Chapter 23

[ 1,010 words ]

He lunged, or started to — a half-step, an aborted reach — before Shawn’s hand clamped down on his arm, hauling him back with more strength than his lean frame suggested he had.

“Jason…Calm down.”

Jason jerked against him. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

“Jason.”

“I said let go.” Jason shouted in anger.

At that exact moment, the front door swung open behind Iris. Zoey stormed outside carrying an aluminum baseball bat, gripping it with both hands like like she meant business.

“Don’t you dare touch her, you absolute piece of shit.” Zoey planted herself half in front of Iris, stick raised, eyes blazing.

Jason glared back at her but Zoey wasn’t intimidated in the slightest bit. She stood her ground in front of him.

“You’ve got some nerve standing here playing the wounded party. You’re the one who’s been screwing that snake behind Iris’s back for three months, and now you want to act like you’re the victim and Iris is what? Like she’s the villain for finally walking away from whatever the hell this was?”

Her voice echoed through the courtyard. “You don’t fucking get that privilege.”

“Who is he?” Jason ignored her entirely, eyes locked on Iris, chest heaving. “Tell me who the fuck he is, Iris.”

Iris met his gaze without flinching. “Like I already told you,” Iris said, calm now, almost bored, “it was a one-night stand. We only fucked that’s all. We don’t exchange names in situations like that, Jason. We just have sex.”

Something in Jason simply broke. He surged forward instinctively, and this time Shawn had to use his whole body to hold him back, arms locked around him, muscles straining.

“Jason!”

Jason’s breathing turned ragged, ugly, punctuated by low sounds which was strange, it was almost animal-like sound escaped his throat that made both women take an instinctive step back — sounds that didn’t quite sound human.

Iris instinctively stepped backward and Zoey immediately moved in front of her, baseball bat still raised, ready to hit him hard if he tried anything funny.

Shawn planted himself directly in Jason’s path.His voice became unusually firm.

“Jason. Look at me.” Shawn’s voice dropped into something commanding, almost otherworldly in its steadiness. He forced himself directly into Jason’s line of sight, blocking Iris and Zoey from view entirely.

Jason struggled against him.

“Jason.” Shawn’s eyes seemed to sharpen with an intensity no one had never seen before.

Shawn lowered his voice, and it turned deeper and gutteral. Only Jason could hear him. And for just a moment — so brief that neither woman caught it — Shawn’s eyes weren’t brown anymore. They’d turned into a deep, unnatural shade of molten gold, catching the sunlight like something that didn’t belong in an ordinary afternoon.

“Stay calm…Control yourself and control it. Right now. You do not want to do something you can’t take back. You know how violent we get when we’re out of control….don’t lose yourself to the rage, or you’ll regret what happens next.”

Jason froze. Something in his tone finally broke through and Jason’s struggling slowly stilled and he stopped fighting. His chest still heaved violently, but he no longer tried to push past his friend.

Shawn kept his back to the women the entire time, and neither Iris nor Zoey could see Shawn’s face from where they stood. They only saw Jason gradually forcing himself back under control. And whatever had passed between them staying firmly hidden.

For several long moments, nobody spoke, finally Jason looked at Iris, his expression had hardened into something cold.

“I’ll find him,” Jason finally said, voice low and flat, aimed at Iris like a promise. “And I’ll kill him.”

Iris looked at him steadily. “I don’t know much about him,” Iris said, unmoved, She slipped Alexander’s jacket back over her shoulders.

“But I do know one thing, Jason …. he’s leagues above you. In every way that matters.” She straightened, meeting his eyes without flinching. “And I wasn’t bluffing before. I meant it when I said we’re done. I’m breaking up with you.”

Jason chuckled once. It was a hollow, dark and humorless sound.

“Oh no Iris.” He shook his head slowly. “You don’t get to just decide when we break up and we’re not breaking up because you said so.” His voice had gone hard, cold in a way she’d never heard from him before.

“This isn’t over, Iris. You don’t get to walk away from me….not yet. We’re not done.”

He stared at her for another long moment before turning sharply toward the black Porsche, folding himself into the driver’s seat of the Porsche

Shawn lingered only long enough to cast one last unreadable glance back at Iris and offer an apologetic look before following him into the passenger seat.

The Porsche roared to life and peeled away from the curb a moment later, engine snarling down the quiet street and soon it disappeared down the street.

Only after the sound of the engine faded did Zoey lower the baseball bat, and both women released the breath they’d been holding.

Zoey turned toward Iris. “So…” She twirled the bat onto one shoulder. “…was I convincing enough?”

Iris looked at the bat, then at her best friend. “Were you actually going to hit him with that?” Iris asked, a laugh bubbling up despite everything, equal parts disbelief and relief.

“Believe it or not,” Zoey said, hefting the stick over one shoulder like a soldier standing down, “if that jerk had made one wrong move, I would have cracked it right over his stupid head.”

Despite everything that had happened, Iris laughed, and it was a real laugh. Zoey smiled in satisfaction before she looped her arm through Iris’s, steering her toward the door.

“Now come on. Inside. You have a lot of catching up to do. You’ve been gone all night.” Her grin widened. “And judging by that jacket…” Her eyebrows danced mischievously.

“…you have a very long story to tell, and I want every single detail.”

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