Page 94 of Get A Fix

The grip on my bicep was a surprise, as was the way he turned me back around to face him. “There was nothing to be done. You wanted more, and I needed it to only be what it was.”

“I get it. I hope you and Sienna will be very happy.”

His jaw clenched, and I felt him tighten his grip on my arm. “I feel very judged right now, and I don’t feel that you have that right.”

“There is no judgment, I promise you.” I felt so very light suddenly, and it hit me that even though I said I wasn’t worried about having a long-distance relationship with Ash, I was. I needed to own that without letting it eat me alive. I needed to tell him the truth. “My mother always says you gotta follow your bliss. Whatever that is for you, I wish you nothing but the best. And really, I have no regrets.”

Because I didn’t. Sometimes you had to experience something to know what you didn’t want so you could figure out what it was that you did.

“That’s good,” he rasped, his voice going out on him. “I’m glad.”

I smiled at him, and he lifted his hand like he was going to touch my face, but dropped it at the last moment before releasing my arm.

“Okay,” I murmured before I turned and saw Ash walking toward me.

“Hey,” I said. “I have news. We need to talk.”

He looked from Damien to me. “That’s good, because I came to collect you for a walk around town.”

“Great,” I said, and when I reached him, he wrapped an arm around my neck, pulling me in tight against him.

“Don’t wander off, all right?”

“I didn’t wander. I was on the phone.”

“But then you weren’t, and you didn’t come right back.”

He was keeping tabs on me. “I got waylaid.”

“I saw and didn’t like it,” he confessed gruffly. “I didn’t enjoy the way he was looking at you either.”

“Which was how?” I asked, admiring the glint in his eyes, the furrow of his brows, and the very possessive way I was being held. “With homicidal intent?”

“Like maybe he had once been something more to you than a stranger.”

I nodded.

“Tell me.”

“It’s not my place to⁠—”

“No, of course not,” he agreed. “Just tell me why it ended.”

“Because with his career, he can’t have a man in his life.”

“Or thinks he can’t.”

“I dunno,” I said hoarsely, the emotion clogging my voice. Him questioning me because he’d noticed the intimacy between me and Damien meant something. He was vigilant because he liked me, and I loved that. “I’m not him, so I can’t say what’s true or not. But for now, a woman suits him.”

“And yet, Sienna has no ring.”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s hesitating because he wants a man in his life.”

“Then why does it seem like he’s coveting mine?”

“Yours?”

“Don’t be coy.”