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“You have to leave,” Parker snapped. “You aren’t allowed to contact her for another two weeks. We had a deal.”
She frowned. What was he talking about? He was going to ruin everything.
“Fuck the deal!” Lucian snapped. “Evelyn—”
“I’m here,” she said, stepping into the hall. His eyes met hers and he breathed heavily. He looked like absolute shit. Her world spun. “What are you doing here, Lucian?”
His gaze lowered, traveling over her loose T-shirt, down her legs all the way to her bare feet. His jaw ticked as his face darkened. “Motherfucker,” he hissed, then he turned. Everything happened so fast.
Lucian’s arm cocked back. There was a crack, and the lamp crashed to the floor as Parker’s body fell into the table. She screamed and jumped into motion.
“You son of a bitch!” Lucian growled, cocking his arm back to hit Parker again.
She tackled him. “Lucian, no!”
Parker scrambled to his feet. “Get the fuck out of my home!”
She held Lucian back, knowing it was her presence more than her strength that kept him from lunging for Parker again. He was seething. “You fucking touched her?”
“She doesn’t belong to you!” Parker snapped, wiping his lip where it had split wide.
“The fuck she doesn’t,” Lucian growled.
Wait, what?
Scout looked around for help that wasn’t there. She wasn’t strong enough to hold Lucian back if he lost it on Parker again. She panicked. In a shrill, unrecognizable voice, she suddenly screamed, “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on!”
They both glared at each other. Breath stuttered from their chests as they faced off. Finally, Parker growled at Lucian, “I still have thirteen days left.”
She shook her head. Turning to Lucian, she asked, “What’s he talking about, Lucian?”
His dark eyes darted to hers as his nostrils flared. Slowly, he turned to Parker and arched a brow. “You didn’t tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
“Scout . . .”
She turned to Parker, very much disliking the contrite expression twisting his face. She waited.
“Go ahead, Hughes, tell her. Tell her what a stand-up guy you are, always looking out for her best interests.”
She glared at both of them, waiting for someone to explain. “Parker?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “I was only trying to protect you.”
Lucian’s dry laugh drew her attention. He straightened, but said nothing. She turned back to Parker. “Protect me from what?”
“From him,” Parker growled.
She blinked, waiting for more, but it didn’t come. She turned to Lucian. “Why?”
Lucian’s face softened. His dark eyes blinked down at her, and she recognized the affection in his gaze, wanted so badly to drown in it. “Because he thinks he’s better for you,” he whispered in an almost sympathetic voice.
Her head shook. She scoffed. “What about what I think?” This was absurd. “Does anyone give a shit about what I think is best for me? Someone better start explaining what’s going on, fast.” When no one said anything, she stomped her foot and snapped, “Say something!”
“We had a deal.” Parker quietly admitted. She pivoted, not liking the sound of that, and waited expectantly for him to continue. He wouldn’t look at her, and something utterly terrifying clamped down on her battered heart. “Last winter, we made a deal. Lucian agreed to break up with you for a month so that I could try to get you to . . . care for me, the way you do about him.”
Words stopped computing in her head. She shook, not accepting his explanation. “What?”
“I only wanted a chance to prove to you that I was the better man.”
“So you’re saying he gave me to you? No. He wouldn’t do that.” She turned to Lucian, waiting for him to call Parker a liar, but came up short when she saw the regret clear on his face. “What is this? Is this how you do it, like what you did with Slade and Monique?”
She couldn’t wrap her brain around what she was hearing.
Lucian swallowed tightly. “I never wanted to agree to—”
“You’re saying it’s true then?” Her spine stiffened and her shoulders drew back. “You broke up with me so another man could try to fuck me?”
“Scout—”
“Oh, shut up, Parker. I’ll deal with you in a minute.” She turned her scowl on Lucian. “Lucian, tell me that’s not true. Please.”
“It was freezing. I couldn’t find you. Hughes knew where you were and I was desperate. He wouldn’t help me unless I promised him something in return.”
Her mind tripped over visions and scenarios that were far too bizarre to believe. This had to be some sort of a misunderstanding. “Whose idea was it?”
Lucian’s lips formed a thin line. She turned to Parker and had her answer. “You said you were my friend.”
Lucian grunted.
She turned on him. “And you said you loved me. What kind of man does something like that to the woman he loves?”
She found herself backing away from the two of them. They were despicable, the both of them. “Is that all I ever was to you? A bargaining chip to pass around when money didn’t work?”
