“Seriously? Are you truly asking me that?”
He can’t unclench his jaw to speak. His eyes look like they’re made of pain.
“I’m not having this conversation…” I say, walking away from him again.
He grabs my elbow and spins me around. Our eyes meet again.
He seems consumed with something.
What is wrong with him? Does he think I followed him to this place?
Oh, no.
No, no.
“I’m not here because of you,” I say through grinding teeth. “How can you even think that about me? I can’t believe you,” I hurl at him, flabbergasted, yanking my elbow out of his grip.
He grabs me again, spins me around, and drapes his arms around me, preventing me from leaving.
I fight him. The more I fight him, the tighter he closes his arms around me and the less room for maneuvering I have.
I look up at him, his eyes flickering cold, trained in the distance.
He seems unaffected by my struggle.
“Let me go,” I growl, and he finally allows me to move freely.
I straighten my spine and step back.
“Why were you at that bar?” he asks again.
A blizzard lifts from his lips.
He is very particular about this question, and it takes me a few moments to ponder his words.
What is he saying?
He slides his hands into his pockets and doesn’t look at me, his eyes moving past my head and training on some point in the distance where Central Park sprawls out.
He hides how he feels. How he truly feels. Behind his outburst of anger, there is something else. Some raw, filthy, primal emotion.
He thought I was at the bar to pick up men?
Is that it? I can’t breathe.
Or was it…?
Oh, no. Is he afraid Cardenas will make a move on me?
He already has made a move on me. He must’ve known Kai was about to enter the place with another woman.
He also knew I hadn’t been invited to their dinner party.
That’s why he said what he said to me.
He thought I was no longer bound to Kai. Or I shouldn’t be anyway. Maybe he anticipated Kai and I would have an argument this evening.
Was he wrong?