I sucked in a deep breath and nearly coughed. The air reeked of Malachi and sex, and my blood started to boil with that thought. He was just here. Where he was now, I wasn’t certain. But I hated the idea that he would disappear the way he did. Never mind risk Cassidy’s safety like that.
The coward.
I stepped in closer to Cassidy and sniffed. She was bathed in his scent. My jaws clenched. I would have to deal with him later. It was one thing to visit, but a whole other thing to have sex with her behind my and Dallas’ backs.
If Charlotte found out…
I huffed a sigh and refocused.
“Are you okay?” I asked, setting my gaze on hers once more. e
More banging on the door and I growled again as I settled my gaze on the damn thing one last time. I faced Cassidy. She gaped and shook her head, seeing the thoughts clearly through my eyes.
“Please don’t,” she said. “He’ll hurt you.”
I smirked. He wished he could hurt me. “I’ll be right back.”
I headed back out the door to face the drunken bastard one last time. This time, I was going to push him down the street until he gave up for good before coming back if that was what it took.
9
CASSIDY
Despite my warnings, Steele ran back out of the door to chase Xander away again. I stared at the door as it closed, holding my breath as my heart raced. I wasn’t sure if I should run after him and beg him to stop. But I couldn’t get my body to move. It was like I had become stone, glued to the floor, unable to do anything except stare at the door Steele had disappeared through.
Damn it. He didn’t understand what he was getting himself into by confronting my ex-boyfriend like that. He was going to get himself extremely hurt if not killed.
My thoughts cycled out of control and my breathing became ragged. I could barely see though the tears that filled my eyes and I almost collapsed to the floor.
Admittedly, I was freaking out. Not only because Steele had put himself in danger to protect me, but my abusive, stalker ex-boyfriend had somehow managed to find me, and he was somehow clued into the fact that I had sex with other men.
Xander called them monsters. Why? I had no clue. If anyone was a monster in this scenario, it was him. It had always been him. As far as I was concerned, he was the only monster.
I wished I was able to say that was the end of our exchange, but I knew better than to think that. Because he also expected me to beg him for forgiveness and tried to force me to leave with him. He was so insistent that he had that terrible look in his eyes. The only one I had the unfortunate chance to see a very few times before.
The one that was possessive. Dark. The one that he would die than let go of something he had put his mind to.
I was definitely never going to go anywhere with him ever again. He and I were over a long time ago. The last thing I would ever do was even entertain the idea of going a foot out of the door with him. And even then, he would have to be dragging my corpse behind him.
But what had made everything so much worse was Steele showing up and escorting him away by force. Because of Steele’s show of force, Xander would show his face again. And knowing him as well as I did, he would come when we least expected him to.
And by “we,” I mean “I.” Because I wasn’t going to allow anyone else to be put in the crossfire of Xander’s anger. And he certainly wasn’t the type to back down. Especially when faced with a challenge. Almost especially then.
Because Xander doesn’t quit. Ever. Thus, my reoccurring nightmare with him.
Needless to say, I was a mess as I stood in the middle of my hotel room, staring at the door Steele had disappeared through. My heart raced and I was on the verge of hyperventilating. Tears poured down my cheeks, continuing to blur my vision.
Of course, in retrospect, I realized this was all playing a little too close to the tarot reading I had earlier, and I couldn’t even begin to process that on top of everything else I was going through. And I had a sinking suspicion the worst was yet to come. And I feared someone was going to be murdered… and I was worried sick, that someone was going to be Steele.
He promised to be back, which would only make things exponentially worse. But if I hurried, I might be able to pack up my things and be out of this place before he got back.
Without wasting a second or another breath, I got to work pulling out clothes from the drawers I had placed them in and pulled some of them on while letting the rest pile up on the mattress. I wasn’t much paying attention to what I put on myself. But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. I simply needed to be covered enough to make it to my car and drive home, where I would lock myself away for the rest of what remained of my vacation and never speak to another man again.
I pulled out my luggage and started throwing everything I grabbed into them. I didn’t have time to do things the nice way. I needed to leave, and long before Xander showed up.
By the time I got my bags packed and stacked by the door, there was another knock at the door. Maybe if I waited long enough, he would go away. Or take the hint that I wanted nothing to do with his demise. I knew better than to think it was Xander. But there was a small sliver of doubt that made my heart race all over again. One that made me consider the person on the other side was Xander, leaving me to guess at what happened to Steele.
Flashes of gory images flipped through my brain, forcing me to suck in a breath.