Page 96 of Blindside Sinner

My jaw nearly drops to the floor. “‘Forbid’? Really?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Who the hell do you think?—”

We’re a mirror image of each other now. Both standing with our arms crossed, vicious glares on our faces, and feet spreadwide like we’ll attack at any moment. “That’s right,” he spits. “I fucking forbid it.”

“Oh, youfuckingforbid it.” I nod sagely, as if I’m giving the idea of being forbidden some conscious consideration. Which I’m most definitely not. “Well, that makes a difference, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“I’m sure in your head it makes sense. Tell you what: why don’t you sit here and think on that, maybe make a list, talk it out with your friends, and when I get home, we can talk about it?”

I wave saucily to Adrian and Dix behind him before I focus on his face again. The red in his cheeks. The darkness in his eyes. That vein, damn close to bursting.

“Sloan…”

But I barely hear him. I’m already turning and marching away.

“If you walk out that door, Sloan?—”

I don’t hear the rest because I have, indeed, walked out the door.

I can’t help but wonder if he’s crazy enough to follow.

48

BECK

Dixon chuckles behind me as we all watch the door slam shut hard enough to rattle the windowpanes. “You sure handled the hell out of that, Beckster. Bravo. A masterclass of control.”

I shoot him the bird. “Shut the fuck up, Dix.”

“Yeah, Dix,” Adrian chimes in in a high-pitched jokey voice, “shut up. He can’t help it that he has no idea how to deal with a strong-willed woman with legs that go up to her tits.”

I spin, stalk to the couch, and grab LaDuke by his shirt. “Don’t fucking talk about her body like that.”

“Ah, okay. I’ll just think about it then.” I let him go and slug him in the shoulder as hard as I can. He stumbles backwards, but he’s already chuckling. “Damn, son—you’ve got it baaad for this one.”

“Hell yeah, he does,” Dixon agrees. “Bad.Like, bad bad.”

I leave them both behind me in a huff as I storm around the front of the couch to pace. “What the fuck is she doing?” I mutter to myself under my breath. “She’s just inviting trouble in thatdress. Every pussyhound from here to L.A. is going to be after her. She doesn’t know how to protect herself from that kind of thing.”

“How do you know?” Dix asks as he and Adrian resume the video game. Apparently, I was muttering louder than I realized. “She’s found a way to protect herself from you, hasn’t she?”

I haven’t mentioned anything to them. Why would I? Nothing really happened. Just a little wandering hands. No harm, no foul.

“You don’t know everything you think you know, Dix.”

His eyes go wide. “You’ve been tapping that? And she just walked out on you in that dress?” He laughs hysterically. “Dude… you might’ve just met your match.”

I shake my head. “I haven’t been tapping anything.”

“Well…” LaDuke sets his controller on the table and sits back. “Maybe if you were, she wouldn’t be going out in a come-get-me dress and fuck-me shoes.”

He has a point, and there’s nothing in this world quite like Adrian LaDuke having a point to piss me off.

But I shake it off. She’s already gone. Her car just zoomed past the front window around the driveway to the street. Now, I’m going to end up sitting here holding my damn dick all night waiting for her to get home.

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