Page 51 of Mad As Hell

“So?” I prompted. “What’s it gonna be?”

He gave a slow, almost imperceptible nod. “I trust you.”

Any sense of triumph I felt was quickly squashed when he snaked an arm around my waist and pulled my front flush to his. I damn near swallowed my tongue at the hard length pressed against my stomach.

Ryan lowered his mouth to the shell of my ear. “I don’t trust him.” He inclined his head to where Charles was still waiting with Bex. “Just remember, Maddie, I’ll be watching. And soccer players don’t need hands to play.”

He pressed a hard, fast kiss to the corner of my mouth, like he was claiming me in front of everyone, before letting me go. I rocked back on my heels, my legs a little wobbly, as he stalked back to his seat and sank down.

Meanwhile, I was still standing like a thunderstruck idiot, my lips tingling where his had touched them. I was seconds away from lifting my fingers to my lips to make sure they were still there when Ryan met my gaze.

He reached down and grabbed his beer, lifting it casually in a way that screamed, your move.

His friends were all looking at me, in addition to half the people outside. Ryan and I were prime material for these gossiping assholes, and we were definitely giving them a show. All eyes were firmly fixed on us for the foreseeable future.

I pivoted and walked back to Bex and Charles.

“That looked like it went… well,” Bex said lamely.

“Are we dancing?” Charles asked.

I swallowed, feeling Ryan’s gaze pressing on my back. “No. We’re drinking.”

CHAPTER 14

RYAN

My girl was wasted.

I took another sip of my beer as I watched Maddie toss her head back and laugh at something that English twat said. Irritation licked through my blood as I contemplated walking over and smashing my bottle against the side of his head.

This had been going on for more than two hours now. I’d watched Maddie toss back drink after drink, Bex meeting her almost one-for-one. Charles, to his credit, had stopped after two and had taken to watching them.

It might have even been a cool move if I didn’t know for a fact he would happily take my rightful place in Maddie’s life—and between her perfect thighs—in a heartbeat.

Fucker.

I’d been forced to sit on the edges and watch as Madison got drunk. Uncharacteristic for her, or at least I assumed. Nothing chafed more than realizing all the ways I didn’t know her, but in the weeks that we’d known each other, I’d never seen her have more than two drinks in as many hours.

Now? Now she was the life of the fucking party, and I had a front row seat to the spectacle as she shook her ass in that barely there skirt while dancing with Bex. Wisely, she’d decided not to call my bluff and hadn’t danced with the Duke of Douches.

Just then she stumbled in her heels, and Charles reached out to steady her by grabbing her elbow.

There was nothing sexual in the move, and I could admit Charles Fuckington the Fourth or whatever hadn’t been anything more than platonic in his actions, but he was still touching my girl.

Fuck that.

My fiancée.

I dropped the bottle into the grass and started to push myself up.

Ash slapped a hand across my chest. “Don’t.”

I glared at him, beyond annoyed.

He inclined his head toward Maddie. “She’s happy right now, bro. And he isn’t being a perv or doing anything sketchy. Let it play out.”

My teeth clenched together.

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