Page 45 of Defiant
What the hell was going on? Had he followed us? Was he waiting this entire time to attack, watching Archer touch me like that? And, perhaps most of all, I wondered: who the hell did Dante think he was? It wasn’t like I was his girlfriend, and he caught me cheating on him.
No, the one with a bitchy significant other was Archer.
They were all limbs and grunts for a while, both guys trying to be the one with the upper hand. Dante landed a few more punches on Archer—one to his stomach that looked like it hurt something fierce. Archer had been too caught off-guard, as was I, to retaliate much since the leather-clad Dante was in the superior position.
“I said,” I repeated, moving toward them, “get off him.” It was an order, followed by me grabbing the worn collar of Dante’s jacket and pulling.
Dante let me take him off Archer, practically leaping to his feet as I released his collar. He jumped in front of me, glaring at Archer as he got up and adjusted himself—his erection was fading fast. Getting attacked would do that to you, I guess. The two pairs of blue eyes met, both guys exchanging the vilest looks they could muster.
And, because he was Dante and a little off his rocker, Dante reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his knife. The same shiny switchblade that had gotten me to go with him that morning. The blade clicked out, and he held onto it confidently, like he wasn’t afraid of hurting Archer worse than he already had.
And Archer already had a bloodied nose. Ew.
“What the fuck is going on?” Archer spat. “Jaz, get away from him—”
Right. He didn’t know I kind of knew this messed-up psycho. How to explain that, hmm? Oh, Archer, this is Dante. He, uh, sort of kidnapped me by threatening me and my mom last week. But it’s all good now, we wrestled a little, we bonded. We’re pals.
Uh, yeah. Didn’t think so.
“That’s funny,” Dante hissed, baring his teeth—which were just as perfect and white as I remembered them being. For someone who looked like he could kill you without a second thought, he was attractive all around, wasn’t he? “Because I should be telling her to stay the fuck away from you. You’re no good for her. She’s just too blinded to see it.”
I blinked. Okay, well, apparently everyone thought they knew what was good for me, huh?
Did other girls have problems like this? I doubted it.
Archer’s azure stare moved to me. He gestured to Dante and his knife. “You know this freak?”
“Uh” was all my brilliant mouth could come up with. If I claimed to know him, what would happen? Sure, we’d met, but would I say I knew him like an acquaintance or a friend? I didn’t think so.
Then again, who the hell knew, because this day was taking some turns I was not expecting.
Dante took it upon himself to answer, and lie through his teeth, “Yeah, you can say Jaz and I go way back.”
Archer let out an incredulous chuckle, shaking his head once as he wiped at his nose, catching some of the blood that had oozed out on his blazer’s sleeve. “Wow. Okay, fine. Whatever.” He did not sound fine at all, and he didn’t spare me or Dante a glance as he walked around us, giving us a wide berth as he returned the way we came, heading back to the car.
I shot Dante a look before running after him, calling out, “Wait!”
He stopped for only a moment, shooting me a look I could not read. His gaze darted to Dante for a split-second before returning to me. “I knew trying to talk to you was a bad idea.” He winced as he felt his stomach. “Didn’t think I’d get beaten up over it, but…I guess it’s fair.”
“Archer, I’m sorry. I had no idea he was here—”
Archer waved me off, taking a step away from me. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. This was a mistake, anyway.” Such flippant words, disregarding the moment of closeness we just shared. It hurt, hearing that, but I should’ve expected it.
There was a lot I could’ve said in that moment, a lot I wanted to say. Adrenaline raced through me, but I stood there, motionless, and let him go, watching as he disappeared down the trail, heading back to his car.
Guess Dante would be taking me back. Great.
After waiting a few moments, after I was certain he was long gone, I turned back toward Dante. The tattooed, leather-wearing guy was picking his nails with his knife, like nothing just happened. Nothing at all. He looked absolutely, positively at ease, and I instantly wanted to smack him upside the head.
I didn’t, though. To do something like that, I had the feeling, would be foolish beyond all belief. Like me letting Archer touch me like that.
And bring me to orgasm.
But let’s not think about orgasms right now.
“What the hell is your problem?” I asked, feeling the need to shout. We were alone on this trail, thank God. Although, perhaps that wasn’t such a good thing, since this one was so obviously crazy. “Were you following us? How—”
“What else am I supposed to do? I’ve been following you for a while, Jaz, in case you forgot,” he told me, folding down his knife and sticking it back in his pocket. “I couldn’t just let you go off with him, not after what happened.”
