9. Cupid
CHAPTER NINE
CUPID
Vanessa goes stiff beneath me, looking at the door with a creased brow.
After the moment we had, I’m not happy with her attention being anywhere but on me. “Expecting anyone?”
She looks back at me with worried eyes. “Not at this hour. Maybe they have the wrong apartment? They’ll go away if we ignore them.”
Fine by me. Picking up where we left off, I lean in to kiss her.
The knocking starts again, more insistent.
“Vanessa Baby! I know you’re home. Please, let me in so we can talk.”
My head whips to the door, eyes narrowing. “The fuck?”
Who the hell is calling my woman baby and wanting to speak with her at this time of night? Whoever it is, referring to Vanessa with a pet name is fighting words.
Vanessa groans, covering her face with her hands. “Dammit, Boden,” she mutters under her breath.
“Boden,” I growl, understanding this is the jackass ex. He was already on my shit-list for hurting Vanessa, but cock-blocking me has landed him in the number one slot.
“Cupid, don’t,” Vanessa hisses when I slip out of bed, as if she could discourage me with a harsh tone.
Not a chance. I’m going to set this idiot straight, with my words or fists—I’m fine with either or both.
She rushes after me, but I halt her with a warning glare.
“Cover up, Butterfly,” I tell her, half growling with how possessive I feel at the mere thought of anyone other than myself seeing her naked. “This motherfucker will not see what’s mine.”
She spins in a frantic circle, looking for something to conceal her nakedness, settling on my t-shirt. Her slight frame is swimming in it, but my chest puffs out with pride having her wear my clothes with my scent. It’s going to send one hell of a message when I open the front door to her ex.
Before she can reach me, I’m unlocking the cheap door, swinging it wide open.
A stereotypical douche canoe with one of those ridiculous alpaca puff hairstyles all the preppy college boys have these days stands on the other side of the threshold.
His eyes nearly bug out of his head when he sees me standing in his ex’s apartment, shirtless, jeans open, and blocking his view of Vanessa.
He stammers for a moment before asking, “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the man who filled your slot, boy,” I answer, crossing my arms across my chest. “Now fuck off to whatever Urban Outfitters you raided and leave my woman alone.”
“Your woman?” he mutters, gawking at me.
“Did I stutter? Piss off. We’re busy.”
“Cupid,” Vanessa says tersely, “don’t entertain him. He’s not worth the headache.”
Boden cranes his neck to see around me, trying to catch a glance of the woman he lost. “Vanessa, who is this guy?”
The loser can’t take a hint and it’s pissing me right off. “You’ve got a hearing problem or a cognitive one? I already told you. I’m her man.”
Vanessa gasps as if I’m saying something shocking. “Cupid!”
“Don’t worry, beautiful. I’m handling it.”
She scoffs. “I don’t need you fighting my battles.”
I almost snort. “Yes, I see how well your gentle parenting has worked on this tool.”
“Gentle my ass. I’ll have you know I beaned him in the head this afternoon with a loaf of bread.”
“Really?” I ask, impressed. “Was it fresh or day-old?”
“Fresh,” she mumbles, knowing it’s less effective.
“Not good enough. Now, it’s my turn.”
“What the hell is going on here?” the jackwagon yells, unable to wrap his head around seeing another man in his ex’s apartment.
“What’s going on is you’re interrupting me from being balls deep in your ex-girlfriend.”
Boden looks like he’s short-circuiting, shaking his head with disbelief. “No. No way.”
“Yes, way,” I say, digging the verbal knife deeper. “You fucked up, and she moved on—with me. She traded up for a real man who knows a good thing when it’s looking him right in the face.”
Her ex is turning tomato red, looking like he’s ready to pop off. “The hell she is! She’s my girl. Get the fuck out of her place. I need to speak with her.”
I laugh in his face as if he had said the funniest thing imaginable. “Right? And she just let me eat her out like a five-course meal when she’s yours.”
“Fuck you!” Boden takes a swing at me, but I expected it. Rattle a man’s cage enough and he becomes the most predictable creature.
I catch his fist in my palm, shoving him all the way across the hall where he hits the wall with a hard thud. He grimaces, trying to regain his balance before slumping to the floor, but I’m already on him, grabbing him by the neck and holding him against the wall.
Vanessa screams in shock at my back, and a few nosy neighbors pop their heads out of their apartments to see what is happening in the hallway.
Boden gasps when I squeeze his scrawny neck. “Get off me!”
I get right in his face, letting him smell her scent lingering on my beard. “You’re a dumb one, aren’t you? Letting someone like her go is a damn shame. But your screw-up is all my gain. She tastes real sweet, too.”
