“What part of ‘I can’t talk right now’ don’t you understand?” she asked.
“Then clear your schedule and talk to me,” Ash said. “Explain to me what’s going on right now.”
“You don’t command my life.”
“But I do care about you. And when you cancel a dinner date on me and then pick up the phone with tears in your voice, I make it my duty to make sure that whatever’s going on with you can be fixed. Now clear that damn schedule of yours and talk.”
“Do you really not know?” she asked breathlessly.
“Know what?” Ash asked.
Kallie pulled up the Daily News on her computer and turned the laptop around to Ash.
His eyes fell to the screen and Kallie held her breath. She watched his beautiful hazel eyes brew with anger as his gaze dropped to the screen. She watched him take in the sight. Take in the picture of her kissing her ex. She had no idea where to start. No idea how she was going to explain this to him without him getting upset with her. She brought her trembling hands to her mouth and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming unstable. Her chest hurt and her legs locked up, and suddenly her heart started beating wildly in her chest. The room tilted. Her chair felt unstable. She gripped tightly onto the arms of it and held on for dear life. She felt like she was on a roller coaster she had never consented to getting on, and she wanted off.
She wanted out.
She wanted Ash gone.
Chapter 19
Ash
“What the fuck is this?”
Ash saw red dripping through his vision. That picture, clear as fucking day, with his hands and his mouth on his beloved Kallie. His beautiful, wonderful, Pretty Kallie. His eyes whipped up to her and he saw her struggling in her chair. Struggling to breathe. Struggling to cope. Struggling to stabilize herself.
Tugged between anger and fear. An irate heat that consumed his entire form. He slammed her laptop closed and he watched Kallie jump, her eyes whipping over to his. Her entire body stilled, and he raked his hand through his hair. He was going to strangle that pointless little asshole.
“It wasn’t consensual,” Kallie said breathlessly. “It wasn’t. I went there and gave him the necklace and words were exchanged. I told him it was over, then I stormed out of the restaurant, but he caught me and pulled me in for a kiss. I shoved him away and tried to get away, but he kept pulling me back to him. I thought he was never going to let me go, Ash. You have to believe me. I hailed a cab and the driver helped me get in. He was out of control that night, Ash.”
Her voice sounded far away. He could hear her, but only in spurts. His anger was getting the best of him. He wasn’t used to feeling like this. So out of control and possessive and filled with a rage he didn’t know how to dispel.
“Is that why you didn’t call after dinner?” he asked. “Because you were too busy fucking your ex?”
His eyes whipped over to Kallie and she recoiled. Physically stood from her chair and backed away from him. The grimace on her face and the redness of her cheeks. It was like he had reached out and slapped her. Instantaneous guilt pooled in his chest, furthering his conflicted emotions. Why the fuck did she have to go to that damn dinner anyway? Why the hell couldn't she have pawned the necklace? Donated it? Regifted it to a friend of hers? Why did she have to meet that asshole for dinner and give it back to him?
Oh yeah. To fucking tell him it was over.
But had she done that? Told him it was over?
The guilt didn’t make his angry thoughts go away. He was angry at the situation. Angry at her bullshit ex. Angry at her for feeling like she had to take the high road with a man who obviously didn’t give a shit about the high road. Or the middle road. Or any fucking road. No woman had ever meant to him what Kallie did, and the jealousy within him was too much to bear. Seeing her lips on another man. Watching the way he had a grip on her wrist.
Her wrist.
Holy fuck, that man had forced himself onto Kallie.
“Are you okay?” Ash asked.
Kallie pressed her back into the wall and didn’t respond to his inquiry. This was why he only hooked up and never saw the girl again. This was why his vacation romances were short-lived. He couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle not being chosen by the woman he’d given himself over to. He raked his hand through his hair and turned around, facing the wall before whipping back around to face her. She wouldn't meet his stare. She wouldn't take a fucking step toward him.