Page 20 of Fire Bound

“Ja—” My name is cut off when I grab her arm and pull her with me as I stalk out of this godforsaken room. “What are you doing?”

She staggers behind me, the high heels and copious amount of alcohol in her system making her unsteady on her feet.

“They’re about to come up here searching for the reason he fell,” I answer over my shoulder as we move toward the back staircase. “Do you really want to be standing in there when they come asking questions?”

She tries tugging her arm from my grip, but I hold on tight. “Sure, why not? I’ll tell them some fucking lunatic with no impulse control dumped the poor guy’s drunk ass over the edge.”

Tskingat her under my breath, I drag her down the stairs. “That’s not very nice.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not in the mood to be nice to you, Jax?” she snaps at me.

“I don’t know. How many times have you said it so far? I’m thinking multiply that number by five and it may start to finally click for me.”

We finally make it down the stairs, but she’s moving too slow for my liking. I pause so abruptly she slams into my back, but before she has a chance to recover, I’m turning around and lifting her over my shoulder.

“What the hell? Jax! Put me down right now!” Her hands slap repeatedly at my lower back.

My hand grips the back of her thigh, keeping her in place. “I bet right about now you’re wishing you were wearing panties.”

There’s a startled squeal before her hands stop assaulting me and they try to desperately tug her short dress down to cover herself. The angle is awkward, and she can’t reach. Chuckling, I yank the dress down for her. “I’ve got it,” I assure with a pat on her ass.

She snarls at me, “I’m going to tie you to your bed and skin you alive!”

“Kinky.”

Her claws dig into my lower back and side as she slashes them at me. It hurts, but she can make me bleed all she wants. “What the hell are you doing here? I told you to leave me alone.Repeatedly.”

I ignore her question, but I don’t know how to answer it. No response I give her will be okay.

Pushing open the back door with my shoulder, I carry her outside. She never stops fighting and thrashing around. Her claws have turned my lower back into a massacre by now.

I bring her down the alleyway farther away from the club until we reach a shadowy area blocked in by stacks of empty crates and boxes. She staggers on her feet for a second when I place her back on the ground.

Remi tugs her dress down and pushes her mussed hair away from her face. Breathing hard, she glares daggers at me. “Your inability to follow a simple instruction is going to be the death of you someday and with each passing day, I’m starting to think I may be your executioner.” She spits her words like venom. “I don’t know what just happened in there or why, but it was bullshit.”

I look blandly back at the club we just left. “You really wanted that fucknut to touch you?”

“WhatI want orwhoI want does not concern you, hellhound.” Remi marches closer until there are only a few centimeters between our chests. “You have no say in what I do. You gave up the opportunity to have a say a year ago. Or did you forget?”

My jaw clenches at the memory. “I remember.”

“Do you?” She raises her brows in question. “Do you remember what you told me? What you said to me when I stood before you and bared everything to you?” Her hands shove violently at my chest as anger overtakes her. “Do you? Do you remember what my heart sounded like when you broke it? I do.” Her hands turn into fists and she beats them against my chest. I stand there and let her.

If this is what she needs, I’ll give it to her. There are a lot of things that I can’t give her, but this is one of the few things I can.

“You broke my heart and I’m trying to fix it. I’m fucking trying,” she bites out. I stagger back a step as her fist connects with my jaw, but I still don’t try to stop her. “But you keep showing up and ruining everything! You left me and I found Gage. I was healing but then you came back andruinedit. You don’t get a say in how I choose to fix myself, not when you’re the one whodestroyedme.”

“It was never my intention to hurt you, Remington.” That’s the truth. I thought I was saving her from getting hurt. Saving herfromme.

Remington is more than hurt. She’s broken, and she’s started to self-destruct. She’s a beautiful disaster, a piece of art falling apart before my eyes.

“No, you don’t get to do that,” Remi snaps at me. “You don’t get to make what happened okay. Just like you’re not allowed to keep showing up where I am. You can’t watch me stitch myself back together because if you do, I won’t ever be whole again. Every time you’re near me, the wounds I just fixed split open, and I bleed all over again.” My chest aches from her assault, each time her fist pounds into me, I swallow a grunt.

A year ago, when this first all started and I put the distance between us, I thought it would be easier to stay away from her. I thought I would be strong enough to do what is right, but the absolute primal need I have to be near her is hard to suppress. It doesn’t help that my wolf is just as desperate to be close to her. I’m usually able to ignore him, but when it comes to Remington, I can’t.

“I just want you to be okay.”

“Well, I’m not okay!” She shoves me back a step with an angry growl. “Why do you even care, Jax? You’re the one who started all of this. You didn’t want me too close.Youturned me away. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

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