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“If it weren’t for you, I’m not sure I’d be here, so of course I want to see you. Did you think I stayed at the hospital with you that first night just to enjoy the smell of bleach?”
“I’m afraid I don’t remember much about my stay in the hospital,” Elias says, and his body is tense. He doesn’t like to look back and fuck, I can’t say as I blame him. I don’t want to either. Still, I don’t like that Helena stayed by his side, or that she’s so comfortable with him. I especially don’t like that he shortened her damn name.
She leans down and puts her hand on his and gives it a squeeze. “I get this is a bad subject for you. So, I’m done after this, I just wanted to tell you I’m grateful,” she whispers and then, kisses his damn cheek.
What the actual fuck?
“Helena.”
Her name is pulled from me, my tone deep and angry as I try to rein in my reaction to watching her around my brother. I need to get control. The problem is, I never have that much control around my woman—and she is mine—even if she doesn’t realize it. I don’t like that she gives him her sweetness—a side of her that I have to fight to receive. I don’t like that she touches him. It tears through me with a bitterness that I can’t handle. It doesn’t escape my attention that Elias is more her age, too. That means seeing all of that I’m already angry enough to tear my own brother apart. But when she puts her lips on him?
No fucking way. No. Fucking. Way.
She crooks her neck to look over her shoulder at me with a bland smile. Bland. “Yes?”
“Come here.”
Her brow crinkles and one delicate eyebrow arches. Her smile is now tight. I can also see the irritation on her face. Too bad for her that I’ve passed irritated and just fucking pissed.
“I am here,” she responds.
I push out from the small table and pat my thigh to indicate my lap. “Come here.”
Her eyes go round and whatever smile she has is now disintegrated. She whirls around on me, hands going to her hips, legs spread apart so that her stance looks as if she’s preparing for battle. She has no idea that I love battling with her. She tastes much sweeter when I’m victorious.
“You did not just do that,” she hisses.
“Get your ass over here, Ena.”
Her body physically jerks and her gorgeous eyes spit fire at me. “I told you this once before, Marco, but I’m starting to think you’re just too damn thick headed to grasp it, so I’m going to tell you once more. I am not a damn dog.”
“God, don’t I know that,” I respond. “A dog would be loyal and have better sense than to upset their master continuously and invite their displeasure.”
“I…uh… loyal?” Her mouth opens and the words are forced out, her cheeks deepening in color to a blazing red hue. “Invite my master’s displeasure?”
I shrug.
“My fucking master?” she cries.
Elias stands up. “I think I’ll just be going.” He shakes his head at me. I don’t pull my eyes from Helena, but I do address my brother.
“Wash your hand and your face and if you ever let my woman touch you again, you’ll answer to me.”
“I… you… are you fucking delusional?” Helena demands, her voice now reaching the screeching mark. Oddly enough, that doesn’t bother me either.
“And the next time you, my lovely fiancée, put my brother in this situation, you will not be able to sit down for a week.”
“I put… are you seriously threatening to spank me?”
“I’m not threatening it. I’m telling you it’s going to happen, but it can be for your pleasure or your punishment. Pissing me off and touching another man is definitely courting punishment, Helena. We haven’t had much time together, so this is your warning. Don’t do it again. You won’t like how I retaliate.”
She blinks, clearly studying my face. I let her. I have nothing to hide—not anymore. Again, the freedom I’ve finally gained courses through me.
“You are,” she whispers. “You are delusional.”
“And you still don’t have your ass over here.”
She shakes her head no. “I’m not going to come there. You’re crazy. I’m not getting in your lap every single damn time I enter a room. I shouldn’t have last night. It seemed important to you, and I used to dream of being in your arms, so I let it go. You can’t expect that every day, Marco.”
“Helena—”
“No,” she responds cutting me off. “You can’t treat me like a dog you are bringing to heel. I’m not an animal. I did nothing wrong here. I owe Elias. I was terrified that day. His actions saved us and honestly, he did more than you did that day to make sure I was safe. So, I will touch him, I will kiss him, and I will fucking well be his friend, because he took care of me that day when my own fiancé couldn’t be bothered!”
