“Whatever you want, I’ll do it so long as we can be together. Everybody will flip out when they find out.”
“Slow down,” she warned. “I never said we were getting back together.”
His face fell, but just a little. “What do you think I’m talking about? I want us to be together, Serenity. And let’s face it, it couldn’t come at a better time for you.”
“Wait. What?” She shook him off—the image of an octopus and all its suckers came to mind—and stood. “What are you talking about?”
“Getting back together. Getting your name out there for something positive after all this. I mean, let’s face it: now that Paul’s dead, there’s no way of knowing when the movie will start filming. They might shelve it for a while, even, or recast. Who knows? You need all the publicity you can get.”
It was like a bucket of cold water being dumped over her head. “Get out of here,” she whispered, shaking. “Now. Don’t ever make me set eyes on you again.”
“Wait.” He stood, palms out in a defensive gesture. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“You mean it,” she sneered. “God, how could I even listen to you for a minute? Next time you show up uninvited at my house, I’ll call the police. I wish you’d try me, I really do.”
“Serenity—”
“Get my name out of your mouth and go! You’ve wasted enough of my time!”
Braxton came out. “What’s going on?” It was clear he already knew, thanks to the stone-cold glare he delivered to Ben.
“I’m going. I’m going.” Ben held his hands up, brushing past Braxton on his way into the house. Braxton followed, probably to make sure he was really leaving.
She sank into the nearest chair, shaking all over. What a mistake that was. What was she thinking, falling for him even for a second? Was there anything in her life that was real?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Don’t come back.” Braxton held the door open for him. This was the guy? This one? Did she have any taste at all? Was his dick made of solid gold? It was like a mystery, one that Braxton wasn’t sure he even wanted to solve.
There he was, giving her credit for having taste and intelligence. Even the smartest woman could be a complete fool for the right man.
“And who are you?” Ben challenged, looking him up and down. It was almost sad, this pathetic kid thinking he even had a chance. Sure, it looked like he worked out a little, but he was dead wrong if he thought that would give him an edge—even without taking the wolf into consideration. Some people’s egos were just that massive.
“My name is Braxton.” That was all he’d say, all this kid needed to know.
“Well, Braxton, watch out for her.” He opened the car door—a black Lamborghini that practically gave Braxton a semi—and shot a knowing look over his shoulder. “You’re just one more in a long line.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. He knew he shouldn’t, that the kid was only trying to get under his skin, but curiosity got the better of him.
Ben’s snide smile widened. “What, you think you’re the only guy she’s gotten close with? I guess you’re here to what? Protect her? Look after her? That’s her thing, man. She knows just how to make a guy feel like she needs him. She wouldn’t know what to do without him. It’s all an act. That’s how she got to me. I admit I fell for it.”
He told himself this was just jealousy, bitterness, but somehow that wasn’t enough. Something about what he said rang true. She’d used Nick, too, hadn’t she? “Oh, yeah? How did she do that to you?”
“Are you serious?” Instead of getting into the car, Ben took a few steps back toward where Braxton waited near the front door. “No, I guess you haven’t been around for very long if we never met before now. When she first came to town, she didn’t know anybody. When she finished using up all those people she got friendly with, the ones who have all those online fans, she set her sights a little higher. Hey, listen, I don’t blame her for having ambition. She knows what she wants. She always has.”
“Well, she’s not going to get much out of me when it comes to that.”
Ben’s appraising gaze moved over him. “There are all sorts of things she wants. She has her fame. She has her movie—at least, she had it. Word on the street is they’re going to shelve it for a while.”
“Oh yeah? Did you hear that from a reliable source?” She would be crushed, completely devastated. No matter what she said, he knew how much it meant to her.
Ben chuckled. “Oh, man. I don’t know if there’s any such thing as a reliable source. Around here, if you hear it from enough people, you take it as a fact. And that’s all I’ve heard all day. The studio wants to hold off on the movie for a little bit, some sort of fake sign of respect to the dead or something. It’s all for show—everything’s for show.”
He went back to his car, calling out one last message over his shoulder. “Remember what I told you. She’ll find a way to use you too.” Braxton chose to let it go—it wasn’t worth pursuing any further. Besides, he didn’t want to make it look like he was too interested.
He almost didn’t want to go back into the house, knowing how she would probably react. He’d been watching the entire time from inside, of course—and the entire time, he’d told himself it was his job. He had to do this. He was protecting her.
All lies, of course. Not to mention the fact that there were things he couldn’t protect her from, situations she got herself into long before they ever met like her ill-advised relationship with the jerk who just left.
She managed to find ways to surprise him—he tended to forget that. When he stepped back into the house, he found her making a smoothie in the kitchen and even humming to herself. It wasn’t bad humming, the sort of humming a person did when they were hell-bent on ignoring some terrible thing that had just happened.
She actually sounded glad. Happy. His wolf didn’t scent any conflict in our, and her pulse moved in a normal, steady beat. What was she thinking?
