“You having fun, baby?” I asked.
Aly smiled up at me, tacked to my side, exactly where I wanted her to be. Green eyes sparkled, dancing in the fire. “Yes… I love this… everyone here… at our house. It just feels… good.”
I squeezed her. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”
“Aly, I need to talk to you.”
The voice broke into our comfort.
A chill slicked down my spine. My muscles got all twisted up and I hugged Aly closer.
No fucking way was I going to let his happen.
From across the yard, I heard Megan raise her voice. “I did not invite you here, Sam… you and Gabe can just turn around and leave. You don’t have any business being here.”
“I’m not here for you,” Sam hissed low.
“Aly,” Gabe urged again.
Aly’s arms loosened, but I kept my hold. Slowly, I turned us around. With my arm still around her, I edged her behind me, shielding her from the asshole who stood three feet from me.
“What do you want?” I asked him, my voice flat and cold.
Gabe shifted on his feet. Nerves rocked through him, but he held his ground, glared at me while he spoke. “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Aly.” He inclined his head, trying to coax Aly from where she peeked out behind me. “Come on, Aly, all I’m asking you for is five minutes.”
Oh no.
Dickhead really thought he was going to come stir up problems in my house?
Fucker had another thing coming.
Aggression spiked. I itched, hostility begging to break free. My hands fisted, and I was doing my best to keep it all in check.
His brown hair had been cut short, cropped. It shaved away all the boyish innocence he normally wore like some mask, revealing all the asshole he always had lurking inside. Arrogant prick.
Never trusted this guy.
Not once.
Sure as hell wasn’t trusting him now.
“You’ve got a lot of fuckin’ nerve coming into my house thinking you’re going to talk to my girl.”
He scoffed through caustic laughter. “What, you’re not going to let her talk to me now?”
His attention turned to her. “What the hell, Aly? Do you let this guy own you? Tell you what you can and can’t do? What kind of bullshit is that?”
Bullshit?
Nah. I was just protecting my girl.
“Back the fuck off,” I hissed.
Morbid interest rumbled through the yard, bodies drawing near to get a better look at what was going down.
I hated all this shit. I just wanted to give Aly a normal fucking life. Was that too much to ask for? But it was like it chased me, the destruction, the bad blood that simmered through my veins, calling out to the rest of the assholes of this world.
That asshole took another step forward. “Is that why you didn’t text me back on New Year’s? Because this asshole won’t let you talk to me? Because he’s worried I’m right?”
He lifted his chin with the insult, the last part directed at me.
Violence skimmed my skin, and I sucked in a ragged breath.
Behind me, Aly stilled. Confusion emanated from her in waves. Flustered, she wound out of my hold, taking a step out beside me. Her eyes narrowed with the question. “What are you talking about?”
“I sent you like five texts on New Year’s Eve.” He glared over at me before turning his rabid attention back to my girl. “Trying to talk some sense into you… to tell you I’d be there to take care of you… no matter what. Figured since you wouldn’t text me back, I’d just come to you. I told you a long time ago I wasn’t giving up on us… and I’m not.”
Aly’s confused eyes blinked over him before she looked at me. I saw the second realization set in. Disappointment twisted up her face. Everything in her was trained on me, like Gabe didn’t exist, which was a fucking good thing because that guy was about three seconds from getting his ass beat if he didn’t get away from her.
But right then, he didn’t matter at all.
Not for a second.
The only thing that mattered was the hurt written all over Aly’s face.
“Baby,” I said, trying to temper my voice, to keep it from shaking. “Listen to me.”
She ignored me while she drew her phone from her back jeans pocket. Swiping her thumb across the plate, she clicked into her messages to find the last one Dickhead sent her.
And that was the fucking thing, he’d been texting her all along, fucking laying seeds of his own destruction, trying to claim what could never be his, steal from me the one thing that had ever truly belonged to me.
This girl was mine.
She’d always been.
Aly stared at the glowing screen. “Thanksgiving,” she said quietly. She eyed him like she really didn’t care to see him, but was much more interested in what he had to say about the situation.
I fucking squirmed.
“The last text I have from you was on Thanksgiving,” she reiterated.
“I texted you a bunch of times on New Year’s Eve… after I saw you. It was late.” He watched her as he confessed, gauging her reaction, waiting for her to take the bait.
Aly turned to face me and shoved her phone in my direction. “Did you delete messages from him?” she asked. Disbelief poured from her. Tangible hurt.
