Payton’s cheeks turn red. “I didn’t need your help.”
Mason turns to me, tosses the ball, and jogs back into the house.
Lolli flips round in the front seat, lifting a brow at Payton.
Payton busies herself in her phone.
“Sorry, ready.” Ari rushes over, her hair dripping wet and tied in a knot on her head.
“Girls’ day?” I wonder.
“Yes. It should be fun.”
I grin, happy to see her getting out for some fresh scenery. She hasn’t left the house much since we got here, other than to walk down and be near the water.
“I’m here by force, in case you were wondering.” Lolli frowns.
“Shut up, Lolli. We’ll feed you Patron. Don’t worry,” Mia teases.
“We’re going into the city to look at some boutiques,” Payton says, without looking up. “Kenra heard about the ‘gala’ and lost her mind.”
My muscles lock, and it takes effort to pry my lips open.
I look to Ari. “Gala?”
She smiles. “Yeah, your team event is coming up super-fast, so I’ve got to go find something now or I’ll be screwed.”
My stomach stirs, my limbs tingling.
“You—” I swallow.
She remembers?
I must look crazy because she giggles.
“At first, I wasn’t sure I was up for it, just in case, you know?” she says, and I eagerly nod, desperate to reach out and brush the loose hair from her face. “But then I decided, screw it, I need some fun.”
“Yeah. You do.” We do, baby.
“So I said I’d go.” She shrugs, tugging the door open to the back seat.
“Said you’d go.”
Said she’d go?
A knot forms in my throat.
In my gut.
In my fucking chest.
Ari nods, a sudden anxiousness drawing her shoulders in. “Um…” Confusion swims in her eyes and so I clear my throat, trying to offer a smile for her benefit, but I’m not sure I manage.
And then I spin around, heading back toward the house, but I don’t go inside.
I storm around the back, my ears ringing when voices reach me from the patio.
My vision pulses, blurs in and out of focus, but I only need one clear view.
One clear fucking shot.
And I take it.
I pull back, my fist connecting with Chase’s jaw.
He falls from his chair, tumbling to the ground, and when he jumps to his feet, his head snapping toward me, I grip him by the shirt, driving him backward until his spine hits the railing.
I trap his arms behind his back and lift his legs a bit, so he’s half hanging over the deck’s edge. I press my forearm against his chest, forcing it to hold all of my upper body weight.
He groans, trying to break free, but I press harder.
He cries out in pain this time, and Brady appears at my side, a door slamming behind us and then Mason appears.
“Noah, let him go.”
I press into Chase’s gut with my elbow and dig the heel of my palm into his shoulder blade. I could pop it out with just a little more force.
“You’re gonna break his arm.” Brady’s hand closes over my wrist.
My stomach turns. “Maybe he deserves it.”
My body shakes, my teeth clenching, and I push off of him, but I don’t step back.
Chase is forced to stand before me, right in fucking front of me.
Blood drips from his lip and he dabs at it with his thumb.
My shoulders fall and I shake my head.
A twisted type of torment burns within me; it’s a mix of anger and guilt, making it hard to breathe, because here I am angry at the guy in front of me when I’m the one who placed him there.
I did this. I tried to do the right thing, laid on the damn sword because that’s what she asked for, that’s what she needed, and being any and everything she needs is all I’ve ever wanted. It’s all I’ll ever want.
So I followed her lead, stepped back, and this motherfucker…
He slid right in.
But I don’t get it.
I shake my head. “Why you doing this?”
Chase has the audacity to wince, and he looks away.
“Really? You’re man enough to make the move, but you’re not man enough to say it out loud?”
His head jerks forward at that and he throws his hands out. “What do you want me to say, Noah?”
“I want you to tell me why I shouldn’t knock you the fuck out. Why I shouldn’t go to her right now and remind her of exactly what her life became after you, because it was better. She was happier. She was—”