Evan glances at the security, then turns his cold gaze to Grady. “I don’t need to know you to destroy you, motherfucker.”
And before Grady can say more, security escorts us outside and into the cool night air. Evan ushers me and Lana into his town car, like he didn’t just ruin our night. He takes Lana’s address, repeating it to his driver before settling into the seat beside me.
His indifference, his nonchalance, infuriates me.
This asshole just ruined my night, without a care in the world.
And the worst part?
Despite my anger, a thrill runs down my spine.
Because surely, his reaction means something…
Right?
Chapter 35
Evan
Ared-hot rage, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, burns through my veins like lava, my body vibrating as if electrocuted with high voltage. I need to release all this pent-up fury. I want to go back to that club and take that fucker’s hands and eyes for even thinking he had the right to lay them on Anais.
It’s ridiculous, feeling like this. I’m Evan fucking Maxwell for Christ’s sake. Jealousy isn’t in my vocabulary. Yet, the moment I walked into that club… I felt the same humiliation – only a hundred times worse – as I did when Valentina cheating on me was splashed all over the tabloids for the world to see. My body wasn’t mine. I was out of control; laser focused on removing that idiot from what’s mine.
But Anais doesn’t belong to you,that annoying voice in my head reminds me. The arrangement, the boundaries I put in place when this started between us. Yet, every fiber of me denies that statement.
Truth is, Anais feels like mine.
More than anyone ever has.
And that should be enough for me to put a stop to this madness…
But I can’t.
Because I’d rather feel unhinged than never touch her body again.
After getting Anais’s friend’s address, I reel it off to my driver and settle back in the seat, attention fixed on the passing city. I refuse to look at the brat right now. But that doesn’t mean I can’t feel the heat of her stare burning the back of my head.
The silence is deafening, the air thick. I don’t acknowledge her. Instead, I get comfortable, letting her simmer in her own fury.
Finally, the brat speaks, breaking the silence and trying to draw my attention. I don’t give her the satisfaction.
“What the hell were you thinking back there? Are you crazy?” she yells, incredulous. Despite my anger, it takes everything in me to fight the smirk threatening to break free. “Are you hearing me?”
“Nais, just leave it.” Her friend whispers. I nearly praise her for having some sense. Maybe she can teach Anais a thing or two? I briefly mull over the logistics of that and whether it’s even possible–
“No, I won’t leave it.” She cuts off my thoughts. “This asshole, ruined our night.” Her voice is filled with indignation. “I was having fun with Grady.” I hear rather than see the smirk in her voice.
My jaw clenches, at hearing his name. Once again, I question why it bothers me so much. I never cared about Valentina with other men – well not until she fucked another man. So why is Anais different?
Is it repressed trauma from my relationship with Valentina? Do I now see every man as a threat? For Christ’s sake, every time Eli even glances in Anais’s direction I have the urge to throw him from the top of our building. I shake my head. Nah, it can’t be trauma. I was over Valentina the moment she let another man stick his dick in her. I don’t do feelings. I’m a fucking Maxwell. An American God. A legacy. I don’t get insecure about anyone. Especially not preppy fucks, batting way out of their league.
Before I can dwell anymore on my unusual behavior, the vehicle stops outside Lana’s building. The girls whisper something to each other, low enough I don’t really hearanything. Then the door is being opened and Lana climbs out, closing the door behind her. Then it’s just me, my pain in the ass, and the thick, suffocating, tension simmering between us.
I give Anais’s address to my driver, and silence settles between us once more. But of course, the little brat just doesn’t know when to keep her smart mouth shut.
“I’ve never been to your penthouse,” she states.
That catches me off guard, and I finally turn to look at her. The fire in her lilac eyes pierces straight through me, but it’s the hint of vulnerability she tries to hide that makes my chest tighten. I clear my throat. “What?”
