His dark eyes sparked with a little life, like he might enjoy it, but he didn’t move toward me. Instead, he rocked back on his heels. “I know that look you have.”
“What look is that?”
“It's the same one I had for a girl I thought was mine, who I thought I had under my control. Turns out, she owned me and the chaos surrounding us couldn’t be controlled at all.”
“Well, there’s the difference. I’ve always been able to control even the most fucked-up chaos.”
“Might be true, Jax. But I know Brey, and she’ll never choose to come anywhere near you if you keep talking to her father.”
I pushed off the wall and looked at his door one last time. Then I directed my gaze toward him, making sure he heard me very clearly. “You might know her, but you don’t know her with me. You assume she has the choice of coming near me in the first place.”
It was his turn to raise his eyebrows in question, looking like he may be ready to fight me finally.
I held up my hand to stop him and explain. “You assume I have a choice in keeping away from her too? She and I have never had a choice. We’re drawn to each other whether we like it or not.”
He scoffed but there was no reason to indulge in the conversation any further. “You want to tell her I’m here or you want me to break down your door?”
He contemplated it for about five seconds.
It was long enough for us to size each other up again. The man stood to just about the same height as me. I commanded attention in a room but he did too. I could see why he might appeal to Aubrey but couldn’t see her with anyone but me.
He smiled wide like he’d come to some conclusion. “If you hurt her again, I won’t have to break your neck.”
I shrugged, not promising him anything.
He continued. “Katie and Jay will skin you alive before I find you. You better believe I’ll help hide the body though.”
With that, he headed toward the exit door of the complex and said over his shoulder, “Just try calling or knocking to wake her up instead of breaking down my damn door and ice that toe of yours. Katie’s heels are mean motherfuckers.”
I should have broken down the door just to make a point, but he was being relatively helpful under the circumstances.
I’d learned over the years that I could make a point pretty clearly by navigating my social relationships the right way. I’d be navigating him the fuck out of her life and her into my bed soon enough.
Instead of knocking, I leaned against the hall wall, stared at Roman’s door and called her cell.
I heard it ring on the other side and imagined her groggily reaching for it. She’d never been one to wake up happy, so I didn’t expect her to answer on the first call.
It went to her voice mail. I hung up just to dial her number again.
It would have been rude to ignore a second call and I knew some of the politeness she’d been taught as a child was still there. She cleared her throat before speaking, but her hello was still full of sleep and sounded a lot like how I remembered it sounding after I’d slept next to her years ago.
“Polite of you to answer a call this late, Peaches.”
“Impolite of you to call this late, L.P.” she said back, using my nickname to grate on my nerves.
I heard rustling and even though I knew she was in another man’s bed, my body wanted to be right beside her.
Normally she and I would battle with each other, but tonight I battled with myself. I should have walked away from every damn feeling. She had me angry as hell that she wasn’t mine. The memories of us had me longing to be next to her again. And hearing her over the phone had me walking right up to Roman’s door wanting to be next to her.
“Can I see you?”
She stuttered, “Why?”
“Because we should talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
“We do,” I corrected. “Can I see you right now? Are you busy?”