“Sure you are.” He nodded at Kade. “Hope your pockets are deep, my friend, and that the pussy’s worth it.”
A bomb went off behind her. It happened too fast for her to intervene, her hands grasping air as Kade flew past her. Kade grabbed Doug by his lapels and hauled him up the porch and against the wall with a crushing bang. Tess ran after them.
Kade’s voice was murderously calm. “If I were you, Douggie, I’d be real careful what you say next. You want to know who this gu
y is? Maybe I should stutter and jog your memory. I’m the guy who despises you enough that jail might be worth the chance to beat you until you cry and beg and break. Maybe I should do to you exactly what you did to me.”
Doug’s eyes went wide at that, and it was the first time Tessa could recall seeing real fear flicker there. Doug’s gaze darted to her then back to Kade. “Fowler?”
“Apologize to Tess for being a crude and obnoxious prick tonight,” Kade said, his grip on Doug not relenting.
Doug’s jaw clenched and she could tell, though he was wary of Kade, he wasn’t quite ready to concede. “I apologize, Tessa.”
The lack of sincerity was clear to them all, and Kade looked ready to kill him with his bare hands. She’d never seen anyone look so deadly. The hate was like a palpable flavor in the air around him. But when she called Kade’s name, truly scared he might do something, Kade released Doug with a shove, and stepped back. Tessa let go of the breath she’d been holding and went to stand next to Kade, taking his hand. His was shaking.
Doug glanced down at their linked hands and snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Him, Tessa? Seriously?”
“You need to go,” she said.
“Guess it’s true what they say about the law of attraction. Trash attracts trash. Have fun playing in the gutter.”
Kade made some growly noise under his breath but she put her other hand on his upper arm, keeping him from launching at Doug and doing real damage this time.
Doug shook his head like he couldn’t believe he had to suffer the presence of such pathetic creatures. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer about the watch and coins.”
She chose not to take any more of his bait and watched him smooth his jacket then head toward the rental car. She squinted, catching what looked to be movement next to the car, but it was too dark to tell. Probably a neighbor peeking over the hedges for the show. Great. She gave another investigating look as Doug pulled out but didn’t see anything else. And not until his taillights disappeared off the street did she let herself ease her grip on Kade’s hand. She leaned into him. “You okay?”
“No, not really,” he said, his voice so quiet it almost didn’t sound like him.
She looked up at him, concern lacing her. “What’s wrong?”
He leaned against the railing of her porch, the lines of his jaw flexing. He’d gone pale and sweat had broken out along his brow. “You saw me. I almost fucking lost it. I hate that he can still get to me.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. He would’ve kept provoking you until you snapped at the bait. That’s his way. Provoke and then make the other person feel like they’re the ones acting irrationally. He used to do it to me all the time.”
He shook his head, tension still swirling around him like a fog. “You don’t understand. I hate feeling out of control like that. I’m not that person anymore. He shouldn’t be able to affect me at all. But it’s taking everything I have right now not to get in my car, hunt him down, and wring the life right out of him.” He met her gaze. “I could kill that guy in cold blood and not feel remorse. I don’t want to be that person.”
“No,” she said, her voice firm. “You aren’t that person. You had the chance to hurt him tonight and you let him leave.”
“Only because you were here,” he said, running a hand through his hair and stalking the length of the porch. “God, I hate that he can get to me like that. It makes me feel crazy, out of control.”
She rubbed her arms, worried at this shift in him. He looked like he needed to punch a wall or pummel something, like all this energy was built up with nowhere to go. But she didn’t have a punching bag to offer. And she sure didn’t want him going after Doug and getting himself in trouble.
She wet her lips, another idea hovering. It was a risk, but some instinct inside her told her it may be just what he needed. She walked backward toward her door, slid the key inside by feel, and turned the knob. “So take the control back.”
He glanced over at her, brows still low over his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
She pushed the door open behind her. “Forget about him and take some control back. I’m here. I won’t fight it.”
His expression darkened. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. You haven’t seen my mean side, and I’m not sure I trust myself to keep it light and easy right now. Just give me a few minutes to calm down.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to calm down,” she said, the words escaping before she could evaluate their possible consequences. “You’ve given me my fantasy. Maybe it’s time you show me yours. What would you do if you weren’t worried about what I’d think?”
He stared at her for long seconds, and she almost chickened out and took it back, but then he was stalking across the porch in a blink. She backed up into the house, and Kade kicked the door shut behind him. “Tell me your safeword, Tess.”
Her voice went hoarse in an instant. “Red.”
He moved forward, wrapping his hand around the base of her neck. “Tell me you really want this.”