“You’re a liar,” he chokes in a wheezing breath.
“You need proof? Fine.” I yank out her cotton panties from my back pocket and shove them in his mouth. “There you have it, saturated with her cream from me making her wet.”
“Oh, my god!” Vanessa cries, sounding mortified.
I release the fuck boy, backing away and letting him cough on her panties.
He pulls them from his mouth, staring at the evidence in his hands with horror.
Boden must recognize the white panties with a skeletal hand giving him the bird right in the front—they’re too specific to be anyone’s other than Vanessa’s.
Boden looks at his ex standing behind me with beseeching eyes. “Vanessa?—”
“Don’t talk to her,” I snap.
Vanessa sighs behind me, placing her hand on my back and calming me down. “Cupid, please. You’ve made your point. Let me finish this.”
I glance at her over my shoulder. “Do you have to?”
She gives me a sharp look, one I’m quickly learning is her Don’t test me face.
Biting back a curse, I step aside, not willing to leave her side. She can finish the battle, but she will not feel alone while she lands the final blows. I’ll be her witness and her backup if need be.
“Boden, there is nothing left to be said. You’re the one who hurt me and I can’t forgive you. You need to leave.”
“Vanessa Baby, you don’t mean that,” he says weakly. He moves forward, trying to close the distance between them.
I put my hand against his chest, warning him not to come any closer. He shoves my hand off him, but stays put.
He motions at me, addressing Vanessa. “And he’s what you want? Some dirtbag from the streets?”
“Fuck, yeah,” I spit at the same time as Vanessa says, “It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business,” Boden says heatedly. “We’re supposed to be together, Vanessa.”
“What we? There is no we, thanks to you and your dick,” Vanessa fires back, her voice raising an octave.
“And what about Riley? Where does she factor into all of this? You can’t tell me you cut her off when I’ve seen you and her together around campus since I caught you.
For someone claiming they’re remorseful, you have a funny way of showing it.
For all I know, you two are probably still fucking, just not on my couch anymore. ”
Boden looks away, his jaw tight with frustration. “I’m working on cutting ties with her.”
Vanessa scoffs, shaking her head. “Right. And I’m supposed to take your word as truth? Please.”
“I am,” he protests loudly, his head swinging back to her with wide, pleading eyes. “Did you read the last letter I left you?”
“Some of it, for shits and giggles, yeah,” Vanessa clips with sarcasm.
“There are a ton of side hustles, Boden. Don’t tell me you can’t find another with no ties to her.
I was stupid to give you a chance in the first place, but I’m not gullible to believe a damn thing coming out of your mouth.
Having her around is convenient, especially when I’m no longer available.
She was obviously worth losing me, so go be with her and stay the hell away from me. ”
“Damn,” I chuckle under my breath. Vanessa’s anger is more entertaining to watch when I’m not on the receiving end of it.
“If I could back out of my current arrangement, I would,” Boden fires back. “Unfortunately, it’s not simple. I swear, as far as Riley and I are concerned, there’s nothing between us other than business.”
Vanessa throws her hands in the air. “It doesn’t matter anymore. The damage is done. Just go. Do better with your next partner.”
Vanessa turns to head into her apartment when Boden yanks her back by her wrist, making her scream in pain. “We’re not through!”
Red fills my vision. My fist connects with his nose. The crunch of cartilage giving under my fist is music to my ears. The heat of his blood rains across my knuckles, evidence that I put him in his place.
Boden stumbles back, releasing Vanessa. I catch her in my arms, spinning Vanessa behind my back to keep her out of harm’s way.
He covers his nose with his hand, his blood dripping down the front of his face and onto his clothes. “Sonofabitch! You broke my nose!”
“Touch her again and I’ll break a lot more on you, starting with your dick. Now, fuck off.”
“Vanessa Baby, I’m sorry,” he tries again, sounding more pathetic and nasally. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Stay away from me, Boden,” Vanessa warns. She nurses her sore wrist, rubbing it with her free hand.
Again, the asshole can’t take a hint. “Vanessa?—”
“For fuck’s sake, it’s over! I’ve moved on and found better.”
To drive her point home, she reaches up, grabs my face in her hands, and pulls me down to her level, where she kisses the hell out of me. She parts her lips, and I waste no time sweeping my tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers.
My arms automatically enfold around her, hoisting her into my arms. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I carry her back into her apartment, kicking the door shut behind me with a loud rattle.
The bystanders in the hall cheer and whistle for her, thrilled with the spectacle they witnessed. But all the noise fades away as I lay Vanessa out on her bed, her mouth on me and my body covering hers.