second. Is he projecting his desires onto me?
Pain encircles my throat. “Is that what you want?” I ask with more calm than I actually possess. “Is that why you’ve been talking to Pamela? Do you want to experiment?” I swallow hard. “With her?”
“No.” His face twists into a frown. “Jesus Christ. No.”
“Then why are you picking a fight over nothing?”
“Is it nothing?” He gestures toward the vase. “I thought Pamela was full of shit but I come home and—”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I don’t trust him.”
His crude, insulting suggestion unfurls in my head, elevating my anger to a whole new level. “But you think your former-virgin-fiancée is so desperate for new dick that if Andrew whips his out, I’ll jump on it? That’s what you think of me?”
“Is that what happened?” he roars.
“No!”
He stares at me for a long time. “I hate this.”
“What? Us?”
“No.”
I wait for him to continue.
“Andrew’s clearly been into you since the night we all met,” he says slowly.
“So what? Jerks have been hitting on me since day one. You usually protect me from them not get mad at me.”
He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “He’s the first one you seem to like back.”
“That’s not true,” I whisper. I stupidly thought Andrew was a friend. Until he explained in lengthy detail how I’m nothing more than a few holes he wants to explore. “I like Alvin, you don’t get mad about that.”
Chaser glares at me. “Alvin’s not trying to fuck you.”
I swallow hard and glance away. “Neither is Andrew.”
“Who are you trying to fool? Me or yourself? Men don’t send roses to women they don’t want to fuck, Mallory. Especially Andrew.”
“Can you stop being so disgusting?”
“This is who I am, baby.” He holds his arms out wide. “You don’t like it, maybe your friend Andrew is more of a gentleman. Although, we both know that’s not true.”
“Chaser, I love you.” As the words come out of my mouth, my heart cracks with the weight of guilt. “Please stop this. I won’t do the shoot. I already told Cindy I’m not going tomorrow.”
“Hell no. I won’t let you turn it down so you can be pissed at me later.”
This is ridiculous. We’re going in circles. “I won’t be pissed at you later, but I’m damn sure pissed at you now.” I spin around and swipe my leather jacket off the hook by the door.
“Where are you going?” he demands. “Gonna go say hi to Andrew?”
“No!” I scream. “I want to get away from you!” In my fury, the heavy sleeve of my jacket whacks into the vase, sending the roses crashing to the floor.
Glass, water, and rose petals shatter and splash over the hardwood floor, leaving a mess.
Just like us.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chaser
Mallory’s gone. Out the door. Running like the devil’s on her tail.
Can’t let her get to her car.
That’s the only thought pounding through my head.
I trample over the broken vase, and crooked roses. Slivers of glass and sharp thorns pierce the bottom of my foot but I’m too focused on Mallory to feel the pain.
Don’t let her get away.
“Mallory!” Her name tears from my throat.
I’m vaguely aware that I’m bleeding. Christ, I hope no photographers are hanging around the house today. All I need to make this shitastic day complete is a picture of me shirtless, barefoot, and limping after my girlfriend splashed all over L.A. Weekly.
“Mallory, don’t.”
She stops at her car, resting her hand on the hood. Her head falls down, all her beautiful hair hiding her face.
Afraid she’ll somehow slip out of my grasp, I tackle her around the waist, burying my face against her hair.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Please don’t go. I love you so much.”
The sobs that shake her body wreck me.
“I love you too,” she whispers. In a stronger voice, she adds, “But I think I’m going to stay at a hotel tonight.”
“Please don’t.”
Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?
I let my father’s idiotic warning smolder in my brain until Pamela’s phone call lit the fuse and now we’re paying the price.
The fucking roses sure as shit didn’t help.
“I don’t trust you.”
“What?” Slowly, still scared she’ll run, I turn her to face me but keep my hands around her waist. “Why?”
“Why would you believe anything Pamela said about me?”
I shake my head, not having any good reason except a gut feeling. Saying that will only make her want to leave me more. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She snorts. “What? You thought accusing me of…whatever you were implying back