Page 282 of Branded
She was mine.
She—
Slowly, her fingers slid from my hair, her body inched back.
Yup. I hated Matt. Most of all for interrupting.
Especially as I watched her lick her swollen lips, blink her heavily lidded eyes. As I watched her press her hands to pinkened cheeks, and?—
As I watched her…back away from me.
Moving toward the door.
I tucked away my temper, glanced up at her boss. “You have a first aid kit?”
Did my voice sound like I’d scrubbed down my vocal cords with steel wool? Maybe. But I wasn’t letting Jules get away from me. Which sounded bad, I knew. The problem was that my dick was controlling too much of my mind at that moment. I just didn’t have it in me to make it sound good or smooth.
And I needed to make sure she was okay.
Needed to make sure I hadn’t just fucked up all that had begun to grow between us.
And maybe I needed to kiss her again.
Focus, Castillo.
I inhaled silently, let the breath out just as quietly.
Then lifted my brows at Matt, wondering if the fucker was going to answer me.
A long, searching look from the other man before he glanced back at Jules, and I knew the moment Matt spotted the scratch marks on her arm because his jaw went tight, a muscle began ticking in his cheek. His gaze flew back to mine, disapproval evident.
Which killed me.
Because that disapproval was well-earned.
My fault the psycho kept showing up here. My fault that Jules was hurt.
“I’ve banned your woman,” Matt said icily.
Your woman.
That stung, but it also had my temper spiking, as stupid as that was. I didn’t have the right to be pissed, not when I was the cause of this situation. I opened my mouth to grit out some gratitude, but Jules spoke first.
“She’s not his woman,” she said softly, stopping at the door, her escape pausing, at least for the moment. “And”—she waited for Matt to look at her—“none of this is Cas’s fault. We’ve all heard him make it clear that he’s not interested. So, it’s not his fault Chelsea can’t get a clue.”
Considering that I didn’t believe the reassurance myself, I didn’t hold it against Matt when the other man’s face didn’t soften, when he didn’t ply me with a bunch of bullshit about this situation being okay.
It wasn’t okay.
My drama had bled into Jules’s life.
Literally.
Jules had bled.
Because of me.
Clenching my jaw until my teeth practically groaned in protest, I strived for calm. “Where is she?” I asked.
