The muscle in his jaw ticked so hard I could see it under all the scruff. His nostrils flared under his eyes that raged like an ocean in an angry storm.
I dropped the box and rushed to him, hands out, worried about what put that look there. “Jake, what the hell? What happened?”
“We’re going home, right now.”
“What? Ja—”
“Right. Fucking. Now.”
I froze, dropping my hands to my side, shocked at him almost yelling at me. Jake rarely raised his voice and never at me.
He snagged a hand around my bicep and dragged me past a guilty-looking Daniel.
What the hell was going on?
I tried to get him to stop, but he used sheer brute force to pull me all the way to the door, shoving people out of the way without apology. The cool night air hit me, and my mind was so lost trying to catch up to the change in mood, I stumbled behind him through the parking lot until we stood by his car.
“Jake?”
“Get in the car, Jackson. We’ll talk when we get home.”
“Can I at least know what the hell happened?”
He closed his eyes and seemed to be counting to ten. “Please.”
Confusion had been the only emotion rolling through me since he came barging in. But hearing his pleading tone to not push him, the way he stayed silent the entire drive back home, fear washed over me like I’d never felt before.
I was going to lose him. I didn’t know why, but I could feel it in my bones. I was going to lose him.
I should have married him when I had the chance.
5
Jackson
The click of our front door felt like the preamble to our ending—like the last shot fired that would finish us off. I was so focused on all the reasons he was going to end it, that I was completely unprepared for the rough hand to my shoulder slamming me back against the door. I winced as my head knocked hard against the surface and opened my eyes to find Jake right in my face, his eyes alight with anger.
He could be mad at me all he wanted but hitting my head fucking hurt and lit a fire under my own frustration. I clenched my jaw to hold back my angry words, waiting for him to speak first. And when he did, all the breath was sucked from my lungs.
“Why won’t you set a date?”
“What?” I played dumb. Maybe he didn’t know.
“Why?” he shouted only a few inches from my face.
I couldn’t handle lying directly to his face and the anger coloring his gaze was giving way to hurt. I hated seeing him hurt. “I told you,” I muttered, dropping my gaze to the side. It wasn’t a complete lie, more of an avoidance.
“Bullshit,” he growled, shoving me again, pinning me in place. My eyes snapped back to his, my anger upping with each aggressive push. “I just talked to Daniel about giving you time off for the wedding.”
My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
“Imagine how dumb I felt when he had no idea what I meant.”
I was floundering, mad at myself for lying—embarrassed for the reasons I lied in the first place. Heat flooded my cheeks and it pissed me off. “If you didn’t want to feel dumb, then you shouldn’t have pried.”
“You’re right,” he answered too calmly. “Because my fucking fiancé should have fucking told me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do. So, I stood there mute, pinned to the door, clenching my jaw, waiting for him to just end it all.
Jake didn’t appreciate my silence and stepped only inches from me, getting right in my face, not holding an ounce of his frustration back.
“So, why the fuck haven’t you set a date? And try a little honesty this time.” His condescending tone got under my skin because he knew exactly how much it would irritate me—he knew what got my anger up the quickest and when someone talked to me like a child, it hit all my buttons.
I shoved him back, trying to gain some ground in this losing battle. “Why don’t you get out of my face?”
“Don’t change the subject, Jackson.”
Shoving my hand through my hair, I gripped the strands and tugged, needing the sting. “Jesus,” I said with my own mocking tone. “You dragged me out of there like a child about to get spanked.”
“That can be arranged.”
Usually, I’d respond to that with a hell yes and fight to bend him over the couch and spank his ass as I fucked him. But this time, I knew it wasn’t playful and I threw a glare in his direction.
He was breathing harder, his fists clenching and unclenching, and I knew I had seconds before he snapped. But I wasn’t fast enough.
“Just fucking tell me,” he roared.