Page 98

The hairs on the back of my neck tingled.

A throat cleared.

I ignored it and sat at the desk, pulling up my schedule for the next week. When the throat cleared again, my eyes shot to Sammy.

He smirked. “Nothing to say?”

My jaw clenched. I wondered how much Cyrus would get mad at me if I punched that smirk off his brother’s face.

I could feel Piper and Jaron looking our way, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to play into Sammy’s games because I didn’t want it to ruin what I had with his brother.

Sammy came around the desk and crouched beside me. “Look at me.”

I huffed but met his gaze.

“I don’t know what you have going on with my brother but if you hurt him in any way, whether it be big or small, I will find every single member of your family and kill them.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know that I will tell Cyrus about your silly little threats, right?”

Sammy’s eyes widened a bit over the fact that I actually spoke to him.

“They’re already dead, so I have no one left for you to kill but thank you for the not-so-subtle reminder. And why don’t you go crawl back to your hole or man up and grow a pair. When you finally get your head out of your ass and tell the woman you love that you’re actually in love with her, then we can talk.” I turned back around in the desk, attempting to ignore him.

“You have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“I don’t?” I laughed. “Trust me, Sammy, I know enough.”

“Do you give my brother this much sass?”

I glared at him. “No, because your brother actually loves me, and I love him.” I wasn’t opposed to being a brat for Cyrus but that was a whole other story I would discuss with only him.

“Love.” Sammy scoffed, rising to his full height. “Right.” He left the building, the door slamming shut behind him.

“Ainsley.”

I looked at both Piper and Jaron who were still standing there and who clearly had watched the whole exchange.

“I’m sorry but I’ve had enough,” I told them, jumping up from the chair and following Sammy out of the building.

He was walking across the parking lot, a cloud of smoke following his trail.

“Sammy,” I yelled, catching up with him.

He stopped, looking at me over his shoulder. “Why are you talking to me, Mouse? This whole time, you haven’t said fucking boo.”

“Mouse?”

“It’s your nickname.” He said it like it was the most obvious reason.

I shook my head, finding that while I liked the nickname, I would dwell on that later. “Why do you hate me? I’ve never once given you any reason to not like me or at least put up with me. But this...this is...”

“I don’t like that you’re taking him away from me.” Sammy stuck the smoke back between his lips, puffing hard.

“I’m not—”

A black SUV suddenly pulled into the parking lot. It drove into an empty spot, the engine cutting shortly after. Cyrus stepped out of the vehicle and came toward us.

“What’s going on?” he asked, coming up to me. He kissed the top of my head. “I missed you,” he whispered.