Page 55 of Hostile Cravings
“Why don’t you let her tell me that,” I told Tirenti. “Angela, get over here and tell me I have no claim on you. Tell me how you don’t want me.”
She moved, and Joey grabbed her arms. That’s when I noticed the bruising around her neck. My fists clenched, my anger rising. I couldn’t kill him now. She was too close to him and half the people in the room had their guns on me.
“Let me go, Joey.”
“I’m not a fool, baby.”
I saw the way she cringed at the nickname I’d grown fond of calling her and it made my desire to fill Joey with holes even greater.
“She’s not your baby, she‘s mine,” I snapped. “Isn’t that right, little viper?”
Her inhale was noticeable, but she played it off. “Let me talk to him. I’ll get rid of him and then we can finish here.”
He jerked her forward. “You’re lying,” he snarled.
“Of course, I’m not. I don’t want him. I thought I did, and he tossed me aside like a used piece of luggage.”
I could hear the truth in her statement, how she’d convinced herself that’s what I’d done.
“If he wants me to tell him to his face, then let me. I hate him. I always have. No one hurts Angela Donelli and expects that I’ll take him back.” She freed her arm, her head going up proudly asshe turned to me. I could see the fire in her eyes, the resignation that she wasn’t going to break again. In her mind, I’d hurt her and thrown her away, just like she’d said.
Joey pulled his gun out and trained it on me.
“Put the gun down, Joey, and let them talk,” Tony said. “It’s the least you can do before you take her.”
Joey looked at his father, who was hard to read. His muscles were tense, the vein in his neck protruding. All the while, Angie grew closer to me and the closer she came, the more lost in her I became.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here, Raines,” she said, trying to sound tough. But I could hear the shake in her voice, see the fear in her eyes. She needed me to say the right thing because she wanted me to save her. That confirmation drove me to step closer to her.
“Watch it, Raines. You step any closer to my bride and I’ll kill you.”
The grinding of my teeth caused my jaw to ache.
“What do you want, Tyson?” Angie asked, her voice low.
“To tell you what you didn’t give me a chance to tell you yesterday,” I started.
“A chance? You threw me out!”
Damn, I had and of course she would call me out on it.
“Well, you were being a bitch.”
“Because you were an ass, a hurtful ass.” And there it was, the quiver in her voice that confirmed my suspicion.
I grabbed her arms, pulling her closer.
“That’s it,” Joey growled, but the sound of more guns being pulled out stopped his complaints. This place was about to erupt, and Angie and I were right in the middle of it.
“I was hurtful because you were. Fuck, Angie, you didn’t hear the entire conversation.”
“I heard enough!”
The sigh that came from me was one that poured from thedepths of my soul. “No, you didn’t, or you’d know that I love you, Angela Donelli.” Her mouth parted, the fight leaving her body. “I love you so much that it hurts. You destroyed me, Anj, and nothing can piece me back together but you.”
Her bottom lip trembled, and I waited for her response, hearing Joey’s growing agitation. My eyes moved to him.
“You can't have her back, Raines! She’s mine now.”
