Page 31 of Ignite

“I don’t know. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” I say, envisioning the vulnerability that sometimes slips through Ezra’s sassy facade. Red flags wave in my brain that this will only end in ruins.

Rev smirks. “You trying to protect him now?”

I grip my coffee cup tighter. “We don’t even know if we can trust him.”

“I know your issues run deep, but are you really not seeing this one clearly? Or are you still mentally comparing him to Aiden—”

“We’re not fucking going there,” I snap back, fury running my blood hot.

Rev doesn’t bat an eye at me, awaiting the full loss of my temper. I just sigh and drop my head into my hand, rubbing at my brows.

“This guy’s really messing you up.”

“He’s my own personal nightmare.” And before I know what I’m doing, I confess, “He kissed me last night.”

Rev’s brows shoot up as he plops down on the floor next to the dead body, settling in for a juicy story. “No shit? Didn’t think the little thief had it in him. How was it?”

I try to sear Rev with my glare, but it backfires, lost in the depths of the depraved creature that lives inside of him.

Rubbing fingers over the bridge of my nose, I shake my head. “I didn’t kiss him back. Then he got all short with me.”

“You asswipe.”

“What?” I exclaim, head jerking up.

“You hurt his feelings. He’s probably all knotted up on the inside because he’s got a crush on you, and you fucking turned him down. You’ve been nothing but mean to him.”

“He tried to steal from us, Rev.” My heart beats a little harder. “Wait, a crush?”

Rev nods like it should be obvious to me. “Good lord, have you been with anyone since Aiden?”

The casual way he keeps throwing my previous lover’s name out there stems from a deep understanding that I’ve gotten over Aiden’s death. Spent enough time spilling my guts to professionals, only because I was desperate to move on and forget the whole fucked up situation.

How the hell did this conversation flip from professional to pointing out my relationship failures and insecurities?

But it’s true. I haven’t been with anyone seriously since Aiden. Just a few random hook-ups outside of work. Never in my apartment. Never more than once with the same guy.

“Too busy working,” I reply lamely.

Rev doesn’t buy into my bullshit. “We’re both workaholics, and I still manage to sneak in a good fuck a couple of times a week.”

I stare back at him, mentally trying to cleanse images of Rev in precarious positions fighting for attention in my brain. “I don’t know what you want me to do with that information.”

“First of all, apologize to the guy. And then, maybe think about why you have him living in your apartment, when if it were anyone else, they’d already be dead.” Rev peels himself off the floor. “We’re not done talking about him, but I need to make some calls and hit the gym before my hot date.”

“Forget it,” I say. “I won’t turn him into a killer.”

“Your expression tells me a different story. Would you rather him tail Seth in the mail room than learn to protect himself?”

“No.” I huff. “But I’m not sold on him reporting to you.”

Rev’s piranha smile returns in full effect. “Territorial.”

I fight back my anger, pretending to get distracted by an email that just came through on my phone. “I just don’t know that you have the right… skill set to handle him.”

“Because I’m so villainous.”

“You said it. Not me.”