“You don’t fucking know that. We were great together. She just needed a little more time, but then you had to come back and fuck it all up. We would have been married if it weren’t for you. You broke her.”
I shake my head. “I’m so fucking sick of everyone saying that I broke her. If you really think that, then you don’t know Tully at all. She’s a fucking warrior. No one can break her, not even me. Sure, she was hurting, but every fucking day she got up and she built herself an empire and showed the world that she can’t be fucked with yet you keep treating her with kiddie gloves. She’s a fucking force to be reckoned with and maybe if you’d treated her like a fucking queen rather than a defenseless princess, you could have had her.”
“I did have her.”
“She might have shared your bed. But you never had her.”
Spencer’s jaw clenches and I watch as his hands ball into fists at his side. Tully tells me over and over again that he’s a good guy, but from what I’ve seen, he’s still the same dickhead from high school and the way he rears back and throws a punch that hurtles towards my face proves it.
I narrowly avoid having my jaw broken and slice my hand out towards him. I catch his wrist as it passes my face and step out of the way as the momentum forces him forward. He slams into the wall and I step in behind him, keeping him pinned. “You don’t want to fucking try me, Spencer. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt because it’s still fresh and because I know Tully would want me to take it easy on you. I’m warning you, back off and bow out.”
I lean in closer. “You asked me what I was trying to achieve. I want my fucking girl back and no one is going to get in my way. You ended things with her and are already hurting her by spending time with my cousin, so get the fuck out of here before I decide it’s time to teach you a fucking lesson. You’re through with her.”
Spencer’s jaw remains clenched, but I feel the fight leave his body and I let up on him. He spins around and gets in my face. “You fucking hurt her again and I’m coming for you.”
“Same goes with Lacey. She’s my blood. One fucking foot wrong and I’ll take you out.” Spencer’s eyes flick down to the box and I step in front of it. “Just go.”
With one final look towards her door, Spencer slinks away and I’m left standing in the hallway wondering what the fuck just happened. All I know is that I don’t want to leave her alone.
I grab the box and make my way back inside her apartment while making sure to lock the door behind me. I dump it on her dining table, making a point of not looking deeper than the leather jacket and giving myself a glimpse of her life with him. I’m not interested. All that matters now is moving forward.
Needing to feel her back in my arms, I make my way down to her room, step out of my shoes, and peel my shirt over my head.
I slip back under the covers and as if sensing me, she instantly rolls back into my arms which is exactly where she stays.
Chapter 12
Tully
Sun streams through my bedroom window and I wake squinting into the early morning light What the hell? Usually, I close the blinds before going to bed.
It takes all of two seconds for it to hit me. Rivers.
Not only was he here last night, but there’s a strong arm curled around my waist and my back is pressed against what feels like the comfiest brick wall I’ve ever had the pleasure of being up against.
He’s all man. He always was, but after four years in the military, his body has been sculptured to absolute perfection. He’s simply delicious. One day…not today, probably not tomorrow and most likely not this week, but one day I’m going to explore every inch of him and rediscover this new Rivers. How could I not? It’d be a crime against womankind if I didn’t eventually take him for a test drive.
Shit…
Just last night I vowed that I’d never go back to him and here I am considering all the different ways I’d let him take me. I wouldn’t mind letting him bend me like a pretzel and fucking me to within an inch of my life, but then, I also want to see his face. I want to watch him, watch the way he works my body, watch how he touches me.
A shiver runs down my spine as the softest groan pulls from within me. I can count the times I’ve been with Rivers on one hand. We had a brief moment back in high school, back when I thought the best of him. I thought we’d finally broken that barrier and everything was going to be perfect between us. That night with him was incredible.