Page 99 of Start A War (Saint View Psychos)

“Is there a workplace rule about colleagues dating?” I knew full well that there was no such thing. And even if there were, I could have terminated it in a second.

He glowered at me.

“Didn’t think so. Careful, Nash. You sound jealous.”

He dragged his gaze away. “You’re too young for me, Bliss. You don’t want to go there.”

The words slipped out of my mouth before I could even stop them. “Says who?”

He spun around so quick I had no time to react. In a second, he had my back to the wall, caged between his arms. His nose ran up the side of my neck while he inhaled. “You have no idea of the things I’m into.”

“Try me,” I whispered back, instantly forgetting everything Sandra had been filling my head with.

His gaze dropped to my lips, and he let out a groan, pressing his body against mine.

He was hard. So very hard it took my breath away.

The door slammed open, and Vincent rushed through.

“What the fuck?” Nash jolted back.

I held a hand up to Vincent in a stop motion. “I’m okay.”

He stopped instantly, halting in his tracks. His gaze flickered between the two of us. “He’s not hurting you?”

The growl that started up in Nash’s chest was feral and angry. “What the fuck do you mean? Of course I’m not hurting her!” His gaze tore to mine. “What is this? You’re scared of being alone with me?”

I shook my head, instantly knowing how stupid I’d been to let my imagination get away from me. “No, no. I’m not.”

Nash’s hurt expression gutted me. “Yeah, you clearly were. Enough that you had your guard dog follow us in. What the fuck did I do, Bliss?”

I couldn’t bear the expression on his face. I felt awful. I knew in that moment that no matter what Sandra thought, and no matter what Axel’s emails had said, Nash wasn’t the one who’d killed Axel. “Nothing! Nothing! I just let someone get in my head, and it all got confused, and then I found some emails about the money Axel was paying you…”

Nash staggered back, running a hand through his hair. “This is about that stupid money? Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“I was going to!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Sure you were. Right after you took out a restraining order? Not that it’s any of your business, but I never even wanted that money. A while back, I did a stint in jail. Axel started paying me when I got out to make up for the money I didn’t earn while I was inside. Plus some.”

I blinked. “Why would he do that?”

“To ease his guilt. It was his fault I went away. Or so he believed anyway. I tried telling him a hundred times to get over it, and that he would have done it for me too. But he needed the money to make it right in his own head.”

“He let you take the fall?”

“More like Nash fell on a sword for him,” Rebel said from the doorway.

I hadn’t even heard her come in. She didn’t seem too pleased with me, and I couldn’t blame her.

Nash shook his head. “I wasn’t innocent. We were young and stupid. We were both in the wrong, but there wasn’t any point to both of us doing time for it.”

I had to try to explain myself. I hated the disappointed expression on his face. “Axel was going to sell Psychos. I found an email from a broker. He would have stopped paying you. That gives you…”

It all sounded so stupid now when I wasn’t all wrapped up in my own fears.

Nash’s eyes flashed. “Motive? Is that where you’re going with this, Bliss?” He leaned hard on the door behind him. “Jesus fuck. Anything else you want to accuse me of? Rape? Torture? How about global fucking warming?”

He was so angry. And it was mixed with a healthy dose of hurt and betrayal.

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