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“She said she had errands to run and would be back later.” He placed a plate in front of me on the counter. “Really, I think she just wanted to give us privacy.” Sliding a bottle of hot sauce toward me, he nodded at the food. “Eat. It’ll settle your stomach. Then we can talk.”
I hated that he knew my favorite food was eggs with hot sauce and was using it against me. And I didn’t want to talk. At least not to him. Not now. But the food solved my pounding head and churning stomach. Maybe we should clear the air and move on. I could apologize for freaking out and acting like a jealous bitch, and he could give me the “let’s be friends” talk. Then things could go back to the way they were.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he began while washing the dishes from breakfast.
I grabbed a towel to dry. “It’s fine.” I swallowed past a lump in my throat. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have freaked out on you the way I did.”
I busied myself around the kitchen putting away the dry dishes.
“I should have done so many things differently yesterday. To start, telling you how I feel about you.” I froze, my eyes going wide at his words.
“How you feel…?” I stuttered as I slowly turned. I took in his tall form leaning against the counter. His arms loosely crossed over his chest.
“Yes. Before you walked off that pier yesterday, I should have told you I want more.”
Oh God. No. Please, no.
My stomach sank because I was about to destroy him. This couldn’t be happening. “I—”
He stood to his full height, his arm coming up, palm out, cutting me off without words. “Wait, let me finish. I’m not usually good at this stuff.” His gaze darted to the floor and back up to meet my eyes. My heart splintered at the vulnerable look on his face. He rubbed his other palm along the short stubble on his jaw. “I want you, Bella. To kiss you again and hold you in my arms. To walk into a party with my arm around you and let everyone there know you’re mine.” He ran a hand through his hair, his tell that he was nervous, and my heart cracked open a little more. “That’s what I should have said yesterday, and then maybe we would have been at the bonfire last night together, and you would have seen I only have eyes for you.”
I was holding my breath and finally let it out on a sob. “Rhett…” I cupped my mouth with my hand and felt the moisture gathering in my eyes.
“Bella, if you don’t feel the same, it’s okay, or if you do but want to take things slow, I’m fine with that too.” He took a step closer to me, and then another, closing the distance between us. He placed his palms on the counter on either side of me, effectively caging me in. “Bella, I’m going to kiss you unless you tell me no. My control is nearing its limit.”
“Don’t. I can’t.” His face fell, and he let me push him away. “I slept with Caden last night,” I blurted out as tears started rolling down my face.
Rhett
I’m going tofucking kill him.
Without a word, I left a crying Bella standing in Ashley’s apartment because I was seeing red. My truck headed toward Jackson’s place, because I knew that prick Caden would still be passed out from last night. I couldn’t believe he would do that. He fucking knew. I told all the guys at poker night earlier this week that I was planning to take Bella out on the boat on Friday. Jackson even gave me a punch to the arm, saying “about damn time,” and then asked me if I was going to make my move. I laughed it off, but all the guys knew I had been dragging my feet for a while now.
I pulled up to Jackson’s and slammed the truck into park, hopping out and heading around back. There he was. Sitting in one of the lounge chairs around the pool with sunglasses on, sipping what looked to be a coffee without a care in the world. I was going to fucking destroy him.
“You fucking piece of shit!” I yelled.
He slammed down his coffee and climbed to his feet. “The hell you just say?”
Jackson exited the house hastily, approaching us. “What’s going on, Rhett?”
I didn’t answer him. Instead, I cocked back my arm and swung, loving the feel of my fist meeting Caden’s face. His head snapped back, and he stumbled, blood rushing from his nose.
I rarely lost my temper, but this was about Bella. For the first time in my life, I felt out of control. I charged at Caden, taking him to the ground as my fist landed another blow. Before Caden could react, Jackson pulled me off him.
“What the fuck,Rhett?” Jackson said with his arms around me, locking me in place.
“He fucked her!” I spat the words out as I struggled against his hold, desperate to get another shot in. “He fucked Bella last night.”
“What the fuck?” This time, he directed the question at Caden.
Caden climbed to his feet, still holding his nose. “Well, you two weren’t together at the bonfire, so I thought that meant she was fair game,” he said with a smug smile.
“You’re lucky I don’t let him beat your ass right now. Go home, Caden,” Jackson snapped.
“Fuck you guys. He left her crying, and I picked up the pieces. If he wanted to be the one to get his dick wet, he shouldn’t have left her.” He shrugged.
I surged against Jackson’s hold, but although he took a step, he didn’t let me go.
