are you doing this to me?”
I stalked toward her. “Go home and stay in that basement. You can’t be here. You can’t come here. And you sure as hell can’t drop in on me at work whenever you feel like it. We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
“Yeah. Just the kind where you feel you can fuck me and forget about me. Did you never discover masturbating into a sock?”
I ripped my office door back open. “Go back to my place and hunker down. You have to stay under my roof, so I know you’re safe.”
“I’m not safe anyplace where you’re not, and you know it. The safest place for me right now is here. With you. At your side.”
I narrowed my eyes. “No. The safest place for you right now is in my basement, with the security system armed down there in order to alert me to when someone crosses into the threshold of the property I own.”
She blinked. “Wait, you have something like that?”
“Yeah. I do. So, get the hell out of here and get back there so I can arm the system again. And don’t you dare leave unless you tell me where you’re going first, and I approve.”
“Who the fuck died and made you king of my life?”
“You. The second you decided to come with me to seek a better life here in New York. Now, do as I ask, or you won’t have this crew’s protection anymore. It’s your choice.”
She gnashed her teeth at me. “I hate you, Ash. I hate you so much I could puke.”
And as I watched her storm off down the hallway, my biggest fear was that she meant those words.
At least the security system lie worked.
12
Hannah
I stormed out of the bar and slammed myself back into the rust bucket of a vehicle Ash called a “car.” And as I sat behind the wheel, I tried my best not to curse his very existence up and down. How dare he feel he could talk to me that way? How dare he think I was some slave to his very presence? What the hell was so bad about me coming to visit, anyway? I mean, did he not know that the safest place for me was around him? Did he not realize that!?
“You’re an idiot, Hannah,” I murmured.
As I sat there with my eyes closed, I wondered if I had misread things. Was yesterday nothing more than a way to pass the time? Had I been nothing more than a fun little romp around in bed? That was how I felt right now, and I didn’t appreciate it. Yesterday meant something to me. Being with Ash like that meant something to me. I didn’t think I’d ever be with someone else after what I went through with my ex. I didn’t think I’d ever have it in me to take that risk again, especially with another bad boy. Yet, here I was, falling for another man in a nice leather jacket.
“Yep. A real big idiot,” I hissed.
So stupid.
I cranked up the engine of the car and peeled out of the parking space. Bike horns honked and a couple of men yelled at me, but all I did was roll down the window. I shoved my hand outside and flipped them the bird, not giving a damn in all this world about who I pissed off in the process. If this was how Ash was going to treat me, then I could do better all by myself. I didn’t need him, his basement, his help, his money, or anything else for that matter. I had recuperated from heartache and fear before and come out stronger on the other side. I’d led my life without my sister’s influence, our parent’s influence, or anyone else’s influence and been just fine.
Minus the Skeleton thing.
“I can do this,” I murmured to myself.
And I was going to do it.
I was going to carve out a life for myself in this town, whether Ash wanted me to or not.
And it started with me moving out.
I blazed a trail onto the road and headed back for Ash’s place. I needed to stay there until I could find my own place. But, once I did? I was gone for good. I didn’t need these assholes watching over me anyway. I didn’t need their help in any way. I was a strong, independent woman. Always had been. Life forced me to be, and I didn’t know how to live any other way,