Page 101 of Dangerous Men

Maybe I’ll stay and watch her after I drop off her package tonight. Once Viper gets back, it’s going to be harder to get the chance, harder to break away to watch her sleep without someone noticing.

And Sydney is so beautiful when she sleeps.

The paper bag I’m holding is surprisingly heavy, and I switch it to my other hand for a few minutes, leaning back against my motorcycle. The pharmacy I visited had two different brands of Epsom salt, the one I’m used to buying for Ashton for muscle aches, and one that was scented. Lavender.

I bought them both, just in case. I’m curious which one she’ll use tonight. Lavender, I imagine.

Like clockwork at just past 8 PM, Sydney rounds the corner of the building, making her way to the little staircase that leads up to her door, curls bouncing as she walks. Her front door opens directly to the outside. It’s a security nightmare. Anyone could break in with just one door separating her from the cruel, uncaring world out here.

I shift the bag in my hand and prepare to step forward out of the shadows where I’ve parked my bike. I’ll only stay a little while, after I hand the bag off to her, maybe an hour or two at most, I promise myself. That’s it.

I need to break this habit.

Before I can step into the fading light and get her attention, though, someone else rounds the corner after her. Someone I instantly recognize.

The paper bag crinkles loudly as I clench my fist.

Motherfucker.

Chase Levine calls out to Sydney as he rushes toward her, snaring her attention. From the instant she turns and recognizes him, it’s clear she doesn’t want to see him.

I couldn’t see her face when I was watching them last time, but I can see it now. She doesn’t look happy to see Chase at all. Doesn’t rush forward to greet him.

She looks horrified.

“Chase?” Sydney asks, immediately taking a step away from him and crossing her arms over her chest. “What are you doing here?”

I hold perfectly still, half in shadow, watching. Neither of them has seen me yet. Neither one of them is even aware I’m here.

“I’ve been calling you,” Chase says, sounding annoyed. “Nonstop. You haven’t unblocked my number yet, have you? I told you to unblock it. But you never fucking listen to me, do you?”

He takes a step toward her, but she holds her ground, shaking her head.

“I’m not going to do that,” she says. “I meant what I said. We don’t have anything to talk about anymore. Please just go, Chase, I?—”

“What do you want from me, Sydney? I already told you I made a mistake!” He’s speaking over her, and it’s obvious to me this isn’t a conversation at all. It’s a monologue. “Caroline and I are done, okay? It’s over. I just want to go back to what we had. Tous.”

This time, when he steps forward, Sydney does take a step backward, away from him.

“There is nous,” she says, firmly. I’m strangely proud of the steel in her voice, the way it doesn’t waver at all. That’s my girl, the one I keep seeing glimpses of. The one she tries to hide away. Sydney holds her back straight as she glares at him. “You made sure of that.”

“It was one mistake,” Chase says, throwing his hands up in the air. “You’re being unreasonable, babe…”

“No,” Sydney snaps. “Notonemistake. You did itmultiple times. You only gotcaughtonce. And then youleft me for her.”

Something in his face twists. Darkens.

“Is that why you think it’s okay to be fucking around with other men?” Chase asks.

Sydney blinks, clearly taken by surprise at the sharp turn in his attitude.

So am I, in fact. But I shouldn’t be.

I’ve known a hundred men like Chase before. That petty anger creeping into his voice, the clenching fists. The way he’s standing over her, trying to intimidate her. He’s not a toughguy. He’s just a weak little man, needing to make her feel small.

Weak men like him break so easily with the right tools.

“First Mason fucking Sterling,” Chase says, raising his voice. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you were rubbing your little date with him in my face at that bullshit charity thing. And then that fucking blond?”