Page 145 of Boyfriend of the Hour

“You need to shut the fuck up and remember your goddamn place, you little whore!” Shawn shouted.

“And you need to take your hands off my fiancée.”

Nathan’s deep voice thundered into the night, and before I knew it, Shawn’s body was whipped off mine and smashed into the brick. Two quick punches to his gut, and he was crumpled over, gasping for breath just before Nathan pinned him by the neck with a powerful forearm.

I recognized the move—it was the same one he’d used on Carrick. But while that little tussle had been a warning, playfulenough that Carrick had enjoyed it (and, I suspected, baited Nathan into it), this one was more than a threat. It was pure violence. Death balanced on a knife’s edge.

Nathan quickly restrained Shawn’s other hand above his head, a fucked-up parody of intimacy against a wall.

“Listen well, you worthless, predatoryfuck,” Nathan gritted, his voice barely intelligible in the dark night air. “Joni isn’t yours. She doesn’t belong to anyone. But she does, however, have my protection, which means that if I ever see you breathe in her direction again, I will snap your neck and throw you into the sewer for the rats to eat. You touch her again, you die. Do you understand?”

Shawn wheezed, eyes bulging.

Nathan, however, was unforgiving as he rammed his arm harder against Shawn’s neck. “Do. You. Understand?”

The air seemed so stiff, I could shatter it with a hammer as I watched Nathan, and Nathan watched Shawn. Shawn’s gaze, however, bounced between the two of us, but eventually, he nodded and flapped his hands in a weak sign of surrender.

Nathan loosened his hold just enough for Shawn to speak.

“S-sure.” Shawn’s voice was hoarse, like he’d been screaming instead of being strangled. “You got it.” His blue-eyed glare alighted on me. “We’re done.”

I straightened and crossed my arms. “Fine by me.”

Nathan finally released him, but not before shoving him against the wall once more for good measure. “Go. Don’t let me see you again.”

“Yeah.” Shawn lumbered off into the night, clutching his waist where Nathan had drilled into his kidneys. He glanced back once more before he turned the corner and was gone.

Nathan looked like he wanted to start in his direction, but stopped when I grabbed his hand and pulled.

He turned and looked down at our joined hands. Immediately, I let go.

His brown eyes flared, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.

“How did you know I would be there?” I wondered.

“Carrick,” he said curtly. “He sent me a text saying you were on your way. I didn’t want you alone on the street.”

His fists opened and closed, and I recognized the signs of someone practicing measured breathing. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. I could practically count the beats along with him.

“Nathan, I—” I started, though I had no idea what I would say. How I would explain Shawn’s presence.

“I don’t want to know,” he interrupted. “I can’t—I can’t talk right now, Joni. I’m too upset.”

I hung my head, feeling utterly guilty. It was my fault he was in this situation. My fault he had been forced to assault someone outside his apartment building at four in the morning. My fault he was so overcome with anger he couldn’t even speak.

Maybe Carrick was right. Maybe I was bringing nothing but chaos into Nathan’s life, and I needed to bow out before I could do any further damage.

But the idea of roaming alone in this city, which suddenly felt dangerous in a way it never had before, kept me where I was.

“Let’s just go upstairs,” Nathan said, holding out a hand toward me, though he still couldn’t look me in the eye. “I have back-to-back surgeries, and I have to be up again in an hour and a half. I need to get some sleep.”

I nodded and let him walk me inside, his grip as gentle as ever. As we rode up in the elevator, I resisted the urge to burrow myself into his chest, to beg for him to wrap those big arms around me, providing shelter in a way I was starting to suspect only he could.

By the time we got to the apartment, I was shaking. Nathan hadn’t looked at me once. He released my hand as we took off our shoes, then walked down the hall in silence, socked feet heavy on the hardwood floors.

He paused outside the bedroom door. “Are you coming?”

I looked up from hanging my coat on the rack in surprise. I’d honestly wondered if I should just spend the night on the couch.