23. Addison
Addison
# Always take the win and walk away—aka never poke the angry bear
I twist around, sure I must have imagined hearing him shouting my name, but no, there he is…dressed in a suit and tie.
“Jasper, what the hell are you doing here?”
He smiles sheepishly. I’m sure he thinks it makes him look adorable but actually it makes him look like a naughty schoolboy. “I made a mistake, Sugarmuffin. And I knew how much it meant for me to be here with you.” He glances around. “At your brother’s wedding.”
“The wedding’s over, fuck-face,” Chase growls.
That’s exactly what I was going to say, minus the fuck-face, but I throw Chase a warning glare anyway. “I’ve got this,” I say through clenched teeth. “Can you give us a moment?”
He scowls at Jasper, his jaw working. “Nope, don’t think I will.”
“Chase, please?” I ask. “I can handle this. Please just go inside.”
“I’m not leaving you out here alone with him, Addie,” he insists.
“I can take care of myself. Now please go!” I level him with a look, and with a grunt of annoyance, he finally leaves us, muttering to himself as he stalks to the hotel lobby.
Jasper is still smiling, seemingly oblivious to Chase’s disdain and the fact there is clearly some history between him and me. “Adders,” he says sweetly.
A distant cousin bumps into me on her way back into the party, apologizing before she resumes her performance of the Cha Cha Slide.
I usher Jasper away from the doorway because I’d rather not have everyone I know witness me telling him to go home. There’s every chance he might cause a scene. So emotional!
Jasper holds out his hands. “I’m here, Sugarmuffin. Just like I promised I would be.”
“We broke up,” I remind him. “Where is Lacey? She’s the one who gets you, right?”
He winces like I’ve physically hurt him. “She wasn’t quite the woman I thought she was. You know how it is.”
I sigh. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I want to give us another shot, Adders.”
I shake my head. “No way. You cheated on me. In my own apartment!”
He takes a half step toward me. “It was a mistake, Adders. We all make mistakes.”
“Nailing another woman on my sofa wasn’t a mistake, Jasper, it was a calculated and spectacular fuck-you to what was left of our already crumbling relationship.”
He scowls at me. “We were good together, Sugarmuffin. You know we were.”
“Please never call me Adders or Sugarmuffin ever again. We weren’t good, we were a train wreck. And you really need to leave.”
“And not make use of the cabin we booked?” His lip curls and his eyes rake over my face before lingering on my boobs, which I now realize are very prominent in this dress. Chase hasn’t ogled my boobs all day. Not once.
“Come on, Adders,” Jasper croons. I’m sure he’s trying to be seductive or something, but he just looks creepy as hell. Does he really think…? Oh, God! I can think of nothing worse.
He grabs hold of my wrist and I try to wrench out of his grip, but he holds tighter, yanking me toward him until I stumble in my heels, falling into his chest. I plant a hand on his shoulder, trying and failing to push him away. “Take your hands off me. You’re an asshole.”
“And you’re a dirty little slut. Come on, babe. We were good together and I know you still want me.”
“You’re a fucking dead man if you don’t take your goddamn hands off her right now!” Chase growls and despite me asking him to go, I’m filled with relief that he’s here.
Jasper releases me, but Chase already has him by the collar of his shirt. “And what the fuck did you just call her?”
Jasper’s lip wobbles. “I didn’t mean anything. She likes being called that…don’t you, Adders?”
Chase doesn’t wait for my reply; he simply punches Jasper in the face, knocking him on his ass.
Jasper looks at me, his lip bleeding and tears running down his cheeks. “Adders, please?”
Chase looks like he’s about to dive on him and go another round, but I grab hold of his forearm. “Don’t. Just leave him be.”
“I love you, Adders,” Jasper pleads.
I offer him a hand and help him up, while Chase growls his annoyance behind me. “Please go home, Jasper. I don’t love you. I don’t even like you. And stop calling me Adders!”
He looks furious and dejected, and if Chase wasn’t here, I’m sure he’d plead his case some more. Maybe even grab hold of me again, but he’s too much of a coward to do it with the angry six-foot-three-inch wall of Chase right behind me.
Instead, he drops his head, and saunters in the direction he came in. “Slut,” he mutters.
Oh, Jasper! You absolute gold-standard, grade-A idiot.
You were free and clear, and you just couldn’t walk away without giving your dented ego a little boost. Chase moves so fast, he’s almost a blur.
In two strides, he has Jasper by the scruff of his neck, and the sight of my misogynistic ex-boyfriend being yanked back like a feral dog on a leash would almost be comical if I didn’t abhor violence.
“You really are a stupid fuck, Jasper,” he growls, and then his two hands are wrapped around Jasper’s throat, and my ex-boyfriend is coughing and sputtering, his eyes bugging out of his head.
Jasper is big guy, but Chase manhandles him like he’s a ragdoll, forcibly dragging him over to me.
He shakes Jasper hard. “Apologize to her.”
Jasper chokes, and I’m sure he’s unable to speak with the grip on his throat.
Chase shakes him again. “Now! Fuckface.”
“S—sorry,” Jasper sputters, face turning a deeper shade of purple with each passing second.
“Chase, you can let him go. Please? He’s not worth it.”
Chase snarls in the other man’s face, causing Jasper to physically tremble. “Leave her the fuck alone, you dipshit. You ever call her that again, speak to her again, look at her again, and I will bury your body somewhere you will never be found. Do I make myself clear?”
Jasper jerks his head in a nodding motion. “Y—yeah.”
Then Chase moves his mouth close to Jasper’s ear. “Stay the fuck away from my girl, asshole,” he says in a deep, low growl and I’m not sure if I was supposed to hear that, but the possessiveness in his tone has my entire body trembling, and now it has nothing to do with Jasper’s behavior.
Chase shoves him roughly away and Jasper stumbles backward, rubbing at his throat. “Now, fuck off!” he growls.
This time, my ex-boyfriend gets the message and he slinks away in the direction he came from.
Chase is beside me in an instant. “Are you okay?” Gently, he takes my hand and inspects my wrist. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine.” It’s a lie. Jasper showing up here out of the blue has freaked me out. And he scared me. He was always a little pushy when it came to sex, but there was a look in his eyes tonight that truly frightened me. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
He slips an arm around my shoulder. “Always, Firefly. You want to go back inside and dance?”
I shake my head. “I don’t feel like dancing anymore.”
His eyes travel over my face and I’m reminded of the possessive words he spoke to Jasper just now, and how he called me his girl.
Perhaps he was simply saying that to warn Jasper off, but it doesn’t make the impact any less.
“You want to go back to our cabin and finish that bottle of bourbon?” His voice is deep and seductive.
I nod. Nothing has ever sounded better.