. He smells like expensive soap and a rainforest. It is my new favorite scent on him. His five o’clock shadow makes him look edgier, and I revel in the feel of his body pressed up to mine. Strong fingers rub into my hair, and I moan at the tingles running up my spine. He kisses the top of my head with lips so gentle and reverent.

I want to stay like this. Just like this.

“Let’s go,” he says gruffly.

I pull away a few inches just to look up into his eyes. “Where?”

“Anywhere but here.”

I nod. I am one hundred percent okay with that.

“Thanks for looking out for her, man,” he says with a nod directed at Ethan. He ignores Claire entirely—probably blames her for bringing me here in the first place.

I can only wish that he stops using her as a scapegoat for everything bad that ever happens to me. She isn’t going anywhere in my life, even if she decides to move out of state for her dream internship. She is my family. Distance will never change that fact.

Graham grabs my hurt hand and kisses the bandage. For a second I forget that I don’t belong to him anymore. But the way he charges in and commands the space makes me feel that in his head, nothing has changed. He has not changed. He is still the same controlling Graham. He is just reining in his obsessive tendencies and wrapping them with a shiny layer of charm.

I follow Graham quietly to his car. He opens the passenger side and helps me in. His touch is so feathery and gentle that I almost don’t even feel him snap the belt around my waist. He shuts my door and types something into his phone before finding his place behind the wheel.

The purr of the engine comes to life, and he zooms away from the frat house.

I lean my head against the cool window and try to keep myself from freaking out. I want to ask Graham questions. I want to weasel more information out of him that I know he is keeping from me.

He clears his throat, but his eyes stay straight ahead on the road. “I don’t want what happened to Penny to happen to you.”

I sit in silence and wait for him to continue.

“You and she are a lot alike. Determined, stubborn as hell, and smart. But in the end, she got caught up in something that was much bigger than she was. She paid the price for her naivete. Angela, I need you to stay out of this mess. I need you to trust me to handle it. I am handling it.”

“I can’t,” I whisper.

He slams his hand down on the steering wheel, making me jump upright over the sound.

“And why the hell not?” he asks angrily.

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