Scoffing, she shook her head. “This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard,” she said. “I’m not even going to entertain it. I’m leaving. Thank you for looking after me, but the joke has gone far enough.”
“I’m not joking, Nikki, and you know it.”
She glared. “This conversation is over.”
She made to step around him, to head toward the door. He stepped in front of her.
“Move,” she said through gritted teeth, her rage beginning to swell and bubble over.
“No.”
For the first time, a genuine alarm began to wash over her. The conversation before this moment had been so absurd that she’d struggled to accept it was even happening. Now, however, it felt all too real, and it felt all too similar to the other times men had tried to control her life. Sier, her adoptive father, Lucas. Her heart hammered. Part of her wanted to freeze, the other part screamed at her to run.
She darted around him, dashing toward the door. Before she had gotten ten feet away, a calloused hand grabbed her wrist and spun her back around until she was facing him. She tried to break his grip, to twist out of it the way he had shown her, but he’d expected it, and his grasp only tightened.
“Let. Go. Of. Me,” she grit out.
“I’m not letting you go out there and get yourself kidnapped,” he said. “I’m sorry, but this is the best way to protect you. You have to know that.”
Her foot stomped down, trying once again to use some of the self-defense techniques she’d learned in his class. He avoided it. His expression was sympathetic, but firm at the same time.
“I know this isn’t ideal or what you would have wanted,” he said. “Trust me, I wish I didn’t have to do this. But it’s for your own protection. I’m not letting him get his hands on you again.”
She wanted to laugh in his face. Rage rippled through her, and she glowered. But she also could tell that there was no way around this. He wasn’t going to let it drop. In the end, she had no real say, the same way it had been for nearly her entirelife. There was nothing she could do that would stop this from happening.
“Fine,” she spat. “Fine.”
She yanked her hands out of his grasp, and he let them go. It might have been her imagination—it probably was—but she could have sworn she saw something like guilt on his features. She didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Without another word, she spun on her heels and stormed up the stairs.
When she returned to the guest room, she slammed the door shut and locked it. She leaned against the door, staring out at the room, the still-messy bed. She waited for a moment, listening for any sounds of footsteps trudging up the stairs. When none came, she pushed herself away from the door to collapse on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling, letting the situation sink in, willing herself to accept what was happening.
Jasper was keeping her here. Another man controlling her life, the way men had ever since she was little. How different was he from Lucas when it came down to it? Both wanted control over her life. Neither would give her a say in anything that impacted her.
She heard someone come up the stairs. She listened, not moving, as the footsteps halted in front of her room for the briefest of moments. She could picture Jasper standing on the other side, debating whether to knock to try talking to her.
The footsteps walked away.
Letting out a deep sigh, she flung her forearm over her eyes and tried to accept that, once again, she had no control over her life. She was going to be married whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 5 - Jasper
Jasper stared down at his hands. He still wasn’t entirely sure what had come over him when he’d made that decision. It had been the only option, the only way he felt certain they would be able to keep Nikki safe. That didn’t stop the guilt and self-loathing from slipping over him. He knew what he’d done, and he knew that Nikki would never forgive him. But he still felt like he had made the right decision.
He glanced back up at the stairs. It had been over an hour since Nikki had stormed up there. He could still see the anger and hatred on her face. He doubted he’d ever be able to unsee it.
It was for her own protection, he told himself.
That didn’t still the writhing guilt.
Footsteps thumped down the stairs, far louder than he would have expected from such a slender frame. He twisted to look at Nikki, who glared at him. The cut on her forehead still looked nasty. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder.
“I’m going out,” she said, already storming toward the door without glancing at him or waiting for approval.
Jasper stood. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Nikki froze. She turned toward him, her face a mask.
“You’re joking, right?” she asked, her voice becoming dangerously flat again.
