Page 119 of The Anchor Holds

I didn’t trust him anymore.

“Message delivered,” I told him. “Now leave.”

Jasper ignored me, stepping forward. I held my breath as his body brushed mine, his scent mingling with the salty fragrance of the ocean, tarnishing it.

My skin roiled at his presence. But I didn’t drop eye contact.

“You’re not understanding,” he murmured. “There is no way out. You’ve had your fun, doing whatever this is. But there is no way out of the life youchose. There is no escaping the person you are, underneath it all.”

My breathing stayed even as he probed for weaknesses, trying to scare me with the might of his employer and his knowledge of me. My wants. Needs.

Except those weren’t the same anymore.

His finger trailed down the length of my bare arm, circling my wrist. The gesture wasn’t tender. It was threatening and made me nauseous. Although I wanted to bolt, I rooted myself in place, schooling my features.

“You had your fun. But you’ll never be satisfied with this. With him.” His disdain for Elliot was obvious in just the subtle inflection at the end of the sentence.

I leaned forward with a sneer, hoping to inject all of the shiny, new hatred I had for Jasper into my every word. “You have never known what it’s like to truly satisfy me.”

It wasn’t smart. Poking the proverbial bear. If I was calmer, then I likely would’ve led him on a little, made him think there was a chance with me. Reassured him that I was the Calliope he knew. It was the safest option.

But I couldn’t restrain my fury at him stepping foot in here. In Elliot’s family restaurant, full of happy memories, hallowed ground.

“Everything okay here?”

My gaze whipped to the source of the voice. The familiar voice, carrying an unfamiliar hint of menace.

Elliot was standing on the patio, eyes locked on Jasper. More accurately, on Jasper’s hand clasped to my wrist.

Jasper didn’t look at him right away, his lazy gaze possessively pinned on me.

I stepped back, Jasper’s hand tightening on my wrist to the point of pain. When I whipped my head to glare at him in warning, he held my gaze and my wrist for several seconds before letting it go.

I rubbed at it like I could rub away Jasper’s existence. I turned back to Elliot, who was staring at my wrist, jaw hard.

“Everything is fine,” I lied. The world I’d built was hastily falling apart around my ears.

Never in my worst nightmares had I wanted Elliot to be anywhere near Jasper. To know what he was, to know what I’d become in order to be involved with him.

Elliot’s eyes ping-ponged between Jasper and me, his gaze calculating. I knew he was clocking the distance between me and Jasper—much too close to be mere acquaintances. Elliot took in Jasper. He might not have run in the circles that Jasper did, he might not have been trained to spot killers, but Elliot was smart. He knew how to read people. He could see what Jasper was, sense the danger. Anyone in his presence did.

Elliot was strong, not someone to be trifled with, but he wasn’t aggressive. Wasn’t a fighter. Yet he could perceive the intimacy between me and Jasper, recognizing what kind of man Jasper was as he stepped pointedly forward, grabbing me by the hip and pulling me into his body.

“Everything is fine. Now.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my neck.

The blatant show of ownership should’ve had me rolling my eyes, uttering some sharp retort, but I didn’t have the energy. I was too terrified.

Jasper was a loose cannon. He already knew Elliot and I were together, but that didn’t mean he accepted it. His reaction to Elliot touching me could be nothing or it could be shooting him between the eyes.

I forced myself in front of Elliot, knowing Jasper would never shoot me.

Elliot communicated his confusion at my doing that by looking at me with knotted brows. Thankfully, he didn’t try to reassert dominance by putting himself back in front of me.

“I’m Elliot,” he greeted Jasper. “Calliope’s man.”

His words were warm on the surface but not true to Elliot’s nature. There was skepticism between each syllable. And unspoken questions.Who the fuck are you? What are you doing touching my woman?

Jasper didn’t reply, he just stared at Elliot, the glimmer in his eyes telling me he was a tad amused, like a cat might be with a mouse.

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