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I could almost hear his heart tearing in two, and it felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my chest. I couldn’t think past the ache.
“They’ll be gone in a few days, and I’ll be back here with you. We’ll make a plan then,” I said, trying to appease him, wanting to remove the look of pain from his eyes, also needing to buy myself some time to consider how we would all work as a blended family. “I’m not unsure about you, Leland. You have my word on that.”
“Will you fuck her?”
“What?” I asked.
“Will youfuckher, Franky?!” His voice thundered through the lower level of the house, and I breathed, summoning every ounce of patience I could dredge up instead of showing him whose anger was boss. “I mean, you’re fucking me bareback, so I think I have a right to know.”
“No. I don’t plan on having sex with her. Jesus, Leland.” I jumped to my feet.
“So no sex, then. Let’s see…” He gripped his chin in thought. “What about kissing? Holding hands? Sleeping in the same bed? How exactly does this whole playing house thing work, Franklin?” he bit out like I was obtuse. His questions stunned me. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“You still love her. How could you not? She’s perf—” He stopped himself, leaving me curious.
“She’s what?” I asked, lowering my voice.
“Nothing,” he said, dragging his hands down his face. “Just don’t do this.”
I exhaled, sitting again and motioning to the spot next to me, trying to get a handle on the conversion. “Have a seat, please,” I said.
“Tell me you aren’t going to do this first,” he said, a defiant fire igniting behind his golden brown eyes. I said nothing. He wouldn’t have liked my answer anyway.
“On second thought,” he said, “maybe you should do this. We’ve been cooped up here all summer. I could use a breather, some fresh air. Maybe I’ll meet up with Noon. It’s been a while since we hung out. Maybe I’ll even hit up Josephine’s,” he said threateningly.He couldn’t get his way, so the next best thing was to play on my possessiveness.
I prowled over to him, taking his face between my hands, the heel of my palms pressing against the stubborn jut of his chin. Jealousy flared from some place deep within me, cramping my gut and raising the volume on the sudden silence overtaking the room. “Don’t do something you’ll regret. I’m warning you, Leland.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Franky,” he said, not even blinking under the strength of my fierce stare. If anything, the threat of facing my anger seemed to embolden him further. “Don’t worry, I’ll wear a rubber—”
I shut his mouth for him, holding it closed as he tried to wriggle from my hands. “I’m a powerful man, Leland. I hold more influence than you can ever imagine. Don’t make me ruin someone’s life all because you’re in the mood to test me,” I whispered maliciously, the air pumping through his nostrils hot against my face as I drew in closer to him. “Don’t play games you can’t win.”
Leland had experience with my mercurialness, and his body had long ago adapted to receiving me in anger. But up until then, he’d only known me as Franky.
Franklin Kincaid would call in all favors owed to dismantle the life of anyone who laid a hand on Leland. Franklin Kincaid would buy out Josephine’s just to have the pleasure of setting it afire and watching it burn.
“What is it you want? Hmm?” I asked, one palm moving to clamp around his nape, the other freeing his mouth to choke his words off at his throat. “What do you win by sending me into a jealous rage? Is your goal for me to fuck you? Spank you until I break skin? Do you need me to make it so you can’t sit, let alone ride a cock or fuck a pussy while I’m gone?” I snapped crudely, beyond thinking before I spoke. “What I’m about to say next is unfair of me. I know this.” I increased the pressure on his windpipe before continuing. “I don’t want anyone else’s hands on you, and I’m afraid of what I might be capable of to ensure that doesn’t happen.” I’d backed us deep into his corner, my shoes bumping up against his bare feet. His cheeks were rosy, his eyes screaming bloody murder, but I didn’t care. “Don’t push me, Leland. You end things between us before you push me that far.”
If there was one thing Leland excelled at, it was antagonizing me—for good or bad—and never backing down. I took a firmer hold around his throat, and he glared at me defiantly, welcoming the suffocation, as if he didn’t need to breathe, as if my jealousy would sustain him.
A small part of my brain still operating on reason understood that I needed to let him go, even though I knew without question I wouldn’t like his reply. I was right, and I regretted freeing him instantly.
“I’ll do whoever the fuck I want, unless you give me a reason not to,” he said angrily. “You don’t own me. Now back the fuck off.”
I didn’t back off. I crowded him into the wall, afraid that while I was off pretending my life hadn’t changed, he’d be out falling into the arms of someone who deserved him. That fear prevented me from seeing straight.
“Franky,” Leland said, shoving at my chest.
“Take it back,” I said, unmovable. “You take it back right now.”
“Say you won’t leave me here to go be with her, and I’ll tell you anything you want to hear.”
I bared my teeth at him but couldn’t get my mouth to spill the words he wanted to hear.
“That’s what I thought.” Leland ducked to slip under my outstretched arms caging him to the wall, but I was faster. Slamming him back in place, I took his mouth in a savage kiss, leaving him with no choice but to take it or risk losing the chunk of hair I held him by.
“Take it back,” I snarled.
“No,” he breathed, uselessly pushing at me.
