Blacklisted (Loveless, Texas #3) - Jay Crownover Page 0,30
didn’t want to cause another scene by trying to escape, but the need to get away from him and how he made me feel was burning through my veins. “No. It’s fine. It’s a quick walk and I parked under one of the lights in the parking lot and Case still has his deputies patrolling the area. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Stop being stubborn. Remember what happened last time you were in a parking lot at night?” He tugged on my arm, making me fall into line next to him. When I was practically plastered to his side, I noticed that his movements seemed stiff and that he was favoring one of his legs.
Before I could comment on his condition, Kody was bending down, looking at the back of Shot’s leg, her face alarmingly close to his backside.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you favoring one side? Are you hurt?” She reached out to touch a dark spot on the denim covering his strong-looking thigh, only to have Shot try to knock her hand away. “What happened to you, Shot?”
He didn’t have the mobility to shoo Kody off because he refused to loosen the hold he had on my arm and his other hand was too far away to reach her. “It’s nothing. I already had Stitch take care of it.”
Kody reached for the spot on his pants again, only to have him clumsily evade her probing hands by lurching in my direction and nearly falling over. Bewildered by his suspicious behavior, she snapped, “Stop being shy. It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before.”
That exclamation had all of us pausing and going awkwardly still. I knew Kody was close to Shot prior to her relationship with Hill, but I hadn’t realized exactly how close they were. It never occurred to me they might be former lovers, though given their similar personalities, and stubbornness, it made a lot of sense.
Shot cleared his throat and started to pull me out the front door. “I’m gonna walk your sister out to her car. You can give me the third degree some other time.”
Finding myself more irritated than the situation called for, I forcibly pried my arm free from the almost-punishing hold Shot had on it and marched out of the bar, failing to call out a final parting to my sister on the way. Shot followed at a slower pace, his gait uneven and his face set in hard lines as I turned to confront him.
I took a deep breath, shoved my noticeably shaking hands through my hair and ordered him, “Stop. Stop ignoring me when I tell you something. Stop pulling me around after you. Stop inserting yourself into situations where you weren’t invited.”
I blinked in surprise at my own reaction and at the stunned expression on his face. I didn’t get vocal and forceful like this and wasn’t sure how to handle the response, mine or his.
His dark eyes narrowed slightly and a furrow pulled at his brows. The corners of his mouth tilted down in a slight frown, and a muscle in his tanned cheek started to twitch. Maybe I should have been concerned that I was obviously making him angry. But I couldn’t put the brakes on now that I was speaking my mind and trying to shove him into the safe and secure box I’d designated for him.
“I keep telling you that we don’t owe each other anything. I know you’re used to getting your own way, but not with me. If you can’t respect the boundaries I’ve made very clear, I’d rather you pretend we’re strangers, just like I’m trying to do. I’m fighting to take my life back while not losing it, or myself, in the process. I really don’t have the time or energy to fight you as well.”
Shot stared at me in silence for a long, drawn-out moment. The tension between us was suffocating. I knew he probably wasn’t used to having someone talk back to him the way I just had, but I’d had it with everyone trying to steamroll over me in the guise of it being for my own good. I’d had to make difficult choices and stand on my own through the consequences since I was little. I didn’t need someone to hold my hand through every mistake I was bound to make, even if I appreciated the effort.
“I know you can do it on your own. I’ve never questioned how capable you are.” Shot took a