“Baby, I’m sorry. Listen to me… I did…” I roughed both hands over the top of my head. “I know I shouldn’t have, but it was in the middle of the night and you were sleeping and fuck…” I gripped the back of my neck. “I thought it had to be Christopher, so I looked. And I’m sorry for invading your privacy, but this dickhead was texting you and talking shit that I just didn’t want you to hear.”
“Because it’s the truth,” he tossed out.
“Fuck you,” I spat, my attention jerking toward the little twit who was about to get torn limb from limb. I pointed at him. “I already warned you to get out of my house. I meant it. The next time I turn around, you’d best be gone.”
I turned back to Aly. Fear rolled through me, all this regret burning up my insides. But shit, what else was I supposed to do? Let this guy wedge himself between us? “No good can come of him trying to get mixed up in us,” I pled, trying to get her to understand where I was coming from. “We’ve got enough shit to deal with.”
Lines pinched up that gorgeous face. “Do you think I care if you look at my phone, Jared? Do you think I want to keep secrets from you?” She stepped away from me. She lifted her hands, palms up and out to her sides like an offering. “I have nothing to hide from you. What I care about is that you think so little of me you feel the need to erase messages. That you don’t trust me enough to talk to him.”
“I do trust you, Aly.”
I trusted her with my life.
Desperate, I pushed toward her, trying to erase the space she put between us. “Who I don’t trust is him.”
Aly blinked at me. I watched her swallow and fight through some unwelcomed emotion. Her voice dropped, pained and wounded. “No, Jared, I think who you don’t trust is yourself.”
I could feel all the eyes on us. Prying into our business. Discomfort prickled at the back of my neck.
I hated all this shit, standing out there on display. But all of that disquiet paled in comparison to what it felt like having Aly look at me this way.
Sadness wove into her words. “This is that part of you who still thinks he’s not good enough for me, who thinks he doesn’t deserve how much I love him.”
“He’s not good enough for you.” Gabe’s voice cut into my mind, into the truth of what Aly spoke.
Rage brimmed and spiraled.
Everything flashed, and I was in his face. I rushed him, shoving him in the chest. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
My hands met his skin, that skin I’d been dying to take out for so long. Hatred burned, feeding the darkness.
This was the asshole who was stupid enough to think he was supposed to be for my girl.
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The one who wanted to take.
He shoved me back. “Fuck you. You think I give a shit what you think? What you say? You’re nothing but garbage. Look at you, you fucking freak. I have no clue what she sees in you.”
Blackness pressed into my sight. A frenzy of madness lit.
Somewhere in the murk, I heard Christopher’s low voice, “Oh, shit, this is not gonna be good,” in the same second I lunged forward.
“Jared, don’t!” Aly screamed. Her voice pierced through the hatred clouding my mind, and I forced myself to stop. Shaking with rage, I looked back at her pleading at me with her eyes.
I took a step back. And as I turned aside, I felt his fist connect with my face.
Pain split my consciousness.
Stunned, I stumbled. I touched my mouth and pulled back my fingers. Blood coated the tips.
Motherfucker.
Dickhead just sucker-punched me.
He swung another fist that connected under my jaw. My head rocked back.
Fury exploded with the splintering pain.
And God, I so desperately wanted to hold on to sanity. To the light that Aly had injected into my life. To listen to her pleas.
But I felt it all slipping away.
The dark rose up, glowered from the depths, and took over my senses.
All that fucking agitation that had built up for months raced through every inch of my being. The muscles in my back and arms flexed and jumped, spurring me on. My hands fisted as they gave in and sought out the flesh.
Because this fucker was trying to take my girl. He wanted to take from me the one good thing I’d ever been given.
And there was no chance I was giving her up without a fight.
The crunch that landed on his jaw resonated all the way to my bones.
A second to his cheek.
Skin split and poured blood.
And I knew, knew I didn’t deserve her. Because I couldn’t stop. I just pounded into him, landing blow after blow, feeling this sickening satisfaction take me over as I gave in to the darkness I’d been fighting every single day since I came back into Aly’s life. “Stay away from my girl. Do you understand me? She is mine… she’s always going to be mine.”
A fist landed on my temple. But this blow was delivered by another hand.
Sam.
It nearly knocked me cold. Still I clung to consciousness, not about to give up this fight.
Sam rammed a sharp fist into my ribs. Breath gushed from my lungs.
Christopher’s face flashed as he descended in a blur of color, blinded with a fury of his own.
It took about five seconds until the four of us were a pile of limbs and fists and pathetic anger brawling in the dirt.
