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I bit out a curse and ground my teeth as I fisted a handful of Jackson’s hoodie, dragging him up until his face was less than an inch from mine. “You put your hands on her again,” I said with a growl, “and I’ll fucking end you. You hear me?”
He pushed at my wrists, falling back on his ass when I opened my fist and let go.
Scrambling back with a deep scowl, he rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth and muttered, “She fucking came onto me, asshole.”
A deep fissure of irritation opened inside my chest as I stared at him. My head angled back toward the edge of the woods, my eyes locking on Lissa’s retreating form. Each breath came fast and furious as I tried to get a handle on the irrational jealousy spiralling inside of me. As far as I was aware, Lissa had never put her lips on any other guy in Claremont. For some screwed up reason, that had mattered to me. That was fucking mine.
Except now, there were
two of us.
One of us was going to choke on his own dick. That’d be Bateman. The other needed to get a goddamn grip. Yeah, that’d be me.
I had zero claim on her, no right to the kind of fucked up feelings coursing through me. I hadn’t so much as laid eyes on her in months. Rationally I knew I shouldn’t be acting the way I was. Shouldn’t be feeling possessive about someone I never fucking had to begin with.
Rational wasn’t working for me right now, though.
My eyes spitting fire, I focused my attention back on Bateman and kicked at the mud beside his legs. “Touch her again, you’re dead.”
“Fucking got it, jackass.” He collapsed back into the earth with a soft thud as I swivelled and chased after Lissa—the blonde-haired ball-buster who’d put me in a tailspin I never saw coming. And didn’t have a damn clue how to get myself out of.
“Lissa,” I hollered, the soles of my feet bouncing off the ground. “Hold the fuck up.”
Of course, she’d fucking lengthen her stride, those long, lean legs stretching out as she moved farther away from me. With an eye roll, I broke into a jog and came up behind her, taking a hold of her elbow.
“What?” she spat, rounding on me, and tugging her arm loose, her ice-blue eyes flashing.
Whatever I’d been about to say got stuck in my throat at the sight of the unshed tears in her eyes, glistening in the moonlight. I’d never seen Lissa cry. Didn’t think she was even capable. But the sight of it ripped at my insides.
I bit back a curse and narrowed my gaze, scouring every inch of her face. Working like crazy to keep my tone the right side of enraged, I asked, “What the fuck did he do, Lissa?”
She shook her head with a shrug, glancing away and running the back of her hand under her red nose. “Nothing.”
“Didn’t fucking look like nothing,” I clipped, untempered anger bleeding into my tone. So much for the gentle approach. But I had no hope of calming down until she offered me some sort of explanation. One I could live with.
“Did you kiss him?” The gruff question left my mouth before it had formulated in my head, and I could have fucking kicked myself for it. Because that wasn’t the issue here. Or it shouldn’t have been.
Lissa tossed me a withering look and wrapped her arms tight around her shivering body. My jaw locked, heart rate spiked. I’d been standing here stewing over the fact she might have kissed some asshole, while she was fucking freezing to death, wearing a crop top in December. I’d just stopped myself from beating that fucker’s ass into oblivion for doing the same thing.
“Where the fuck is your coat, Alissa?” I demanded again, shrugging out of my jacket. I barely stopped myself from grabbing her stiff arms and forcing them through the sleeves when she pushed it away. “Fucking put it on. You might have a heart of ice, but I bet your ass can still freeze to death.”
Her brows slanted down, and she stalked off again.
Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and finger, I strove for calm, but I was riled to the point of exploding. Seeing that slimy asshole’s hands all over her…
I couldn’t decide whether it was the fact that Jackson might have put his hands on her without her consent, or the idea she might have fucking kissed him first that had me worked up the most. All I knew was it all pissed me off beyond measure, pushing at the confines of my skull as I took off after her for a second time.
The tirade I was about to launch into, about how fucking stubborn and pig-headed she was, got lodged in my throat when her slim body hunched forward.
“Hey,” I murmured, tugging her round to face me.
She stood still for a few seconds with her chin down, then pushed out of my hold and rounded the side of her car.
“Lissa. Just fucking… stop a minute.”
She paused, then pivoted to face me, a blank expression on her pale face. “What?”
“Did he do anything you didn’t want him to?” My voice came out strained.
