Page 24 of Chaos & Corruption

I shriek and he steps closer, his eyes lock with mine.

“Stay away from Jennings,” he warns. Pressing his palm against the tile over my head, he cages me in and leans even closer.

So close I can see droplets of water clinging to his eyelashes.

Alex is a pretty handsome guy on the regular, but wet and broody? He’s fucking gorgeous.

“I mean it Victoria, stay the fuck away from him. He’s bad news.”

“Like you?” I deadpan.

He blinks, his gaze dropping to my lips for a split second before those brown eyes lift and bore into mine.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about but—”

I cut him off and inch closer.

“I know about the Scorpio Society,” I hiss.

His dark brows pinch together.

“And you think I’m part of that?”

I don’t respond. Instead, I swipe a hand over my face, pushing the water away from my eyes. I’m drenched. We both are.

Talk about causing a scene…

He lowers his hand and takes a step backward.

“You think I’m part of the Scorpio Society,” he says in a gruff whisper.

Until this moment I did, or at the very least I thought it was a possibility, but looking at him, listening to the strain in his voice as he says those words—I don’t think so.

Not anymore.

Shaking his head, he pushes his fingers through his hair and stares at me. I silently will him to tell me I’m wrong. To make sense of everything for me.

To be the friend I need.

“This ends now,” he clips and reaches to turn the water off. He scans the length of me, and I try to cross my arms in a poor attempt to cover myself, but my sports bra does nothing to hide my hard nipples. “Do you have a change of clothes?”

I nod.

“Go get changed,” he orders. I’m about to argue with him, but he grabs my wrist and steps closer to me. “You’re coming back to my apartment and we’re clearing the air once and for all.”

I lift my chin and meet his gaze. Swallowing, I ask, “How do I know I can trust you?”

“Matt Jennings.”

Not comprehending what he has to do with any of this, I narrow my eyes.

“What?”

“Didn’t catch the tattoo of the scorpion crawling up his neck, did you?”

I didn’t.

“Go change, Victoria,” Alex whispers. “Now.”

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