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Brayden swallowed, but then glared me down, refusing to cower. “So what are you going to do? Break my nose? Break my arm? Dislocate it, maybe? I hear you’re good at that.”
A sinister growl left my throat. Brayden knew he was pushing me, was doing it on purpose now, wanting me to react, playing me to make me snap so Jesse would remain his forever. Not fucking likely. “Remember who it is that you’re talking to, pup.”
“And who would that be? Salvatore Wolfe?” he asked. “Or Tom Covington?”
At the use of my birth name, I stilled, but didn’t flinch. I didn’t show an ounce of surprise that he knew it. But that was a new development. One that I hadn’t seen coming. How had he found that name when so very few people knew it? And if Jesse also knew, what was he thinking? Nothing I couldn’t fix, that I was certain of. Plenty of people changed their names. It was the reason why I had changed mine that was alarming. But money and power had buried that secret. And I knew that this boy wouldn’t have been able to unearth that within a day.
Brayden was trying to shock me, gain the upper hand. The problem was I was un-shockable.
With my free hand, I reached forward and clasped the back of his neck. I dug my fingers into the side of it, letting my nails pierce the skin in some spots, enough that he winced as I twisted his shirt in my fist. “Tell Jesse he knows where to find me when he wants to talk.”
Brayden tugged at the hand on his shirt again, struggling to break free, and this time I shoved him back, not willing to do something that would drive my lamb away for good.
“Sure I will.”
My eyes shifted to the windows flanking the right side of the house, as I wondered where inside Jesse was, and then they came back to Brayden, who now had his back plastered to the door. His chest was rising and falling, and his eyes were wide with a heavy dose of terror, if I had to guess. He was right to be scared of me—he was the only thing that stood between a Wolfe and his lamb, and in my experience, that usually resulted in a fight to the death. “He will seek me out whether you tell him or not.”
“Not if I can help it, he won’t.”
“Be careful, Brayden,” I said as I took a step off the porch, the gravel crunching under my feet, much like the way I wanted to crush Brayden’s skull between my hands. “And sleep with one eye open tonight. You have such lax security around this place.”
Brayden jutted his chin in the air. “You don’t scare me.”
I dropped my gaze down to the hand he now had white-knuckling the doorknob. “Yes, I do,” I said as a lethal smile twisted my lips, and then I disappeared into the shadows, where all nightmares lurked until it was time to come out and wreak havoc on one’s mind.
27
TOR: I miss you.
I’d been staring at those three words for over twenty-four hours now, ever since Tor had sent them when I’d gotten to work Monday. I hadn’t responded, not yet, because with Brayden in my ear and monitoring my every move, I was conflicted. But the truth was that I missed Tor. Being away from Brayden’s influence and getting back to my work routine had only made me realize how much.
I wanted to see him. I wanted to talk, to tell him we were okay, that I forgave him for what he did so he needed to stop blaming himself. And I wanted to know more about the man himself. Why he’d changed his name, what his life was like growing up. I wanted to know it all. I was in too deep to walk away now, and what was more… I didn’t want to. There was a big, gaping hole in my chest that was physically painful, and it was one that could only be filled by the man I couldn’t stop thinking about. The man I almost…loved.
I miss you too, I typed. Can I see you tonight?
The reply was almost immediate: Yes.
Okay. I’ll come by your place after work.
That would please me very much, little lamb.
The hours passed by slowly, as they always did when you were counting them down. I tried to stay focused on my research, but I kept catching my mind drifting off to the events of the past few days. I’d ended up staying at Brayden’s house all weekend, and he’d driven me to and from work, but I’d begged off tonight, telling him I had to work late and a coworker would drop me off. I’d known full well what I’d be doing, but Brayden wouldn’t understand. For some reason, he was more convinced than ever that Tor wasn’t good for me, and I’d given up trying to tell him otherwise. He meant well, but he didn’t know Tor like I did, and he didn’t know our relationship. He wasn’t a part of it, so as much as I appreciated him looking out for me, I couldn’t listen to him talk shit about Tor anymore. I could make up my own mind.
