“That wasn’t—”
Behind Kyle, the pub door opened and shut, and a hush fell over the place as though we were in some kind of Western film and a stranger had just walked in. I glanced over his shoulder and drew a breath. Across the pub, Jayden’s eyes locked with mine. He didn’t smile.
What was he doing here?
Kyle still had his back to the door and had no idea who had just walked in. “—what I was trying to say,” he finished.
A hand clamped on his shoulder, and he jumped, and then spun to discover Jayden directly behind him. Jay had about four inches and probably forty pounds of muscle on Kyle, and that was before Kyle had even noticed the neck and knuckle tattoos.
“You appear to be bothering her,” Jayden said, his head angled slightly to the right, his intense eyes glinting.
Kyle gawped. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Wrong answer.”
Jayden’s grip tightened, and he swung Kyle towards the door. The group of people we’d been sitting with burst into voice, but no one actually got up to intervene.
“Hey!” someone shouted.
“What the fuck?” yelled another.
My face burned. “Jay, stop it!”
He shoved Kyle out of the door and onto the street and then turned back to me and put up both hands. “I’m not doing anything.”
All I could feel was everyone looking at us. I grabbed his arm and yanked him around the side of the bar and through the door that led into a small corridor behind. Ahead of us were a handful of doors—two for the men’s and women’s toilets, and a third I assumed led to a stockroom or cellar.
“What are you doing here, Ivy?” Jayden said.
I threw up both hands. “Having a drink with my friends? What does it look like?”
He arched an eyebrow. “That man was your friend?”
“Yeah. He just got a bit carried away, that was all.” I thought of something. “How did you even know I was here?”
This was Gilligan territory. Jayden shouldn’t even be in this area, but I didn’t think someone like him gave a shit about that.
“I might have installed an app on your phone when you gave it to me to put my phone number into.”
My eyes widened. “Seriously? You were tracking me?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I wanted to know where you were.”
I fished my phone out of my bag, opened it with my thumb print, and shoved it at him. “Take it off. Now.”
“No, and don’t try to find it. I’ve got it hidden behind other apps.”
“I just got this phone. I don’t need to get another one, and I don’t need you knowing where I am at all times. It’s creepy as fuck.”
“You need protecting. Every time I turn my back, some prick of a bloke is trying to get his hand up your skirt.”
I folded my arms. “And you think you’re any better.”
He lowered his head and growled. “IknowI’m better.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not in this just for the physical side of things. You’re in my fucking head, Ivy. I can’t stop thinking about you. That’s why I had to come here tonight.”