Page 73 of Inflame

His fingers tilt my chin up so I can look at him. “You are freaking beautiful. Don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise. That bastard is playing a dangerous game and is about to swallow his teeth if he thinks he can get away with mistreating you in front of me. He is insecure of just how attractive you are to others.”

“What? That doesn’t even make sense. If he thinks I am attractive to others, then he would be treating me like gold to keep me.”

Nic shakes his head, acting like he is in on some secret. Whatever he thinks he knows, he doesn’t. He is just cocky enough to act like he does.

“There’s only so far you can push me before I crack. I can’t keep doing this, Claire.”

He is using the same statement I used on him just a couple of days ago. “Doing what?”

“Pretending.”

I pull back from his touch. “You are confusing me, Nic. What are you talking about?”

“Pretending that I don’t want to spread you out and slide my entire tongue into your sweet pussy. Pretending I don’t want to rip your clothes off and sink into you so deeply that the only man on your mind is me. Pretending that I don’t go to sleep every night fantasizing about the sounds you will make when I have you writhing around underneath me in ecstasy.”

I shake my head. “You are delusional. You might be pretending, Nic. But I am certain that I choose Ethan.”

“Why is that, Claire? Huh? What does he have to offer?”

“A future,” I say flatly. I don’t want to be having this conversation right now. I turn to walk away. Nic is not helping matters. If anything, he is just adding to my confusion and Ethan’s temper.

“You keep romanticizing someone who is hurting you,” Nic calls out. “And when you finally come to terms that you made a bad choice by staying with him, I just hope you are recognizable and not some shattered version of yourself.”

My feet glue themselves to the floor as his words shudder through me. What is his problem? I spin around so fast and raise my hands to push at his chest, pressing them against his body. “You act like you are some relationship expert,” I huff out. “When you really know nothing. Stay out of it.”

His eyes flare and twitch. Maybe I said too much. Maybe I am too harsh. But I am tired of fighting and always coming out the loser. I turn around and stomp back to the table. The meal is over. I can’t eat anything without feeling like I could throw up.

“I’m going to go back to the suite,” I say roughly, causing everyone to rise up from their seats. I am so on edge. Being around both Nic and Ethan is causing a turmoil inside me that I have no way of settling easily.

“I’ll go back with you,” Angie openly volunteers. “I could use the company.”

I smile through my tears at my best friend who is so pure at heart. As soon as we are away from the men, I break down and cry. “I’m sorry,” I sniffle. “This trip was supposed to be fun and carefree. And somehow I managed to ruin it all.”

“Claire, you can’t be responsible for how other people act. You can only control your own reaction. Let’s do something fun and relaxing. What do you say?”

“I say that sounds perfect.”

21

NIC

“I’m going to punch Ethan’s face in if he thinks he can interrupt this trip just to prove to everyone how big of an asshole he is,” I grumble to Graham. He best be glad I restrained myself in front of the girls. I’m itching for a fight. The douchebag deserves one too.

Graham and I are having a drink at the hotel bar and left the girls in the suite for a pampering session. Graham arranged for them to have an in-room spa session, while watching chick flicks and snacking on whatever it is that girls snack on. Claire barely ate anything at brunch, and who could blame her for the way her asshole boyfriend kept passive-aggressively putting her down. For someone who should be thrilled to see her after days apart, he sure didn’t act like it.

What a limp dick.

Maxwell wasn’t too fond of the idea of Claire not coming back to his room midday, but this trip isn’t about him and his sensitivity. This trip isn’t even about me, which is the reason why his face isn’t bashed in. However, he can only push me so far before I snap. Sharing a table with him at brunch and not hitting him should award me a trophy. But now I am all out of patience.

Seeing Claire with tears about to overflow from her eyes and the bastard who kept causing her unnecessary pain was enough to make my temper flare. Who does he think he is? He’s no Casanova. That much, I am certain.

But that is how abusers are. And Ethan is one hundred percent that. He will degrade his woman so badly that she feels indebted to him. Slowly and methodically, he’ll break her down until the person she once was doesn’t exist anymore. It is brainwashing at its finest, and another reason why women don’t leave relationships. They don’t believe there is anything better for them.

Problem is, he is pulling his shit in front of witnesses—ones who have no problem getting their knuckles bloody.

Graham shakes his glass, rattling the ice cubes against the sides. “Just relax. Things have a way of working themselves out. I need to ask, though. Why do you care?”

I shrug. “Claire is technically my employee still, and it is hard to not have sympathy for her when she is attaching herself to someone like him. What does she see in that man? She can do so much better.”

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