Page 27 of Love, Hate, Love

Let it go. Just walk away and let it go.

“Exactly how much more?” I asked in spite of myself.

“She was about to get in the shower and the lock to the bathroom is broken. They didn’t know she was in there,” Chuck said.

So in other words,everything.

I was not a jealous person. And I had no reason to be jealous, considering I didn’t even like Leah. It was just leftover protectiveness. Old feelings that had been dug up by her presence.

But damned if it didn’t feel like someone had hit my “go nuclear” button.

“Kade?” Chuck said. “Kade! Where the fuck you going?”

I stopped walking. “I’m not a psycho. I’m not beating anyone up over an accident.”

If it happened again? Things might be different. But that was not going to happen again, and not because I was jealous. She was my responsibility. I couldn’t have her in a position where people were walking in on her in the bathroom.

I barely slowed as I approached the guys and said, “Next person who doesn’t knock when there’s a closed bathroom door gets their nose broken. Is that understood?”

There was a flurry of nods before I kept walking to my target.

As luck would have it, she was walking across the field toward her cabin as I was making my way there.

“Come with me,” I said.

“Why? What did I do now?” Leah stopped beside her door, hands on her hips.

“Either pack your shit or I’ll pack it for you.” I opened her door and walked in, looking for her suitcase.

“Pack me for where?” she asked, following me.

I knelt down, trying to see if she’d hid it under the bed. This place wasn’t that big. It was here somewhere. Otherwise I’d toss all her shit on the comforter and move it. “I can’t have you flashing every hand I have, so I’m not having you stay here.”

There it was. I dragged the suitcase out from underneath her bed and unzipped it. I stood to go to her dresser and there she was.

“It wasn’t my fault,” she said.

There was a desperation in her voice that seemed to cut through my thoughts. I truly looked at her for the first time. She was pale and her hands were shaking. We’d fought before. Why was she so rattled this time? Never in her life had she ever been afraid of me, and to think she was made bile rise in my throat.

Then it hit me like a bat to the head.

“I’m moving you to the house.” I straightened, really taking her in. “Did you think I was going to kick you out? Have you go to prison?” I asked, my voice softer.

“No, obviously not,” she said, but with too much force. She’d really thought I was going to haul her off to prison, and it was like a sucker punch to my soul.

“Leah, I wasn’t coming here to?—”

“I know,” she snapped. “I just don’t want to go to the house.” She crossed her arms, as if that would stop me from seeing how unhinged she was.

“It’s an upgrade. You want to stay here?” I said, struggling to regain my composure.

“I’m not moving to the house,” she said, notching up her chin. “You said I couldn’t even walk into that place. I swear, you are completely unhinged. I’ve never met a crazier man in my life.” She might’ve been carrying on, but the color was coming back to her cheeks, even as I felt like I needed to sit.

“Look, I heard about the bathroom situation and I can’t have that happen again, so I’m willing to make a compromise.”

“What?” she asked, trying to cover up the obvious vulnerability we were both aware of. She was feeling so out of sorts that she wasn’t paying attention to how I rattledIwas. I might’ve been more wrecked than she was right now. Lucky for me, she was oblivious.

“Since there are issues I wasn’t aware of with the bunkhouse, I’d prefer it if you at least showered up at the house so I don’t have to worry about any more incidents.” I’d seen the bathroom at the bunkhouse. If she turned me down on this, she officially hated me so much that she’d do anything to stay away from me.

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