Page 75 of Beautiful Ruins
He laughed.“You can’t keep her from me.”
“Can’t I?”I raised a brow in question.
“You can’t do this.She’smygirlfriend,” he argued.
My jaw locked so hard I tasted blood.
“You sure about that?”I give him a minute to mull on that before I add; “then why am I the one standing here and not her?”
“You can’t keep her from me!”
“I can, and I will.You will turn around if you want to save yourself.Don’t contact her again.Don’t even think about her.”
“She doesn’t even know I’m here, does she?Bitch would’ve come crawling on her knees if she knew…”
Something snapped.
I don’t remember crossing the distance.
I only remember the impact of my fist against his jaw.
He hit the gravel hard.
I was on him before he could breathe.
I dragged him up by the collar and slammed him against the iron gate.
“You,” I muttered, voice low and shaking with contained violence, “fucking imbecilic moron…”
“She’s not yours—” he choked.
I hit him again.
Blood sprayed.
“You got your chance with her,” I relayed, almost conversationally.“And now she’s mine.”
He wheezed.
“Not yours?—”
I wrapped my hand around his throat.
“Mine,” I told him.
His heels scraped uselessly against the gravel as I lifted him over the ground.
“I should break you.Then deliver what’s left to the men you owe.”
His eyes bulged.
And I would have done it.God help me, I would have crushed his windpipe and felt no remorse.
“Raze!”
Izzy’s voice cut through the night.
She was barefoot on the driveway, hair loose, wearing one of my shirts.
