It doesn’t take much to piss me off, butthis?
 
 Seeing Aria tremble with tears flooding her rosy pink cheeks at the thought of some fuckingman?I can rip a man apart. I can hurt him physically, destroy him mentally. A man I can deal with.
 
 But an unnecessarily insecure woman?
 
 No.
 
 I can’t believe how she views herself. If I saw Aria out in the world, I’d be captivated, fucking intrigued, and I’d need to own her.
 
 Like now, actually.
 
 I know society is a cunt. I don’t like it, many people don’t, but we all have to dance to its pretty little tune or we’re fucked over. I know I’m blessed with good looks and a body with high metabolism and fuck knows what else because I don’t have to do much to keep trim and bulky. Doors have opened for me in life because of my looks, confidence, and body. It’s a shambolic state of affairs, truth be told, but I can see that society has taken a rock to Aria’s self-esteem and broken it into a thousand pieces.
 
 It hurts me when it hurts her.
 
 My chest aches with a longing to scoop all the little pieces up and glue them back together, making sure she is as good as new, because she doesn’t deserve this.
 
 No woman does.
 
 I know assholes like the jocks she’s referring to; they don’t see beauty—they destroy it. They crave the confirmation from society that they’re achieving exactly what they’re meant to, and that right there is the fucking problem. We don’tneedto achieve anything—the end goal is being content. Not rich and skinny, or ripped to fuck. Who wants to live like that, living off shitty leaf shakes and running miles every day?
 
 Well, Morgan, I guess.
 
 Butheloves Aria’s body as much as I do. So much so it makes me jealous, because I’d love to be the only man here she was with.
 
 But fuck, I’mgladshe’s being adored. She needs more of it, and I’m going to make sure she gets it.
 
 “He was funny, at first.” Aria squints before sighing. “Can I please have the sheets back?”
 
 “Are you cold?” I ask, tilting my head.
 
 “Yes.”
 
 I know she’s lying, but I’m not being a dick about it. I’ve made my point. I reach down and grab the sheets, thrusting them into her arms. She covers herself, and it’s a fucking shame really, but then she speaks, and she’s firmer than before. She’s more confident when she’s covering her body.
 
 Fucking wild.
 
 “He asked me on a date, and I was so flattered.” Aria stares down at her lap, her hair hiding her from me.
 
 I instinctively reach for her hair band on the side table and hand it to her. She gazes at it, then I watch as she drags her hair into a messy ponytail at the nape of her neck, and fuck if I’m not distracted.
 
 “He was so nice.”
 
 I wait, and it doesn’t take her long.
 
 “Until we moved in together. Then it was the odd comment, you know?”
 
 No, I don’t.
 
 “Enlighten me,” I drawl, crossing my arms over my chest.
 
 Aria presses her lips into a thin line. “He was just a dick.”
 
 “What did he say?”
 
 I need to know, because I’m going to make this cunt pay.
 
 “Just the usual shit,” Aria remarks with a shrug. “Don’t eat that, shouldn’t you be watching your weight? And, oh, you’d be so pretty if you were thinner.”