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“For fuck’s sake, Carter, just answer the question. Did you ever intend on proposing?”
“No,” he said sharply. “No, I didn’t, Skye.” He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. “You’re nice enough, okay? But you were just . . . a placeholder.”
“A placeholder?” My stomach knotted with disgust.
“The woman a guy dates to keep him company until he meets his wife. You’re the type of woman a guy dates but doesn’t marry.”
There it was, what I had silently feared for our entire relationship, ripped open and laid bare between us—alive and wriggling. The bittersweet feeling was overpowering, more bitter than sweet, because it confirmed my fears all along, and now that I knew the truth, I could finally move on. Cut him out of my life like some rotting leg not worth saving.
“Goodbye, Carter,” I said, my voice sounding empty and foreign in my head.
“Wait,” he grabbed me again, holding me by the wrist. “I’m sorry for what I said, but now that we’ve both been honest with each other, maybe now we can start over. Don’t you want to sit down and catch up?” He hesitated. “I miss talking to you, Skye. A lot. No one gets me like you do.” He paused, reaching out his other hand to run his knuckles under my chin. He didn’t notice me recoil from his touch. He was too busy taking in my outfit with his hungry eyes. “You’ve lost weight, right? Because damn, you look so good.”
I could have burned down the building with the renewed fire on my chest.
But I didn’t. Not yet.
I plastered on a fake smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “I have been going to the gym,” I started. “For the past four months, I’ve been starving myself, walking on treadmills until it felt like my legs were going to give out from underneath me. All because of you.” My smile didn’t fade, but his slowly did. I continued, even as he let go of my hand and took a step backwards. “I really thought if I lost that extra ten pounds or toned up my arms a little more, finally got that flat stomach, then you would take me back.” I shrugged. I could only imagine how crazy I looked because, at that moment, I truly felt unhinged. “I do have to thank you though. On this path to self-destruction, I did find a class I really liked. Boxercise, ever heard of it? I’m actually really good at it. My instructor thinks I should get my certification and teach. Do you know what else she told me?”
Carter gave me a wary look. “What?”
I looked down at my hand and made a fist. “That I have a really good right hook.”
His forehead wrinkled the slightest degree. But before he could really respond, my right hand cocked back, and I rocked back on my heels before throwing all my weight into my punch.
I always closed my eyes when punching the air in class, but not this time. I wanted to see the look on Carter’s face when my fist connected with his perfectly symmetrical nose.
Bull’s eye. I felt that wet crunch all the way to my bones; my arm reverberated from the impact, my fist hitting harder than I was expecting, but there was too much adrenaline pumping through my system to feel anything besides pride.
Carter’s hands flew to his face, covering his nose as blood spurted through his fingers, splashing dark drops on the beige carpet.Oops. Sorry Bonnie.
“You fucking—fucking—bitch! If you broke my nose, I’ll kill you—”Carter screamed into his hands, his voice taking on a nasally effect, as he doubled over with pain.
Holy shit. Holy shit. Did I really just break his nose?
I shook out my wrist, staring at his bent over body. I needed to get the hell out of here; I knew that, yet I couldn’t seem to make my legs move. I was too transfixed by the bloody scene before me.
“Skye?” That was the moment Ansel opened the office door and stuck his head in. If he was surprised by the bloody scene in front of him, he didn’t show it. Ansel stepped inside the office, closing and locking the door behind him.
“Ansel,” I turned to face him. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to . . . I can explain—”
Ansel strode past me, his broad expanse of his shoulders relaxed, and stopped directly in front of Carter. Ansel stooped over to examine the damage. “A little messy, but I think you broke it from what I can tell.” He peered over at me, giving me a wink. “Good work.”
Carter glanced up, suddenly jerking back at the sight of Ansel. “Who the fuck are you?” he demanded; his eyes flicked from me to Ansel. Rivulets of red trickled between his fingers down to his sleeves as he held his nose. “Are you withhim?”Carter asked me, sneering the last word as if I had trotted in with a stinky sludge monster on my arm. “Wow, Skye. I knew you were desperate, but an orc? This is low, even for you.”
I opened my mouth to snap out something along the lines of,At least he knows where a G-spot is,when Ansel reached out and grabbed Carter by the front of his shirt. Ansel’s entire expression changed; his features hard and cold, the look of a killer, an orc boss. He lifted Carter easily into the air, holding Carter directly above his head. Carter kicked helplessly in the air, whimpering, as Ansel glowered up at him. I didn’t blame him; I would be shitting my pants too if I was in his position right now.
“You are done bothering her, do you understand me? If you talk to Skye ever again,” he growled, “I’ll give you more than a broken nose.”
Ansel released his grip on Carter’s shirt, and he fell to the ground with anoomph.Carter watched us with wide eyes, visibly shaking, as Ansel turned and wrapped his arm around my waist, leading me to the door.
“Now we can go,” Ansel said to me.
Chapter twenty-four
“Ican’tbelieveIdid that,” I said, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, as Ansel led from where we parked on the street to the restaurant. He took smaller, slower steps to keep pace with me.
“How’s your hand feeling?”
