Chapter 26
DIANGELO
Present
Another day, another yoga class. I’ve been informed that Isa will be at this class. I’m hoping that means a stress-free hour, but my optimism dies a quick death the minute I see the instructor. His name is Chase, which also appears to be his favorite pastime—chasing the women in his class.
The ladies all seem to love him. He’s a few years older than me but keeps himself lean and fit.
He also wears so much spray tan that his skin has an orange glow and is way too goddamn handsy.
I made a comment about him to Rina after a class last week, and she’s under the deluded impression he’s simply friendly.
His touches don’t look friendly to me. They look suggestive.
The asshole has probably laid half the women in the studio.
That’s when it hits me.
He could have already had sex with Terina. She’s a grown woman. Nothing says she can’t screw anyone she wants, but the thought has my fists balled so tightly that my bones ache.
Now my optimism and my mood have left the building.
The lights dim. Sixteen participants, all quiet, focus their attention on Chase.
The opening stretch poses begin with Chase leading by example.
Once instruction moves to the core of the routine, he makes a demonstrative pass-through before walking among the participants to check their form as they repeat the series of movements.
When he gets to Rina, my shoulders tense.
I watch him like a hawk. His nose doesn’t twitch without me noticing. Rina can’t see it because he’s behind her, but I get a perfect view of the way his tongue swipes over his bottom lip before his hand presses to her lower back.
It’s not obscene. Nothing that would earn him a near-death experience, but I hate it, nonetheless.
I have to relax my jaw and move it side to side to prevent me from cracking a tooth.
Not ten minutes later, the little ass-wipe manages to find yet another reason to put his hands on Rina. This time, it’s her hamstrings, encouraging her to squeeze her glutes in a bridge pose.
Sounds reasonable, right?
Not to the demon in my head. All he sees is a man trying to touch Rina’s ass.
His rage is my rage, turning our vision red.
Chase has moved on by the time I cross the room, but I don’t care. We’re out of here.
“What’s going on?” she asks in a hushed whisper as I help her to her feet.
“Something’s come up; we gotta go.” Not a lie, but there’s no way I’m telling her the full truth. She doesn’t need to know the something that came up is a touch of insanity on my part.
Thankfully, she complies, collecting her things and giving Isa a reassuring nod before following me out.
“Is everything okay?” she asks once we’re in the car. Her words are hushed with worry, and I feel a tiny tinge of guilt. Not enough to trigger remorse. Just enough to sour my mood further.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I answer gruffly, keeping my eyes on traffic.
Neither of us says another word until we’re back at the apartment. I thought that meant the subject had been dropped. I was wrong.
I set my wallet and keys on a console in the living room where I always leave them and go to the kitchen for some food.
“DiAngelo, what was that?” Rina asks.
I glance behind me to where she’s standing with her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. Tension coils in my neck at the feeling of a storm brewing.
“We just needed to get out of there, okay?” Please, leave it at that.
She’s quiet for several seconds. I grab a protein shake and remove the lid.
“Is this … is this because of Chase?” she blurts, her voice rising.
“Who?”
Aren’t you too damn old to play dumb?
Apparently not.
“The yoga instructor,” she says dryly. “Did you drag me out of there because he was touching me?”
“Don’t think anyone dragged you anywhere.” I take a gulp of my drink.
Terina marches forward. “You’re avoiding the question, which only confirms my suspicion. You made me leave because he was touching me, didn’t you? You thought he was some sort of danger?” If she wants to think this was about safety, that works for me.
“I was keeping you safe, like I promised I would.”
“Safe from what? A good workout?”
I’ll give you a workout, if that’s what you need.
Jesus, man. Get that shit outta your head.
I lean in, my eyes narrowing to match hers. “The thing about doing my job is, I don’t have to explain it to you.”
“Ugh, you’re impossible,” she roars before marching away to the bedroom.
The next six hours are entrenched in silence, at least as far as conversation goes. There’s plenty of slammed doors and irritable sighs—on both our parts.
By the time she calls it a night, the tension between us is one spark away from a raging forest fire. And that spark turns out to be the bedroom door. It becomes our line in the sand—the excuse we’ve both been looking for to air our grievances.
I charge toward the bedroom the second the door slams shut and open it without knocking. “Told you this stays open.”
She’s sitting on the bed, rubbing lotion into long, sexy legs.
“I don’t think so. There’s absolutely no reason that door needs to be open for my safety.
This room doesn’t have a secret back entrance.
No one is going to get to me in here without going by you first.” She proclaims each word with absolute confidence.
My guess is she’s probably been rehearsing it.
It irritates me to think she’s been plotting ways to push me away.
I prowl closer. “You thought you were safe in your apartment, but the snake found its way in, didn’t it?”
She lifts her chin defiantly. “I won’t accept deliveries anymore.”
I grab the lotion from beside her and squirt some in my hand. She watches in confusion as I take her foot—the angle forcing her to lie back on the bed. She yips with surprise but doesn’t argue as I slowly begin to rub the cool cream into the arch of her foot.
“And what happens if someone slips something in your purse while we’re out, or finds a way to mix poison into something seemingly innocuous like …
lotion … and you have no idea there’s a problem until you’re all alone in your bed?
” I rest her foot on my chest and continue my massage farther up her leg.
“With the door closed, I’d never hear you. ”
I lift her other foot, taking one in each hand before suddenly using my leverage to flip her onto her stomach. Before she can recover from the surprise, I align my body with hers and take her hands in mine. Nose in her hair, I can’t avoid the intoxicating scent of peaches and cream.
“Danger can strike when you least expect it, Terina,” I rasp close to her ear. “You don’t always see it coming. While your life is in my hands, I make the calls. I decide where you go and when. I decide if the doors stay open and shut, and I sure as fuck decide who gets to touch you.”
Rina gasps.
I tense in preparation for a fight, holding her hands that little bit tighter, but am stunned when I feel her press her ass against my swollen cock instead.
“You didn’t want him touching me,” she breathes softly, as though some mysterious puzzle piece has fallen into place.
“No, I didn’t, and if it happens again, I’ll break his fucking fingers.” I sound like an absolute psychopath and don’t care in the slightest. Taking one more sniff of her hair, I drag myself off her. “And the door stays open,” I add, noting the petulance in my tone but unable to curb it.
Terina rolls over, and I allow our eyes to meet for a handful of heartbeats.
Allow her to see there’s not a joking bone in my body.
Because I’m the sort of man who will protect her with my life, but I’m equally likely to kill for her, too.
She needs to know that. She needs to understand I’m not the sort of man who plays games and haven’t been for a very long time.