Page 83 of Dangerous Men

I try to pull away from him, but he grips my hand even tighter, squeezing it so hard the bones grind against one another. He moves closer until he’s pressed against me, his body flush against mine, and I shrink back against the books to escape him.

“Fine,” Chase says. I recognize the anger in his voice burning under the surface. And I recognize that look in his eyes. I have the sudden urge to shout for Jade, to let her know I’m here. That I might be in danger. “If you want to be like that? I’ll go.”

He finally lets go of my hand, but instead of leaving, he lingers, reaching up to play with a loose curl hanging down my chest. His fingers lightly graze my nipple as he does it, and he pauses there, touching me through the fabric of my dress.

“Call me when you come to your senses, Sydney,” he says. “We both know what we have. You know I love you. Willalwayslove you.”

I might throw up. I can’t believe this is the man I was missing for months, the man I spent weeks crying over. All I ever wanted was to be enough for him. And here I am hearing everything I had hoped I’d hear… and I feel nothing but disgust.

I don’t know when it changed, when I actually closed my heart to him for good, but I can confidently say that I feel nothing but contempt for him right now. I can see hismanipulation from the outside so clearly now, and just like that, I’m free.

His touch is revolting, but I suppress the urge to react. To give him a reason to push things further. I keep my face stoically calm.

“Go home, Chase,” I tell him, voice little more than a whisper.

“You need me, Sydney,” Chase insists. The words sound more like a threat than a promise. “Don’t ever forget that.”

Finally, he steps back, giving me one last sickeningly sweet smile before he slips into the aisle of books and disappears. I release a shaky breath and try to calm down. My nerves are shot, and I’m so tightly wound, I want to scream. I can only hope that whatever karmic energy is hell bent on punishing me settles down now.

I don’t think I can handle anything else today. I really don’t.

And as if summoned by the very thought, a cold voice comes from the shadows.

“Lover’s quarrel?” Sebastian asks.

30

SEBASTIAN

I knewshe was hiding something.

Of course when Sydney’s ex showed up—using the afternoon rush to sneak past the café without Jade noticing—I followed him. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? To keep an eye on her. To keep hersafe.

To figure her out.

Imagine my surprise at seeing her tucked away in a dark corner with her “ex” Chase Levine. Seems like they aren’t as over as Alec thought.

I saw something in his eyes when he was looking at her, something like love. And she just stood there, letting him put his hands all over her. Letting his fingers toy with her.

From the angle I was watching them, I couldn’t see her face, but she didn’t pull away when he touched her, didn’t rebuke any of his advances. She just stood there, frozen.

And isn’t that curious? I’m starting to suspect she knewexactlywho Alec and Ash were when she so innocently encountered them. Maybe the two of them are in this together. It makes sense now why she was so adamant Alec not terminateChase’s employment. Why she was so protective of a man she supposedly was no longer dating.

When he finally saunters away, I watch Sydney take a deep breath, closing her eyes and retreating into herself. Her face is perfectly blank.

“Lover’s quarrel?” I ask, leaning against the bookshelf next to me. Sydney jumps, yelping in surprise.

“Jesus!” She gasps, pressing a hand to her chest. “Someone should put a bell on you, you know that?”

I ignore the irritated glare she shoots my way, my eyes fixed on Chase’s retreating figure.

I want to cut that smug look right off his face.

“You know, it’s funny,” I muse in a cold voice. “I could have sworn my brothers were under the impression that you and Chase wereexes. As in, no longer together.”

Sydney bends down to straighten the books haphazardly stacked next to her stepladder. “Weareexes,” she says.

“Then what was he doing back here with you?” I ask.