Page 48 of Marked

I shrug off his touch and step away from him. “I’m fine.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Jack points out. I whirl towards him, and he crosses his arms over his chest, looking at me with a neutral expression. “I told you if he tried to grab you, I would intervene.”

“And I told you I can handle myself, Detective.” I slap his notepad against his chest, making him uncross his arms to catch it.

His storm-colored eyes harden as he steps closer to me, notepad crumpled in his fist. “I know you can. That wasn’t the point.”

“Then what was?” I ask, turning away from him to head to my truck. He follows me, much to my own annoyance, but I ignore him as I open my door and pull out my pack of smokes. I briefly realize I haven’t been smoking as much as I normally do, but the sudden urge can’t be ignored. As soon as I lift it to my lips and start to light it, Jack rips it away.

Uh, I think the fuck not.

“Excuse me, who the fuck do you think you are?” I demand as he crushes it in his fist.

“Smoking isn’t going to help the situation.” Jack says, eyes narrowed at me.

“You’re not helping the situation!” I shout and ignore the glances from the officers nearby. “I’ll do what I want, when I want. Do you understand that, Detective Khoury? We fucked. Yay for us. But that’s all it was. You getting your dick wet doesn’t warrant you a say in my life, understand?”

A flurry of emotions flash across his eyes before I can read them, but the lingering one I understand all too well.

Anger is one of my best and longest friends.

He opens his mouth to say something but seems to think better of it. He audibly snaps his mouth shut, shoots me an angry glare, turns, and makes his way towards Scott. Which is good because I don’t think I can drive him back to the station without sucker punching him.

Pulling out another cigarette, I light it up and take a deep inhale before sliding into the driver seat of my truck. I send Scott a quick text saying I’m taking the rest of the day off before throwing the truck in drive and heading to Taylor’s house.

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