Page 202 of I’m The Worst

Sorry?

I’ve never apologized for a goddamn thing in my life. So what now? I catch up to her in the hallway and tell her that I didn’t mean it? That I did mean it, but not all of it? That I’m out of my fucking mind?

None of that fixes what I did.

None of it changes the fact that the second she looks at me, I’m probably going to do the same thing I always do—say the wrong fucking thing and make it worse.

I round another corner⁠—

I’m so caught inside my own fucking head, I don’t realize she’s stopped walking until I hit her from behind. AJ stumbles forward with a sharp gasp, heels skidding on the polished floor.

I reach out automatically, grabbing for her arm before she can fall.

She twists.

Her eyes hit mine.

And every thought in my head fucking dies.

“Get the hell away from me!” The scream tears out of her, bouncing off the hallway walls. She throws herself backward, and her heel catches, sending her crashing to the floor in a tangle of silk and limbs.

What the fuck— My body should move, but it can’t.

“AJ—”

“No!” she screams again, scrambling backward on her hands, dress bunching around her legs as she drags herself away from me. Pure horror covers her face. “No, no, no— Don’t fucking touch me⁠—”

I stop mid-step. My hand still half outstretched between us.

“AJ, what the hell⁠—”

She flinches at the sound of my voice, and it feels like a punch to the throat. Her back hits the wall, shaking, one hand shoved over her mouth like she’s trying not to throw up. Footsteps pound down the hall as David rounds the corner with two men behind him, his expression hardening the second he sees her on the floor.

“What the hell is going on out here?” He drops straight to AJ’s side, one hand sliding behind her back as the other cups her face. “It’s okay,” he says, his voice soft in a way that instantly makes me want to put my fist through his teeth. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

AJ grabs at the front of his jacket with trembling fingers and lets him pull her upright, pressing herself against him. She still won’t look at me. Won’t even fucking glance in my direction.

David keeps one arm around her waist while his free hand smooths her hair back from her face. Then his fingers slide lower, brushing the side of her throat.

AJ hates her throat being touched. But she doesn’t shove him away…doesn’t even flinch. The neckline of her dress shifts just enough for me to catch the flash of black around her neck.

My stomach drops.

No.

“You put a vow-bound collar on her?”

David presses a kiss on her forehead. “She’s going to be my wife.”

AJ still won’t look at me. One of David’s men steps closer, and David nods toward him without taking his eyes off me.

“Take her home. That’s enough for one evening.”

AJ lets them guide her away without a word.

“AJ.”

She doesn’t stop, doesn’t even hesitate. Every instinct I have screams to go after her. To stop whatever the fuck this is.