28
Jealousy isn’t something I’ve had a lot of experience with. There isn’t much I don’t have or don’t get, I’ve never needed to be envious. I know what it looks like, I’ve seen it in action but this feeling in my body, it’s wild and frantic. My heart beats hard, my scalp tingles and my stomach churns, all at the prospect of another man being in Wren’s life.
One she so calledtrusts.
Trust is a fickle beast, once you give it someone they have the power over you. They can break you. Betray you. Kill you. And you’re blind to it because of so called trust.
There’s very few people I trust. I can count on one hand who they are and that’s only because they have proven themselves.
Wren doesn’t understand.
She trusts blindly. Freely. But she doesn’t understand the repercussions of misplaced trust, especially when involved in this life.
Griffin is from her old life, one connected to Valentine and if there is anything I have learned about that man and his men, all of them and I meanallof them are snakes.
I see the moment Wren decides to fight back. I’ve started to learn a lot about this woman, her tells, her triggers, and with her spine straightening and the rims of her nostrils flaring I know she’s about to spit venom.
“Don’t you dare,” she seethes.
I smirk, the jealousy settling a little, “Don’t what, little bird?”
“This,” she waves her hand around, “This whole jealousy thing. You don’t get to be jealous, asshole. I’ve known Griffin for years.Years.I trust him.”
“Like you trusted Lawson?”
Her head snaps back and she strikes, her hand slapping across my face. The sting is sharp, tingles rushing over my cheek and jawline. Slowly I bring my head back, staring down at her. Ryker stands to intervene but I subtly shake my head as I step forward.
“Don’t push me, Wren,” I growl.
She does just that. She throws her entire body weight at me, trying to force me away but her slight frame is nothing on mine. I grab her, hauling her to my chest before I press her against the nearest counter, pinning her arms in place.
She thrashes around but ultimately, she can’t escape me. She’ll never be able to.
“You’re a fucking asshole. I hate you!”
“Whether you like it or not,” she struggles and I have to readjust to keep her in place, “you’re a part of this now. You have to question everything and everyone. Lawson raised you, he fucking raised you and he tried to kill you!”
“It’s your fault!”
It was. That was true.
But there was nothing to do about that now.
“Regardless, Wren, anyone and I meananyonefrom your previous life, they don’t exist anymore. All you have are enemies.”
“And you? Are you my enemy?” She cries.
“No, little bird, I’m not your enemy.”
“Then what?” She laughs manically, tears rolling down her face. I’m not entirely sure she even realizes she’s crying but her lips wobble and her eyes glaze and something twists inside me. Like the blade of a knife being stabbed into my abdomen and then being twisted. “You’re my knight in shining armour? You’re here to save the day and we can live happily ever after!?”
Ryker quietly steps from the table, our earlier confrontation forgotten as he nurses his swollen lip and split brow. He looks at me with a mixture of shock and concern? He surely can’t think this little thing could do me any damage. But then hell hath no fury than a woman scorned.
“I’m not that either,” I say eventually now we are alone.
“Then what, Alexander Silver? What are you if not my enemy?”
“Just yours.”