He didn’t have to wait long to find out. She found him standing in the doorway and held up the blender carafe. “Do you want some?”
He shook his head. “You’re okay after all that stuff with what’s-his-face?”
“Sure.” She didn’t bother pouring the contents of the blender into a glass, instead choosing to take the lid off and drink directly from the carafe.
“Okay.” He found it hard to believe, but she looked and sounded sincere. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t find a crack in her armor. There wasn’t even a dent.
She shrugged. “Listen, I know how he is. I know who he is. It was dumb of me to even entertain him for a few minutes when I should have told you to throw him out before he even had a chance to say a word. He taught me a lot of lessons. I can’t afford to forget them, no matter what’s going on around me.”
He nodded slowly, watching her. She gulped down the thick, green smoothie with gusto. Really, all told, she seemed like a completely different person than the one he’d only argued with less than an hour ago. Maybe the swim had done something for her, or maybe it was the way she’d told off that idiot ex of hers. She felt like she was back in control of things, even if that control was fleeting.
“So you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. All things considered. He doesn’t mean anything really. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“I was never worried about him. I’m worried about you. You are what matters.”
“I appreciate that. But I also can’t stand it when I feel like people are hovering over me and assuming I feel differently than I do. Seriously, there isn’t much to the world that gets under my skin the way that does. Just FYI.” Another long drink from the blender, and this time she came back with a green ring around her mouth which she wiped away with the back of her hand.
“I’ll take that under advisement.”
“Where are the rest of the guys? It’s been so quiet around here this morning.” Now he understood what she wa
s doing, watching her walk back to the living room and out to the doors where she could look out across the patio and pool. If she managed to stay in control of the conversation, he couldn’t ask her any uncomfortable questions. Yes, that explained the high, almost frantic energy now rolling off her.
“They’re still hiking the hills, looking for any evidence that anyone’s been hiding out around here. They found a few cigarette butts but nothing more than that.”
“That’s a pretty steep climb in some places.”
“They’re all in good shape, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
She giggled, keeping her back to him. “Oh, I noticed. Believe me.” Yes, he would just bet she had. Damn that Ben for putting ideas in his head, for making him doubt her, for making him wonder what she saw when she looked at him, at all of them.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I overheard some of what you guys were talking about out there.”
She stiffened, her shoulders rising. “I’m not surprised.”
“It’s my job.”
“To spy on me? No, it’s not.” She turned to him then, her brows lifting. “Well? You listened in. I’m not surprised. What do you think about what you heard?”
“I think Melody needs to learn when to keep things to herself.”
“Melody has a job to do.”
“Did she want the best for you before she decided to air your dirty laundry to other people? Do you even know who she was talking to yesterday after we got back from that office? Do you know half of the people she talks to when she’s always on that thing?”
“What, do you think she’s the one behind this now? Why do I get the feeling you’re throwing darts at a dartboard and hoping something will finally stick?”
That was a good question. He hated how succinctly she managed to sum up exactly what he was struggling with. “No, I’m not blaming Melody for anything except talking too much. Considering that nobody was supposed to know why we were here and exactly who hired us, she doesn’t seem to have a problem spreading gossip around.”
A frown touched her face. “That’s just how it is. Don’t blame this on her.”
“Like I said, I’m not blaming anything more than Ben knowing about what happened yesterday on her. I’m not saying you have to be ashamed of what happened, but it seemed like the sort of thing you might want to keep to yourself and only tell the people who you thought deserved to know. Did you really think Ben deserved to know? Here he was, trying to take advantage of what happened to you. Would he have been one of the people you chose to tell if given the choice?”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” She started out of the room, heading for the foyer and stairs.
“Don’t walk away! This is too important.”
“Says who?” she fired back without breaking her stride.
“Says me! Dammit, Serenity. Don’t you care who you let into your life? Don’t you care about their intentions? For somebody with all these defense mechanisms, you leave yourself wide open because you trust the wrong people.”
She was halfway up the stairs before she whirled on him. For a second, he thought she might throw what was left of her smoothie in his face. He even prepared himself for it.
For once, she showed self-control. “You know, I trust you. Or I did, though you’re starting to make me regret it. Am I wrong to trust you?”
“You know I’m not talking about myself.”
She snickered. “But I am. Can I trust you? Can I trust you to be professional and not let personal stuff get in the way?”
“Where did that come from?”
“Oh, please. You think I don’t see what this is? All your possessiveness? Just because we had one little kiss."
It was incredible, the conflict that sparked in his head at the merest mention of that kiss. On one hand, it infuriated him, the very idea of her assuming he’d let the kiss go to his head like he was some little boy with a crush on the cool girl. The sarcasm which hung heavy in her voice told him that was exactly how she saw him. Like the poor, pathetic nobody who thought he might’ve had a chance with her for a split second.
