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My defenses went up immediately. “Back the hell off, okay? I never lied to you. I gave him the key after a weak moment when I felt really damn alone because your friend abducted my roommate, and he was the closest thing I had to someone I trusted here.” I threw a hand toward the door, like he had. “And he deserved the broken nose and anything else you considered doing, so I really don’t give a damn about the fact that you nearly killed him.”
Ford paced the room a few times, his chest starting to rise and fall quickly as he paced. “My wolf—” he let out a ragged breath. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, okay?” I folded my arms over my chest. “It’s over.”
“The whole damn room smells like him,” Ford snarled.
“Then we’ll wash the sheets, and spend the night at your place,” I shot back.
He paused in his pacing. “You’d do that?”
“Of course I would; I’m not an unfeeling bitch. I don’t want to force you to sleep in a bed that smells like me and some other asshole.”
“I never said you were.” He crossed the room, and I just knew he was going to hug me or do something else that would make me forgive him instantly.
My hands went out in front of me, and he stopped a foot away. “Don’t touch me. I’m pissed at you, okay? You just verbally attacked me for doing absolutely nothing wrong, Ford. That’s not cool. I thought we were supposed to be a team, and that was not you being a team player.” I gestured toward where he’d been standing.
His body tensed. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology; I want you to not accuse me of lying and wanting to sleep with my bastard of an ex-hookup.”
He jerked his head in a nod. “I get it. I screwed up.”
“Do you?” I shook my head. “Give me my backpack.”
Ford’s eyes narrowed. “We’re not ending the argument like that, Ebb.”
“It’s not an argument. You yelled at me, and I defended myself, and if you want to talk about it anymore, you’re going to have to wait until I’ve had some time to cool off because right now I’m so damn pissed at you I can hardly think straight.”
His expression smoothed. “Fine.”
“Fine,” I shot back.
He handed my backpack over, and I set it on the desk chair a little harder than I needed to. After yanking the zipper to open it, I folded a clean outfit and some lounge clothes and tucked them into the bag.
Ford ripped the sheets off the bed. Maybe I should’ve been concerned with his angry outburst, but that wasn’t what had me worried. I knew without a question that he wouldn’t hurt me.
What worried me was that he didn’t trust me.
And yeah, we hadn’t been together that long. Logic told me that there were still going to be some rough patches. Or a lot of rough patches. But if he didn’t trust me, what was the point of any of it?
We were supposed to be together permanently, as friends at the very least. But I wanted us to be more. To be partners, in every way.
And we couldn’t do that if he was going to attack me for giving Reed a spare key in case I ever got locked out.
Would I do it again? Obviously not. But Ford didn’t understand the level of loneliness I’d felt when Teagan left, or the shit-show that Reed and I had been.
That whole sex-friendship we’d had was just an awful trainwreck. He had treated me terribly, and I stayed because I was too lonely not to.
What did that say about me?
Nothing that would make Ford want to stay with me, that was for damn sure.
“Ready?” he asked me, his voice gruff as he grabbed his keys off the hook. We’d been taking his car everywhere; I think because he didn’t want me to have to pay for gas, which was stupidly sweet.
“Let’s go.”
I followed him out to the car, my fingers gripping my backpack as my mind continued to run over all of the shit that Reed had said to me. All the times he’d talked me into having sex with him when I didn’t want to, all the times he’d sent me douchey texts and I’d gone running because I didn’t want to lose him.
