Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,48
office?”
“Come on, Bree,” he protested as she moved back around her desk, putting it between them. “Why do you have to be like this? I just want to talk. I was worried about how you were doing after what happened at the diner. You never called or texted me.”
“Why do I have to be like this?” She folded her arms, standing instead of sitting down so he couldn’t tower over her. “Maybe because we’re divorced and have been for over five years. Maybe because I’ve told you multiple times since you’ve gotten out of prison that I have zero interest in getting back together. Maybe because I’ve moved on and you can’t seem to get that.”
If Dave picked up on her anger, he didn’t let it show. Instead, he stepped closer to her desk. “Come on,” he said again, using that suave voice of his, the one he’d charmed her with when she was barely out of high school. “Let me take you to dinner tonight and we can talk about everything. You’ll see this isn’t anything we can’t work out. If you give me a chance, you’ll realize we’re meant to be together. We always have been.”
Dave spoke in the most rational tone of voice like he always did, making her concerns seem silly and unreasonable. It was a tactic that had worked on her for years. Well, no more. It had stopped being effective around the time she realized he wasn’t merely narcissistic and unstable—which would have been bad enough—but a cold-blooded killer, too.
“Dinner? Just the two of us?” she asked, irritated he thought this line of crap would actually still work on her. “What about Brandon?”
He looked surprised for a moment, as if remembering he had a son. “Sure, bring him, too. I thought it could be the two of us at first, you know?”
Bree snorted. Dave had never treated Brandon as anything more than a bother. Certainly not as a son he loved.
“I’m not going out to dinner with you tonight or ever,” she told him.
His hazel eyes glinted with annoyance; then his face went blank. Like someone had pulled down a shade over his emotions.
“You know,” he said, eyeing her coldly, “sometimes I think about how nice it would be if you could make people do exactly what you wanted without going to the effort of trying to convince them.”
Bree knew her ex was dangerous, but this was the first time she realized how crazy he truly was. Who said things like that? “There’s something wrong with you, you know that?”
Dave slammed his hands down on the desk, a sneer curling his lip. “Why can’t you see I’m perfect for you?” he demanded, anger beginning to bubble beneath the surface. “I have nice clothes and a great job. In fact, Garrett, Wallace, and Banks are going to make me a partner soon.”
Bree had to fight the urge to call BS on that. Who would be stupid enough to put a murderer’s name on the company letterhead? Then again, they had hired him in the first place, and Bree knew from experience that Dave was exceptionally good at getting people to invest damn near every penny they owned, so anything was possible. Not that she really cared.
“None of that means anything to me,” she said. “It never did. But then again, I doubt you ever knew enough about me to realize that.”
Anger verging on rage filled Dave’s eyes, and Bree had to fight the urge to step back. She’d vowed a long time ago to never let him see how much he scared her. But that vow didn’t keep her heart from thumping like crazy in her chest.
“You’re sleeping with that asshole cop I saw you with the other day, aren’t you?” he demanded, hands tightening into fists as he straightened up. “What the hell is so special about him anyway?”
Bree owed Dave absolutely no explanation for the choices she made in her life, but in this case, she had no problem answering. Just so he’d finally get it through his thick head that they were done.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but it so happens Diego Martinez is everything you’re not. He’s a good, caring, compassionate man who risks his life every day for people he doesn’t know, and I thank God he was in that diner or Brandon and I would probably be dead. Oh, and he’s not a jackass with anger management issues, so that’s a bonus.”