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“What did you mean then?” She set her jaw.
I think I love you, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.But those words caught in my throat. What came out was, “You need me to protect you.”
Fuck! Why was it so fucking hard to admit I cared? To admit that I loved her? It wasn’t like there was a wizard threatening to hold everything I cared about against me to make me do his bidding.
She scowled. “I liked you better when you were just a demon who wanted to get into my pants.”
Hurt by her words, I stumbled back and let her go. I’d fucked up. I’d fucked up bad. If I’d had a heart, it would have been dropping to the pit of my stomach as she stomped out of my suite.
Chapter 26
Tansy
“Argh!”I screamed into the pillow.
Who the hell did he think he was? The moment the words “I forbid you” came out of Eamon’s mouth, it was like I was transported back to my old home at The Ivory Tower. How many times had Mother said those words to me?
I’d decided the day I ran away that no one would own me except for me. No one would tell me what to do. And most definitely, no one would forbid me from anything again. Ever.
Somehow Eamon had said all the wrong words. There was no “I care about you,” no “we can do this together.” He’d gone straight to “you’re mine” and “I forbid you.”
I screamed into the pillow again.
“Argh!” Nugget repeated. “Argh. Argh.”
I grumbled. Great. Of all the things she decided to pick up, it had to be this instead of something cute.
If Desmon hadn’t warned me to use a secure line, I’d have called the wizard on my phone already. I wondered if one of the gargoyle brothers would lend me his phone. But I was too pissed off right now for that call. I needed to blow off some steam first. Maybe sleep on it for a night.
I didn’t know why, but my first instinct was to call Sybil or Shelby, maybe even Iris, or all three at once. I’d never felt like I was able to call anyone before. I’d always been alone. I hadn’t known these women for very long, but I felt as if I could confide in them.
I wasn’t exactly socially adept, having been deprived most of my life. Would I be overreaching and straining new, budding friendships with my problems?
“Nugget, what should I do?” I cuddled her to my chest. “I’d complain to you, but I don’t think you’d understand.”
I reached for my phone only to realize it was still in my purse, which was back in Eamon’s part of the penthouse. Deciding I wasn’t going to let something like awkwardness stop me, I girded my loins and headed back over, this time with Nugget in tow, hiding in the very same hoody I’d first arrived in.
He wasn’t there. He must have left while I was letting off steam in the spare room. Instead of just grabbing my purse, I took all my things and stuffed them into my rolling luggage. Thankful that I still had very little, I took it out to the spare room in the shared area.
It would be best for everyone if I stayed here tonight instead. I didn’t think I could handle sleeping in Eamon’s bed right now, though a part of me wanted to, so that I could kick him out of his own bed for what he’d said.
Then, with my things taken care of, I knocked on the door to Shelby and Grayson’s suite. No one answered. I knew she was home, though. Grayson had gone out to run some business-related errands after breakfast today, and Shelby had gone back into their area to work on a project for the dragon’s wife.
I knocked again, and when no one answered, I tried the door. It opened, and I stuck my head in.
“Shelby?” I said loudly.
Her upper body leaned out from the back office as she pulled the headphones from her ears. “Hey! I didn’t hear you.” Then she noticed my expression. “What’s wrong?” She hurried out toward me. “Come on in.”
We sat on her couch with diet sodas in hand, and I told her everything that had happened. Somewhere between explaining the short call from Desmon suggesting I look up a certain ex-WEC member to the moment Eamon told me he forbade me from going, a tub of Ben and Jerry’s had joined our table. Sybil also joined us on video call.
“Ugh! Men. You can’t live with them; you can’t live without them.” Shelby slumped on the couch next to me. “These guys from Redrock try to modernize, but they still have antiquated views that sneak out sometimes.”
“Yeah. You’re telling me.” I dug into the tub of Half Baked aggressively. “Did you know, when I asked what he really meant, he said Ineededhim to protect me.“ I held up my spoon. “I know, I know. I came here for protection, but I specified that I needed protection while I completed my objective. I can’t do that if he won’t let me. I never wanted to be protected forever.”
“Of course not.” Shelby took the empty tub of ice cream from my hands and offered me a fresh one.
I hadn’t realized I’d finished the first tub. I took the new one and dug in without hesitation. “I came here so I can be free to be my own person, not to be owned by a possessive demon.”
