Page 22 of Strange Seduction (Strange #2)

It’s … Very Complicated.

Still Day Five.

The steady hum of the car against the road was almost soothing.

Almost .

Carmen sat next to me, arms crossed tightly over her chest, her gaze fixed somewhere out the window. Her jaw was clenched, her lips pursed in that way that told me she was fighting to hold back words. We were only a few minutes into the drive, but the silence between us was suffocating.

I glanced at her, eyes flickering to her profile for a brief moment. I had told myself I’d be calm, that I’d take a breath and not overreact. But the irritation was bubbling beneath my skin, and I could feel it rising.

“Carmen,” I started, keeping my voice steady despite the tension creeping in.

“What?”

“Why were you in his office?”

She shrugged as if it were no big deal. “He drove me from the site, remember?”

My grip tightened on the wheel because while I usually found her smart-ass remarks charming, today I was in no mood for that mouth. “I meant. Why didn’t you wait for me in my office or go back to the hotel?”

“I didn’t want to. I wanted to talk to someone.”

“And Vince is who you decide to talk to? Not your friends but the same motherfucker we discussed before?”

“You said no flirting, and he didn’t flirt.”

I didn’t believe it for a fucking minute and neither did she.

“Okay. So what did you two talk about?”

“The weather.”

That fucking mouth.

I shot her a warning glare, and she straightened up. “Try again.”

“We talked about law school.”

What?

“Law school?”

“Yes. He wanted to be a lawyer, so he asked me about law school.”

I looked at her, unable to tell if she was lying while trying to keep us on the road.

“And that’s all you talked about?”

“No,” she admitted. “We talked about what happened today at the site, too.”

My eyes went back to the road. “You shouldn’t have gone to that site today, Carmen. We could’ve handled this outside of that.”

“Well, where you pitch the tent is where we’ll have the circus.

You can’t do shit to me and then try to police where and how I react, especially after you fuck with my job.

Maybe if you hadn't done that bullshit in the first place, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did in the moment.

And then maybe I wouldn’t have to go to your job and call you out on it. ”

“It’s not about calling me out, Carmen. It wasn’t safe.”

She scoffed, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t need to be babied.”

I clenched the steering wheel tighter. “You could’ve been hurt, Carmen.”

Her laugh was short and sharp, and it stung worse than I expected. “Oh, please. You’re just pissed because I did something you didn’t like.”

“You did a lot of shit I didn’t like.”

“You did shit I didn’t like too! You’re not innocent in this, Theodore. You can’t just do things and not expect a reaction. This ain’t about my safety. This is about you being scared and doing shit behind my back because you’re worried about losing control!”

I bit back the sharp response I had because her words gnawed at me.

The last thing I wanted was to turn into one of those men.

The men she ran from before we got together.

The controlling, overprotective, territorial boyfriend.

A role I never saw myself in, especially after I saw what it did to her and Micah.

But damn it, I hated seeing her put herself in danger when I knew the risks.

I hated even more that she was around other men, especially Vince.

Again.

I couldn’t stand it, and I didn’t know why. But that can of worms could wait until I wasn’t driving. I stole another glance at her, watching the way her shoulders tensed.

“I’m not trying to control you, Carmen. I’m trying to keep you safe. There’s a difference.”

She turned her head toward me, her eyes fierce with anger behind them. “It doesn’t fucking feel like that. You’re acting like I’m some thing you own. Como si fuera una maldita posesión. ”

My breath hitched.

“Bullshit, Carmen. I don’t see you like that, and you know it. I never have.”

But I wasn’t sure she believed me. Fuck—part of me wasn’t sure I believed it anymore either.

The car swerved slightly as I changed lanes. For a second, I wished I could just pull over and stop this whole bullshit argument. This wasn’t what I wanted, but something about how she looked at me like she didn’t recognize me made me question everything I thought I knew about us.

She sighed. “Just forget it, Theo.”

“No,” I said, jaw tight. “We’re gonna talk about it. We have to.”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

“Stop being difficult. I can’t fix the problem if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not just one problem, is it?”

I ignored that. We pulled into the hotel parking lot, tight-lipped, tension rolling off both of us as we waited for the valet.

“Why were you really in Vince’s office?” I asked, barely looking at her.

She mumbled a swear under her breath. “Not this shit again.”

“Yes,” I said aloud. “This again. Tell me why.”

“He invited me in.”

“I’m not satisfied with that answer.”

