Page 97 of Unbound

“Fuck you, Tommy. Just…fuck you.”

I stormed out.

He caught me in the hallway and I was up in his arms.

“Put me down!”

He put me down on the bed and pinned me, his eyes on mine. Remorse in them. Maybe. I didn’t know. I didn’t really care. I needed space.

“Don’t be like this. I need you.”

“I need to not be afraid that you’ll keep killing people.”

“Tia.”

“You’ve gone dark.”

My heart hurt.

It hurt so much.

He blew out a resigned breath. “I’ve always been dark, baby girl.”

“No. You used to be dark sometimes but now? It’s like you’re always dark now.”

I looked away from her accusing gaze, from her beautiful, wet eyes. She was probably right.

“That little fuck was a headache I didn’t need today, after all the shit we’ve been dealing with.”

“You didn’t have to put a gun in his mouth. Beat him up!”

“Anyone tries to get between you and me, behind my back? They will get a gun in their mouth. They will get their face beaten. He comes around you again, he’s not just getting it in his mouth. He gets dead. Capiche?”

She turned her face away and wouldn’t look at me.

“No crying or pleading will work on me next time, Athena. I mean it.”

She still wouldn’t look at me.

I grabbed her chin and looked her in the eye. She looked back. She was looking at me with what looked a whole lot like hate.

I let go of her, feeling like her expression was a slap. She got up and curled her lip at me. She looked like she wanted to slap me, like she was weighing out the pros and cons of doing that. I leaned forward, glaring back at her. I was pissed and I wasn’t hiding it.

She chickened out. Her eyes dropped to the bed.

Smart girl.

I left her there, went outside to talk to Will and the other security guy who Will was switching out with. I reminded them of all the rules and told them not to let her leave the house, which they already knew was a rule.

She still didn’t have free reign to come and go without security, never had. I hadn’t felt like it was safe enough, but I needed confirmation that they knew no one could approach her and she couldn’t leave. It was also stupid to let a truck in here. By the time I finished reading them the riot act, I was sure it penetrated.

Her eyes, her anger? I didn’t know if she was pissed enough to try to test me by taking off. I wasn’t taking a chance.

She was right about me being in what felt like a perpetual state of dark. I was dark enough right now that she did not want to test out my tolerance for that shit. I was gonna make it so she didn’t have that opportunity to push.

I called Nino and told him to make sure Nick Gordon left town no more than twenty-four hours from now, to find out where he was going and to make sure that he knew that he’d have eyes on him and if he came back, he’d be sorry. I wanted double security on my house again.

I also called a lawyer friend of our family who was helping me with Greg O’Connor.

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