“Obviously.”
My eyes flicker to the drape he appeared from as movement catches my attention; a face I thought I’d left behind stares smugly at me…Sonya. Complete with fresh teeth marks; he’d been feeding on her again and if her skimpy, slutty clothes are any indication, they probably weren’t far from fucking each other either.
My jealously – even after all this time – is my weakness…and Jackson knows it.
While I’m distracted by Sonya, he moves at full supernatural speed and cages me between his strong arms against yet another wall.
“Get off me,” I growl.
“No. We’re going to have a conversation until your friend emerges.”
“No, we’re not,” my voice is strained, why can’t he see that I can’t do this with him here, not until Sophia is safe?
His inability to read my mind only inflames my temper further.
“You will talk to me. You will explain to me why you ran and you will explain how you can come here and talk to me like I mean nothing,” he demands.
“The same way you can fuck other women as if I mean nothing,” I curse my pathetic jealousy the second the words leave my mouth. It’s not like I’ve been celibate…if anything, I’ve tried to fuck Jackson out of my system. I can’t punish him for doing the same, especially as it’s how he gets fed.
But I just hate Sonya so fucking much.
Any woman but her.
Fuck the whole goddamn city, just not her.
And while I’m at it, if he really missed me so much, why didn’t he just get his blood from a blood bank? He doesn’t have to fuck, he chooses to.
Just like I chose to.
My gut clenches at the double standard; I’m not being fair.
Guilt flits across his features and his display of genuine emotion only enflames me further.
“Let’s talk,” he says sincerely, but I just can’t deal with the emotions I have for him this second.
“NOT NOW,” I shriek at him in exasperation.
I lash out, desperate for some space from him so that I can focus on what I need to. My knee collides with his groin, doubling him over in pain and with his face bent close to mine I thrust the heel of my palm into his throat, choking him. I look over his head so that I don’t have to see his wounded expression as I close my fingers around his neck at the same time I sweep my leg behind his knee, pulling his leg out from under him and slamming him into the floor.
A frustrated, strangled cry escapes me and I feel like it hurts me just as much to hurt him…and not just because his body is so solid the impact spots still sting.
Sonya doesn’t look smug anymore and the shock at my strength is quickly replaced on Jackson’s face by pure, undiluted, terrifying fury.
I remember once thinking that I wouldn’t ever want to be on the receiving end of one of his vicious tirades, now I know that to be true…if looks could kill, I’d be flayed alive.
“That was below the belt, literally,” he growls dangerously as he stalks to his feet in full predator mode. Even Sonya shrinks back behind the drape, but this time it’s my turn in the firing line.
I don’t think I could hide my fear no matter how hard I tried. It breaks my heart that he can look at me like that, but I deserve it so I may as well deal with it and prepare to take whatever he throws at me. I’m not stupid enough to think that I could start a fight with him and not have him try and finish it…
I was just stupid enough to start a fight in the first place.
He takes a menacing step toward me, so I raise my fists and adjust my stance to defend myself, but the perfect-timing gods shine down on me and from a door I hadn’t noticed, emerges Shaun with another Avidite I recognize as the guy Sophia was dancing with and in his arms…a drugged Sophia.
The intensity of the rage I feel frightens me, bubbling up inside me like boiling water until it spills out with explosive force in streaks of blinding white light and a piercing scream. My powers take hold of me completely, exploding from me like a supernova and shattering the glass roof above me into a thousand tiny pieces, raining down spiky shards of pain.
When the explosion dissipates and my ragged body is left to deal with the consequences, I see shock and fear in every pair of eyes but one…in his I see awe.
“When will you learn?” I murmur in reference to yet another drugging and he looks ashamed on behalf of the idiot who though giving Sophia Rohypnol was a good idea. The idiot carries her over to me, “You knew what she was, and it’s obvious she’s not a Donor, yet you drugged her anyway?” I look from him to Shaun and remember his ill-conceived attempt to have fun with me. “Two of a kind…people like you should be behind bars.”
“He will face the consequences of his actions, Emilia, I promise,” assures Jackson.
“Save it. Your idea of justice and mine are completely different. You think smashing his face in will solve the problem whereas I believe that attempted rapists belong in jail.”
At that moment Tristan and his team burst through the large industrial door with their firearms drawn. He looks from Jackson to me, and then to Sophia in my arms.
“You took too long,” his voice is clipped as they move forward to protect me. One of the guys takes Sophia in his arms and walks back towards the door with her.
“They drugged her,” I say.
“I know. Let’s get her home and take care of her.”
It’s impossible not to see the staring match between Tristan and Jackson. Tristan moves to shield me from him and motions me towards the door; Jackson moves to stop him and ends up with Tristan’s gun in his face.
My heart lurches into my mouth.
“How many times do you think I’m going to watch you take her from me and let you live?” I’ve never heard Jackson so menacing, not even after I hit him.
“How many times do you need to watch her leave before you get a clue?” retorts Tristan unkindly. “Be careful how you go boy, you wouldn’t want me to make a mess on that expensive shirt of yours by blowing your brains all over it.”
“Enough,” I shout and move between the two men, facing Tristan and placing myself in the line of fire.
Tristan immediately lowers his gun.
Jackson can handle himself without needing my help, but it suffocates me to think of him in harm’s way because of me.
“Em…?” Tristan looks confused, although his prevailing emotion is definitely pissed.
“You don’t aim your gun at him, understand? What happened here isn’t his fault. He had Sophia returned to me.”
Jackson traces the small of my back with the tips of his fingers. All my muscles clench and stiffen as electricity sizzles through me… this is not the first contact I expected from him after my violent assault – I expected a black eye.
“Come on, Em. We’re leaving. Now,” Tristan looks like he’s sucking on a wasp and I know I’m going to pay for my defiance later.
Chapter Twelve
The ride home is painfully quiet.
Sophia is practically unconscious and sprawled across the backseat with her head on the lap of a security guy I think is called Miles. The other two men trail us closely in a black vehicle I barely registered as I climbed into the front of the SUV.