Page 42 of Better Off Wed
“Touch her again and lose your hand, Cash,” Gideon growled.
I turned to see my husband silhouetted in the doorway. His face was in shadow, but even so, I could tell he was furious. It emanated from him in dark waves, filling the space with brutal tension. My spine snapped straighter, and it became hard to breathe.
Everyone else felt it too. The men shifted on their feet, puffing their chests as they faced Gideon. Hands went to waistbands, and I wondered how many of them were carrying guns.
Suddenly, I felt very, very stupid for having come in here. The tension ratcheted up. Breathing in the air in the bar felt like trying to inhale noxious soup. Cash shifted behind me; I felthim straighten and move closer. I clutched my coffee cup in one hand, hoping no one could see me trembling.
Gideon didn’t care about the dozen other men in the bar who were doing their best to intimidate him. He stalked across the floorboards toward me, and bikers shifted out of his way rather than try to stop him. They glared at him, and as he got closer they glared at me. I felt their gazes on me like rakes of dagger-sharp claws, but I could look at no one but Gideon.
His hair was pulled back, his scars on full display. That, combined with the ire written in every line of his face and body, made him look like wrath personified.
I expected him to stop in front of me. Maybe tilt his head and order me around, tell me it was time to leave. As he moved even closer, my heart tripped, and I was sure he was going to throw me over his shoulder and carry me bodily out of the bar.
He did none of those things.
Instead, Gideon buried his hand in my hair, tilted my head back, and crushed his lips to mine. This was not the same kiss as our wedding night. It had nothing to do with wanting; this was Gideon staking his claim. Proving a point. I felt it in the way he held me, how he angled my body so everyone could see I belonged to him, how he kissed me so hard it felt like a bruise.
When he pulled away, his eyes were black. “We’re leaving,” he growled. “Now.”
I could do nothing but nod my agreement. He’d reduced me to a puddle of simpering need. IknewI should’ve been humiliated, or at least outraged, but all I could feel was desire. I wanted to be wanted so badly that Gideon couldn’t help himself, the way I couldn’t help myself.
Sliding his hand down to drape across the back of my neck,his palm pressed between the top of my shoulder blades, Gideon led me toward the exit.
Then Cash said, “Hey, sweetheart, you forgot something.”
I turned to look at the man surrounded by all his threatening biker friends. He flashed me that scary-hot smile and tossed something through the air. I disengaged from Gideon in time to catch it with one hand, then let Gideon tow me out the doors where the air was fresh and the sun was shining. I gulped down a deep breath as my mind reeled.
“You going to tell me why the hell I found you in Rock Bottom talking to Cash fucking Bridges?” Gideon demanded, dropping his hand from my back. And, hey, turned out Gideon was still really mad.
And that made me mad, because what the hell! I planted my hands on my hips. “How did you even know I was there?”
He leaned closer, so I could see the sparks of anger in his blue eyes. “Why were you at Rock Bottom with Cash Bridges, Sadie?”
“What the hell do you care?”
His anger snapped against my skin like a thousand elastic bands. I welcomed it. It was better than the cool avoidance I’d gotten from him so far. The push and pull. The little droplets of affection that kept me on the hook.
At least, it felt better in the moment. Because at least now I knew I wasn’t the only one whofeltsomething. And who was he, to demand anything of me? Who was he tocareso much?
Gideon’s jaw tensed. His chest rose and fell with a sharp breath, his eyes scanning my face, my body.
Fool that I was, I wanted him to grab me and kiss me again. I wanted him to wreck me. To take my heart and crush it in hishands. At least then I wouldn’t be drifting through life feeling like a shell of a person.
For a moment, I thought he would. I felt his desire like a rope around my wrists, keeping me tethered to him.
Then he swore and tore his gaze away from me, and the moment was over. I exhaled, confused by the hurt that sawed into my chest like a serrated blade.
But what was confusing about the truth? Gideon didn’t want me. He never had.
With tears stinging my eyes, I shoved the item Cash had thrown me against Gideon’s chest. “Here,” I spat out. “I was in there to get this foryou.”
GIDEON
I caught the little piece of plastic against my chest before it could drop to the ground, but my eyes remained on my wife.
My stubborn, angry, breathtaking wife.
Fury still coursed through my veins at the thought of Cash touching her. I wanted to go back in there and tear the other man’s limbs clean off his body, then come back and kiss her until she promised she belonged to me. Tell her to get on her knees and apologize for making me chase her across town like this, for making me feel so out of control.