At the same time, his wolf howled at the memory. At the deep, lingering knowledge of what had passed between them. It was more than a kiss, so much more. He suspected she knew it too, no matter how she fought against the knowledge.
He managed to keep the wolf at bay but just barely. He had to wonder how much longer he’d be able to manage this. Just how much control did any of them have over this other side of themselves? This girl had no idea what she was messing with.
The wolf didn’t like to be insulted any more than it liked being kept away from what it wanted.
“For one thing, we’ve been talking about things like this from the beginning. Before we kissed.” He put heavy emphasis on the word so she knew what he was talking about. “It’s childish of you to make this about that. It’s beneath you.”
“Stop acting like you know me. Why does everybody act like they know me better than I know myself?”
“You mean why do people insist on giving you credit for intelligence and maturity? Because that’s all I’m trying to do. I’m not asking anything from you except honesty and a little bit of respect. That’s it. It seems like I can get one or the other but never both at the same time. And never as much as I would like of either.”
“Well I’m sorry, but maybe I don’t feel like giving you what you want. Maybe I’m too tired of always having to give people what they want, being what people want me to be.”
“Then by all means, push me away—the one person who doesn’t want anything from you. I’m not trying to use you. I’m not trying to control you. I only want what’s good for you, and you doubt me and second guess me at every turn. What do I have to do to prove that I mean what I say?”
He climbed another step, then another, closing the distance between them. The thing was no matter how she infuriated him—and she was doing a stellar job of it just then—he wanted to grab her, to take her in his arms. No, to throw her over his shoulder, smoothie and all, and carry her the rest of the way up the stairs. He’d barricade the bedroom door and throw her onto the bed and make sure she never forgot him for a minute, not for the rest of her life.
He’d make sure he stayed with her, that she felt his touch, his kiss, his claws on her flawless skin long after it ended. She’d know what it meant to be truly, wholly herself, to meet part of her soul she had no idea existed, the part that craved more, more, always more.
He felt it in her. It called to him. And when her eyes widened and her breath caught, he wondered if she felt it, too.
She stayed still, frozen in place, staring at him with those wide, shining eyes. “Well?” he whispered, drawing closer still. “What do I have to do? How can I prove that I mean what I say? What do you want from me?”
Her pulse jumped in her throat, fluttering almost too fast. He was afraid he might be overwhelming her—or was it the wolf doing this to her? He realized he didn’t know, but maybe this was too much. The other presence inside him was reaching out to her, demanding she let it in. It was enough to make him fall back a step, questioning himself and hoping he hadn’t gone too far without meaning to.
The last thing he wanted was to scare her away.
Her phone was in the pocket of her robe, and its buzz drew both their attention. She looked down at herself with an expression of surprise, like she didn’t know how she’d ended up with a blender full of green smoothie in one hand. Like he’d had her under a spell, something like that. Maybe he had. He made a mental note to ask Jace about this since he was the only one with any real experience when it came to suspected mates.
That was the first time he’d used that word, even to himself. His mate. Was she? Was that what all of this was leading up to? If so, he wondered who he’d pissed off in a former life to deserve this.
“Here, please.” She handed him the blender carafe while reaching for her phone with the other hand.
“What am I, yo
ur servant?” he asked even though he accepted the thing.
She answered the call with a frown. “Hello?”
Even though the phone was to her ear, he heard what was on the other end: a high-pitched, rasping voice, the sort of sound that reminded him of nails running down a chalkboard. Like something out of a nightmare.
“Did you see what I did for you?” that voice screeched. “You ungrateful little bitch! What do I have to do for you? What will it take?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was a nightmare—that voice, that screeching voice, and the rage that was behind it. It was the rage that scared her worst of all, a rage so thick she could practically taste it.
Her knees went out, her legs buckling. She landed on the nearest stair with a thud. She was still holding the phone to her ear, her stomach churning and threatening to send what she had just drunk spewing out all over the place. “Look what you made me do! Look what I did for you, you ungrateful bitch!”
Braxton pulled the phone from her hand and held his own phone up to the speaker, listening as that voice kept going on and on, calling her names so vicious, so cold, it sent chills down her spine and made her head spin like she was about to faint. She covered her ears with both hands, closing her eyes like that could do anything. Like she could shut it out.
Make it stop, make it stop, if only he would make it stop. What was he doing, listening, not saying anything? Wasn’t this the sort of thing he was supposed to be doing? Wasn’t he supposed to be dealing with this? Tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t manage to take a decent breath.
Finally, the voice on the other end went silent. She moved her hands away from her ears, listening, staring up at Braxton. Tears blurred her vision, but she didn’t need to be able to see clearly to know he was beyond furious, that he was ready to kill somebody.
“I hope you’re having fun,” he murmured into her phone while still holding his phone close to his mouth. His teeth were clenched, nostrils flared, eyes narrowed in dangerous slits. His color rose, turning his face deep red. She realized he was breathing like an animal, like an animal ready to attack.
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