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“So you let him kiss you?”

“No!”

“You just said he is a friend like you and me.”

I sighed, frustrated. “I get you are being protective like Dad, but I’m fine. Tatz won’t hurt me.” I would never let anyone get close enough to hurt me. “So stop looking at me like that.”

His eyes darkened and he didn’t drop the expression. The expression that was telling me he was extremely jealous and pissed off about it. Did he really think I would let anyone touch me the way he does? I didn’t understand what was making him be so protective. He was looking at me like I was his or something and I was violating some unspoken rule we had.

I didn’t harass him about women he saw. I didn’t point out that he only slept with women he liked. I didn’t feel the need to remind him that I thought him sleeping with Andrea disgusted me.

Yeah, it really disgusted me. Angered me. But I let it go. Because Brad wasn’t mine to get jealous over and I wasn’t his.

“It’s not like I’m your girlfriend, so stop looking at me like I’m cheating on you or something!” I said, frustrated with the expression he was giving me. “It’s not like I’m in love with Tatz!” The only man that I looked at with love was him. And I loved him more than a friend should.

“Tatz is worse with women than your brother.”

“I know, Dad told me that.” I snapped. God, I wasn’t even in a relationship with Tatz. All we did was talk and laugh and he treated me like I wasn’t the daughter of the Reaper. “Tatz is good to me. He makes me laugh. He always makes me eat at tea. Even when I don’t want to. And he and I have the same taste in movies.”

“So you watch movies with him now?” His jealousy went up a level. Just when I thought this situation couldn’t get worse and he couldn’t be more jealous. Well, I was proven wrong by his tone.

I groaned. “Why are you making this such a big deal?”

“I don’t want anyone touching you.” He said that like it was a law. Well, I had news for him. Doctors were touching me all the time at the moment.

“Well, we don’t all get what we want, do we?” I said bitterly. I didn’t get him not being with Andrea. I had to put up with it. I have always had to put up with seeing him with other women. The only time he didn’t have a woman around him was when he came to the house for family dinners.

“What do you want that you don’t get?”

“Nothing.” I was not telling him about my jealousy over him and other women. Nope. Not happening.

“I’ll make sure you get it. If you make a promise not to let Tatz become your boyfriend.”

I rolled my eyes, finding this whole thing ridiculous. “I’m not promising anything.”

His expression hardened. “Because you like him.”

I found myself groaning again. “What is with you tonight?” I didn’t see why he wanted to pick a fight with me. “I told Dad to trust me. You have to trust me, too. You can’t just expect me to block every man out of my life because you think I’m some weak female that will get her heart broken.”

Which is what they were saying by forcing men out of my life. Like I was incapable of looking after myself. Like I would willingly follow any man around like some lovesick puppy.

“Hannah, you are gorgeous. Men notice. I’m not saying you are weak. I’m saying I don’t trust a man like Tatz not to make a move.” His hands moved up my back. “I’m not around their club to protect you from men like Tatz.”

“I don’t need protecting to begin with.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I won’t have you getting hurt. Tatz hurts women. He won’t be hurting you.”

I crossed my arms, looking up at him. “Am I going to have to threaten you? Like I did Dad? So you won’t dare scare Tatz away?”

He clamped his mouth shut. His expression gave me my answer. Yeah, I had a strong feeling I would have to threaten him.

“You so much as threaten one man away from me and I will personally cut you out of my life. Your friendship means a lot to me, Brad. So don’t make me do it.” I brushed his hands off my back and walked around him, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I don’t understand why you would think I’d go for a man like him to begin with.”

Brad turned and I watched him walk toward me. I ran my hand through my hair just as he knelt down in front of me, his hands running up my bare legs. “Because he’s a criminal, a biker?” His words came out like those two reasons would stop me from being with someone who was a criminal and biker. How wrong was he?

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