Page 49 of Aftersome
Even that pissed me off.
“No.” I angled my head toward her.
“What do you mean, no?” I noticed as her pert little nose that was covered in freckles scrunched, but she never wavered from our nearness.
“I mean, no, you’re not friends with him. You’re not anything with him.”
Wren laughed. Sarcastically, of course.
“Every word that has come out of your mouth the past two days has been no this and no that. I don’t know who you think you are or why you suddenly think you have the right to tell me who I can hang out with, but you don’t.”
Now it was my turn to laugh.
Did she think I would just let her work for the team, make friends with all the guys, and be okay with that?
Fuck no.
She knew better than to think I’d be okay with it all.
“Why are you here, huh? To get back at me for leaving? To fuck with my head?” She scoffed as if she was disgusted by the idea.
If that was truly her goal, it was working.
“That’s ridiculous, Mal.”
She put distance between us and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Is it, though?” I arched a brow in her direction. “And you know damn well why I have the right to stop whatever the hell was going on tonight.”
She looked surprised. Like she was caught off guard.
“Don’t.” Her eyes went thin. “Don’t even go there, Mal.”
Oh, but I was.
I had to.
“If you’re not going to leave, then you need to understand that nothing gets past me. Everything you do, everything you say, everywhere you go, I’ll fucking know about it. You need to film the guys for your content, I’ll be there. You’re at a game andyou have some idiot trying to talk to you, I’ll fucking take care of it.”
Her eyes widened with the declarations I made.
“As long as you’re here, I’ll be watching you, Doe.”
Her eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates. Two brown pools of uncertainty were now staring at me like I had grown two heads.
I had to let her know that these were the conditions if she was going to stay. If I was going down, I would bring her down with me.
“I don’t need you to protect me.”
Was I being protective?
I was being selfish. Though I’d never admit it, I didn’t want to share her with anyone else. I didn’t want anyone close to Hayes’s happiness, even if it meant that I’d never get mine.
“And I don’t need you here in Seattle, yet here you are.”
Her lip wobbled but she refused to back down.
“I don’t care what you need. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere,” she responded defiantly, and just like last time, she brushed past me with the last word.