She shrugged so nonchalantly, I knew the next thing out of her mouth would be some shit that would piss me off more. “Well, that’s all I got for you.”

See?

“I’m really trying to understand your line of thinking, Carmen. Why him? Huh? Did we not just have an argument about this a few days ago?”

“Yeah,” she snapped, “around the same time I told you that I was working on something with Marcus, and you acted like you were okay with it. I asked you to trust me, and you said you would, but I guess we’re both full of shit.”

I gritted my teeth.

“I forgot I blocked Marcus,” I ground out. “But you didn’t forget what I said about Vince, did you? You went in there on purpose to get under my skin. You knew it would piss me off.”

“Of course I did,” she said flatly and in an overly sarcastic tone. “That’s exactly why I did it. No other reason. Just like you knew blocking Marcus would piss me off, but you still did it. So I guess we’re even.”

Ignoring the sarcastic shit she said to get under my skin, I fished out the truth. “We’re even ? So this is a game to you now? This shit you’re doing is about getting even? This is our relationship, Carmen! Our careers!”

“Oh, spare me the dramatics,” she snapped. “You really have the gall to talk to me about careers? You fucking blocked my boss!”

“He ain’t your boss for another week, Carmen! The fuck do you need to talk to the man so badly for?!”

“Because he’s helping me get my father out of jail!”

And with that, she shoved the door open and slammed it shut behind her. I stared after her for what felt like forever.

“Fuck.”

˙???˙

The hotel room door clicked shut behind us, and the silence stretched as Carmen kicked off her shoes, walked toward the balcony, arms crossed. I thought she’d open the sliding door and go outside, but she didn’t.

I should leave her alone. Give her space to come to me when she’s ready.

But—

“Baby?” I called out softly.

To which she didn’t answer. I figured that would be the case.

“I’m sorry I yelled. Can we talk, please?”

Still nothing.

I came up behind her and slid my arms around her waist, lowering my mouth to the warm skin of her neck. To my surprise, she didn’t pull away. Her body softened slightly under my touch, but the tension didn’t disappear.

“Nothing to say?” I asked, already bracing for the sting.

“Nope,” she said, crisp and final.

“Why not?” I murmured.

She exhaled quietly and sharply. “You’ve been out of control, Theodore.”

I rested my chin on her shoulder. “What about you, Carmen?”

“What about me?”

I felt her tense, but I held her so she wouldn’t pull away. “You’ve been acting up, too.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I know I have. I’m just over all of this.”

Now it was my turn to tense. “What do you mean? You wanna go home?”

“No, no.” She exhaled and closed her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

Good. I wasn’t letting her.

“I’m just so tired of the petty, childish drama.”

“I know. I am, too.”

Quiet wrapped around us as I looked out of the glass door. Her reflection caught my eye, and I stared at the woman who controlled my every action. My emotions were very much dependent on how it would affect Carmen, and that became very apparent because I couldn’t relax at all while she was on edge.

“So what are we gonna do about this?” I asked, my voice low. “Because I’m trying to keep my jealousy and temper under control, but it ain’t working. I want to take motherfuckers’ heads off just for breathing the same air as you.”

“I know.”

“It’s like we’ve been apart so long, getting used to each other again is a shock to the system.” I swallowed. “And you don’t make it any easier.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. How am I supposed to react when you do the shit you do, Carmen? I know I was wrong for blocking Marcus. I’m not even that mad about the site visit anymore. But being in Vincent’s office? Especially after we talked about it? What if I did shit like that to you?”

Her eyes opened, and she caught my gaze in the reflection.

“Nothing happened in that office. I would never do anything like that, Theo.”

“How would you feel about me being in a room with another woman, Sweetness?”

She bit her lip. “I wouldn’t like it.”

“Exactly.”

She turned in my arms to face me. “Don’t be like that.”

“I’m being serious, Carmen. How do you think I feel, seeing you with other men?”

“Jealous,” she said, mouth twitching.

“You’re not funny.”

She touched my chest, her fingers warm through the fabric. “I’m not interested in them. And it hurts my feelings that you think I’d betray you after all these years, Theo.”

I swallowed hard as she continued. “I know how I’m perceived. My personality naturally gives off a flirty vibe, and it always has. But I swear to you, I’ve never given another man the impression I was interested. I only want you.”

I didn’t answer right away. My jaw was locked too tight for that.

“They don’t see it that way.”

“Then don’t think about them, ” she said, firmer now. “I’m telling you what it is.”

I studied her .