He huffs a laugh, moving back a step. “Women are so predictable.”
Of course a guy like him would say that.I scowl up at his stupidly handsome face. “Like you wouldn’t squeal if something made a house out of your eardrum.”
“I wouldn’t be stupid enough to sleep in a harvested grain field.”
So that’s what this scratchy shit is.I shift, folding my legs, and knock mud off the hem of my jeans. “I know you found it.”
“Found what?”
“Don’t be a dick.”
“According to you, that’s all I am.”
I narrow my eyes at him.Really?“The phone.”
Asshole smirks, still towering over me, close enough to touch. “I didn’t, actually. But I knew you had it. Yeah.”
“Is this the part where you use those on me and hide my body out here amongst the withered crops?” I jerk my chin toward his pistols.
He rolls his goddamn eyes. “Like I’d be that careless.”
The insinuation that hemightkill me, just not here, isn’t lost.
“You coming inside, or what?” He asks. “I’ve got a coffee that’s probably cold by now.”
“Sorry to be an inconvenience.”
He huffs, jaw hardening while he studies me for a brief, tense moment. “You know what? Yeah. You are an inconvenience. A poorly timed responsibility in what is the absolute shitshow called my life. But you know what else?”
I don’t look at him, grinding my teeth hard against each other to stave off any poorly timed tears.
“None of that is your fault. So maybe if you dropped this whole woe-is-me thing you’ve got going on and engaged with the people around you, you’d find things would go a little easier.”
He started so well, but true to form, he finished with yet another insult. “You know,” I snap. “It’s called a compliment sandwich, not an insult sandwich.”
“The fuck are you on about?”
“You need to work on your people skills.” I push unsteadily to my feet and stride past the jerk.
He catches me by the arm.
At completely the wrong time.
“Get your fucking hands off me.” I spin in his hold, simultaneously attempting to pull my arm free while I bat at him with my other. “Let me go.” I sound panicked, and I know it.
As does he. “Hey.” Hands drawn back, Fang takes a step away from where I stand, chest heaving. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Yeah?” The word falls from my mouth as a manic chuckle. I lift my eyebrows in disbelief. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” he assures, slowly lowering his arms. “I wanted to apologize. About earlier. I could have said those things better.”
“You think?”
He frowns. Swallows. “I still stand by what I said.”Awesome.“You need to quit isolating yourself, Jenna. I get that it’s hard to trust people right?—”
“Do you?” I snap. “Do you understand, do you? What it’s like to have men choose the course of your life for you. To have men force you into situations you’d otherwise avoid throughsheer dominance alone because they’re physically and mentally stronger and they know it. Do you get how that feels, do you? To be so helpless for no other reason than genetics.”
He presses his lips together, jaw hard.
