Page 73 of Break

Kerrington

Something’s up with Nicole. When walking out of the restaurant with Mason, she looked terrified, and that same expression is back on her face now.

TWlights up her phone screen. My protective instincts go ballistic and without saying a word, I pick up her cell from the charging station.

She’s on me so fast, I drop the damn thing, and it falls under the bed.

“Don’t,” she snarls.

My hackles rise. She’s hiding something big from us. This TW person has called her before. “Who is that, Nicole?”

She glowers at me.

My gaze narrows. “What don’t you want us to know?”

It’s like she’s turned into a rabid animal—all teeth and confusion and rage. “It’s none of your business.”

Landon edges closer to us like he’s afraid of getting bit. “Youareour business.”

Nicole shakes her head and drops to her knees, frantically searching for the phone that’s ringing again. Before I can stop her, she runs out of the room, rips open the balcony door and throws the goddamn thing over the railing.

What. The. Fuck.

Breathing heavily, she backs up, running smack into Landon, and he wraps his arms around her, whispering calming words I can’t hear because my pulse is swishing in my ears.

Tossing a phone twenty-seven floors down is a little too dramatic, even for Nicole. What the fuck is going on?

I storm over to the two of them, but Landon holds his hand out, silently stopping me. We look at each other, and he shakes his head, telling me to back off because now isn’t the time to push for answers.

But if not now, then when? All we do is hold off. Stall out. Wait, wait, wait. Nothing gets accomplished this way and I fucking hate it.

“No.” I make my way over to them. “I’ve waited long enough, Landon. This is bullshit.”

“She’s upset.”

“Coddling her will not help.” I get he wants to keep her safe and all, but that can be done without shying away from the hard truths Nicole has got to face. And so must we. “We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on.”

Nicole shoves away from us and crosses her arms. The sheet she’d been wrapped in is long gone. She lost it when she went diving under the bed for her phone.

“Who was calling you?” My mind races through possibilities. “Who is TW?” Is it a new fiancé? If so, I think I might commit murder. I almost lost her to Mason. I’m not about to give her away to some shmuck in a Seersucker suit her parents approve of because his last name is famous, and his bank account is fat. Fuck that. Now I’m furious. “Who was it, Nicole?”

“No one you need to worry about,” she snaps back.

Covering her breasts and pussy with her hands, she backs away from us.

“Jesus Christ.” Landon hurries into the bedroom and brings out the comforter to drape around her. “Sit down. Both of you.”

I don’t budge, and neither does Nicole.

I’ve always been in love with her stubborn side. Right now, however, it’s pissing me the fuck off. “Sit.”

“Yousit.”

“Brat.”

She flips me the bird.

Fuck me running, but her spicy behavior makes blood rush to my cock. If she wants to play hardball, I’m totally down for that. “If you don’t sit now, I’ll make it so you can’t sit later.”

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