And I could hear Aly screaming, begging no. But I couldn’t stop. I had to beat all this aggression out of me, to take it out on the one person who’d been stupid enough to fuck with me.
Frantic hands tried to restrain us. Voices lifted.
Only Megan’s horrified voice was enough to get through. “Aly, oh my God, Aly.”
Aly.
I fought to get to my feet while a shot of dizziness attempted to knock me back down. I blinked, trying to make sense of the scene. A couple of Christopher’s friends restrained Gabe and Sam, hauling them back toward the house, and Christopher scrambled to his feet. Blood trickled from a gash on the side of his head, his green eyes just as wild as mine.
Everyone had backed away, making a wide circle. All except for Megan, who was on her knees in front of the fire.
Crying.
Fucking crying over Aly, who was curled up in a ball on the ground next to the fire. She had her hands on her stomach and her knees curled up. Protecting herself.
My heart seized before it took off at a sprint. “Oh my God, Aly, baby… baby, are you okay?”
I rushed forward.
Megan’s arm flew out to stop me, and she whipped her head around to look at me. Tears streaked down her terrified face, and she shrieked, “Stay away from her. You’re fucking insane.”
Dread knotted my stomach. I stumbled back.
Christopher tried to approach, and she lashed out again. “All of you. Just stay away from her.”
My eyes fixed on Aly. Megan helped her sit up.
“Are you okay?” Megan whimpered, touching her face, her stomach, her arm. “Tell me where you’re hurt.”
Aly winced. “It’s just my arm.”
Megan pulled it away from her body.
Redness flashed up the underside of her wrist.
Burned.
I clutched my hair. “Aly,” I whispered.
She looked up at me with tormented green eyes.
Somewhere in my consciousness, I heard Sam’s urgent voice, talking to the piece of shit who was trying to tear apart my family. “Come on, man, let’s get the fuck out of here. Told you this shit wasn’t worth it.”
Gabe glared at me. He spit a glob of blood from his bleeding mouth, his jaw clenched as he knocked into me as he limped toward the back of the yard. The asshole was stupid enough to ask for another round.
I didn’t even fucking care.
The only thing I cared about was her.
I’d thought maybe… maybe I could change. That I could shove it all down. Hide from it.
But it always just came looking for me.
Didn’t matter what I did, I ended up on destruction’s path.
I always ruined the good.
Livid blue eyes flashed as Megan sneered in their direction. “I don’t ever want to see you again, Sam. You or Gabe. I’m not joking. This was it. I can’t believe you used my birthday as an excuse to come here and cause trouble.”
She turned back to Aly, murmuring soft words as Gabe and Sam jumped the back wall.
“Get him out of here, Christopher,” Megan demanded with her back to me, though it was completely clear who she was talking about.
Christopher hesitated, before he tugged at my arm. “Come on man, let’s get you cleaned up.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Just go,” Aly forced over the sob in her throat.
“Aly…”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, just… give me a few minutes. I’m fine. I promise.”
But I knew she wasn’t fine.
I let Christopher lead me into the house and push me into the guest bathroom. He locked the door behind us.
I paced the small space, ripping at my hair.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
What did I do?
“Hey man, calm the fuck down. That wasn’t your fault out there. That piece of shit backed you into a wall. He deserved to get his ass kicked. Everyone saw what he did. Everyone knows.”
I flopped down onto the lid of the toilet, sagged down as I rested my elbows on my thighs.
Christopher ducked under the sink and grabbed a couple washcloths. Turning on the water, he wet them and wrung them out. “Douche bag has had it coming for a long time.”
He tossed one to me. Unseeing, I caught it, balled it up and pressed it to my bottom lip. “Yeah, he did.”
I doubted Aly was going to see it that way.
Gritting his teeth, Christopher dabbed the cloth to the cut on the side of his head, studying himself in the mirror.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, man, it was nothing. Believe me, both of them are hurting way worse than we are.”
I turned to stare at my feet. “Thanks for having my back.”
He laughed, the sound all kinds of inappropriate and brimming with the same kind of satisfaction I felt at finally beating Dickhead’s ass. “All too happy to. Besides, you saved my ass major tonight. If it hadn’t been for your temper, I’d probably be stealing that sweet little girl back to my apartment right about now. Now that was not going to end well.”
He tossed the cloth into the sink. “I’m going to go check on things out there.” He stretched out a placating hand. “Just stay in here for a while. Coo
l the fuck down before you go out looking for Aly.”
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