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“Maybe with a fucking assassin. He’s a figure skater, not a professional criminal. Christ, Rafael.”
Rafael’s frown deepened. “You trust these guys too much. Just because they’re skaters and you watched them on TV or whatever doesn’t mean they couldn’t have bad intentions.”
I threw my hands in the air. “You sound more like a mom than my actual mom ever did. I’m a big girl. Fully grown, officially an adult. And I’ve been training with them for weeks now, so yeah, I do know them enough to trust them not to rape me. But even if I didn’t,youknow I can look after myself better than any woman these guys have ever been with. You expect me to believe you honestly couldn’t tell I wasn’t fighting for my life?”
“I didn’t have a whole lot of time to analyze the situation.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” I snapped. “Even after I told you it was fine, you kept staring him down like you were trying to punch him with your goddamn eyes.”
A flicker of discomfort crossed Rafael’s face. He knew I was right—he knew he’d gone too far.
Seeing it only fueled my anger. “You got all grouchy when I told you he was coming by, just like you did when I mentioned I slept with Niko. You never wanted him here to begin with.”
“I’m trying to protect you—”
“You’re trying to stop me from having any kind of private life at all!”
Rafael shut his mouth and turned that glower of his on me. It wasn’t fair that it could heat me up inside all over again even while I was so pissed off at him.
But that had always been the problem. He could get me hot and bothered, but he’d never let me act on the desire.
The words kept tumbling out, propelled by not just tonight’s annoyance but years of pent-up frustration.
“You’ve decided you don’t want me even though I pulled out all the stops to show you I was interested, and that’s fine. I backed off. I’m not standing around mooning over you. But you don’t get to turn me down and then block me from having fun with every other guy in the world too. You made it clear that it’s none of your fucking business.”
Rafael blinked at me, his stance stiffening. His frown had twisted into something vaguely sickly looking.
“Lou—”
I flicked my hand toward him. “I don’t want to hear it. You won tonight—I didn’t get to fuck a very hot guy who’s actually interested in me. But if you’re going to have a problem with me hooking up with whoever I damn well want, you can go back to Austin.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t—”
“I can get by on my own just fine.Youinsisted on coming with me—I didn’t ask you to. I left home so that I didn’t have to live my life under someone else’s thumb, and I’m not going to let you bully me into doing things your way now.”
Rafael winced. He lowered his head, his expression still grim.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have interfered. I’d never try to take away your freedom. Of course you know what you’re doing. I won’t barge in like that again unless I’m sure you need me.”
They were all the right words, but I couldn’t hear much actual remorse in his voice. He sounded like he was speaking by rote, going through the motions of an apology when he didn’t actually regret what he’d done one bit.
I gritted my teeth, because there wasn’t anything specific I could call him on—and then he’d already spun on his heel and started trudging down to his basement room, ending the conversation completely.
For a minute or two, I stood there, my breath rushing in and out of me as I gathered my composure. When my nerves felt a little steadier, I sat down on the sofa hard, trying not to think about the delight Jasper had sparked in my body there less than half an hour ago.
Thoughts of the man downstairs loomed too much at the forefront of my mind.
Rafael and I had argued before, of course. I couldn’t count how many spats we’d had when I’d chafed against his protective nature through my teens.
But since I’d passed my eighteenth birthday, he’d eased off on the domineering attitude, and we hadn’treallyclashed that whole time.
Until now. And this felt different from any argument we’d ever had before.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t want to jump in the sack with me. Rafael was the one constant presence in my life, the one person I’d always been able to count on. When he’d thrown in his lot with me over my mom, I’d thought that meant the trust between us ran as deep as could be.
But after the way he’d acted tonight, the way he’d defied me for no reason other than whatever petty grievances had provoked his hostility… I wasn’t so sure after all.
Was he my rock, or a stone I’d have to stumble over on my way to claiming my freedom?
