Page 88 of Clashing
Babe.It sounded so stupid coming out of his mouth. She hated pet names. She gave me shit about it so why didn’t he get shit about it? I punched the bag harder. I didn’t stop until I could barely breathe. Until my knuckles hurt. Until my muscles screamed. Until at least some of the razor-sharp edge of seeing her with someone else faded.
I crouched, trying to catch my breath and erase the image of them from my mind. The dogs ran over, licking and nosing me.
“Go away.” I pushed them off. “I’m not in the mood.”
Grayson whined, and I sighed.
“You’re such a fucking baby.” I scratched behind his ears until a smile pulled on his goofy face. “Pit bulls are supposed to be scary. Don’t you know that?”
He dropped his head and peered at me sadly. Yeah, Grayson being scary,thatwas a thing. I petted and kissed him until the dejected look disappeared. He didn’t deserve me snapping. I needed to get my fucking head on straight.
I showered again before leaving.Please let him be gone. Please let them both be gone. Please no more half-naked run-ins.Once I returned, I rushed to the back. Scarlett’s room was directly above the kitchen. If I heard anything, I’d either vomit or commit murder and one was unappealing while the other would be a headache to clean up.
Thankfully, silence awaited me. At first. When I’d almost finished swapping the heat sensor, a creak made me tense. Upstairs, a door opened. Footsteps, and a quiet mumble of an exchange followed. Seconds later, the kitchen door swung open, and Scarlett walked in. Fully dressed, thank God.
“He left. I’m sorry.” She averted her gaze. “I didn’t know you were here. If I did, I would’ve been more careful.”
“It’s fine.” I wiped my hands on a rag as I stood. “Not like I thought you’d never fuck him if you continued dating.”
“Yeah, but—” She pressed her lips together. “I guess you’re right. Did you fix it?”
I scoffed as I turned on the grill to check. “What do you take me for?”
She lifted a shoulder, a teasing glint in her eyes. “An overconfident ass, mostly.”
“I’m not overconfident, Scar. I’m confident in everything I have reason to be confident in.” Flicking off the grill, I faced her, arms crossed. “So,babe, huh? Really?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Shut up.”
“You don’t actually like that, do you?”
“It’s whatever.” She picked at her cuticles. “He started saying it last night.”
I worked my jaw and packed my tools. “It’s a stupid pet name.”
She planted her hands on her hips, a move that turned me on every time because it meant her sassy attitude was coming out to play. “How’s it worse than sugar or baby?”
“You want me to remind you why I called you sugar?”
Red stained her cheeks and made the corner of my mouth quirk up. My hold on her wasn’t gone.I should probably stop flirting.But I didn’t want to. I wanted her. Ireallyfucking wanted her, and I was selfish enough I didn’t care if it meant stealing her from someone else. She didn’t belong with anyone else.
“Baby was your doing.” I closed my toolbox and hefted it onto the counter. “You said it first.”
“I was making a point.”
“That worked out real well, didn’t it, sugar?”
“Oh my God.” She covered her darkening blush with her hands. “You’re the worst. Those are as bad as babe.”
“If you say so. I mean, it’s the name of a pig. If you don’t mind being called a pig, it’s not so bad. Oh, and your mom calls you babe. If you wanna think of him like that, I guess it works.”
She dropped her arms to her sides, eyes narrowed into slits. “Really?”
I winked. “And now that’s all you’ll be able to think of whenever he says it.”
“Asshole.” She tapped her foot. “Why aren’t you coming to the barbecue on Thursday?”
Talk about killing the fun.Gritting my teeth, I snatched my toolbox and brushed past her. “I don’t socialize.”
