Nash watched me walk towards him, and reached for me as I tried to keep going. His grip was firm on my wrist, and I glared at him to let me go. He stopped talking to Wilder so he could give me his full attention. Wilder used the opportunity to leave and Nash didn’t argue; he just kept staring at me.

I tried to pull out of his hold but he was too strong for me. “Nash, you need to let me go so I can go back to work.”

“They can wait.” He was still fuming.

“There’s no need. We’re finished here.” My voice was tight, harsh. I needed to put some distance between us right now; I was worried what I would say in the heat of the moment.

“We’re not finished here, Velvet.” The way he said my name made my skin crawl. There was no soft in it, only hard and angry.

I tried to pull my arm free again, and this time he let me go, but his body language was clear; he had no intention of letting me walk out of the room.

“Okay then, say what you need to say so that I can get back to work.”

“I don’t want you talking to Wilder, or any of the other guys for that matter.”

My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re kidding, right?” But even as I said it, I knew he wasn’t.

“No, I’m not fuckin’ kidding,” he thundered.

My body tensed, and my heart began pounding in my chest. This was the Nash I didn’t like. I spoke calmly, deliberately. “If you’re not kidding, we have a problem, Nash.”

“We do have a problem, babe. I won’t put up with you flirting with any of the boys.”

It was like a kick in the guts; he didn’t trust me. The accusation was barely concealed in the tone he’d taken with me. “You’re saying you don’t trust me?”

“I’m saying that if you don't flirt, then there won’t be a problem,” he said, firmly.

This was Nash laying down the law; laying down his law. And I didn’t like it. Not one little bit. “Well, I’d say we will have a problem then.” I stood my ground; there was no going back now.

His face clouded over. He’d obviously expected he could tell me what to do without any argument from me. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that I am not the kind of woman you can order around. What the hell happened to us having a rational conversation about this? You know, like the one we had about my insecurities. The one where you said you hated women who automatically suspected you of cheating? Because it sure as hell feels like it’s one rule for you and another for me.”

“Velvet, you’re twisting my words. I never said I didn’t trust you. I simply said I don’t want you flirting. Can you manage that?

“Fuck you, Nash!” I yelled, finally losing my cool. “Yes, I can manage not to fucking flirt but what you don’t get is that I won’t be told to do anything. You can ask me to do anything but the minute you just make a ruling and call it done, that’s not fucking on.”

He stood there, taking in what I’d said, eyes flashing anger, and his face hard. The tension clung to the air while we remained silent, having said what we both wanted. Checkmate.

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest I was so angry. And hurt. He’d really fucking hurt me. I decided to finally put that space between us I wanted to before. “I’m getting back to work now,” I told him. My tone made it clear there would be no argument.

He blew out an angry breath, and stepped aside to let me through.

Neither of us said another word, and the pain I felt in my chest as I walked away reminded me why I avoided getting close to men.

Chapter 26

The Great Escape ~ Pink

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Velvet

I pushed the doona off me, got out of bed and traipsed into the kitchen to get a drink. Bella followed me and almost made me trip when she insisted on getting in my way. I bent down and picked her up. “Baby, don’t make me fall over. I’ve had a shitty night as it is. I don’t need to add a broken leg to my list of things I’d rather forget.”

When we hit the kitchen, I placed her back on the ground and made a cup of tea. Nash would not leave my thoughts; I’d been tossing and turning for hours. I checked the time. Just after four am.

Shit.

I hadn’t heard from him after our argument, and my stomach felt sick over it. Although I was angry at him, I wanted to work it out. I hated the silence that fights caused between people. And the doubting. I fucking hated the doubting.

Shit.

I drank my tea while mentally sifting through the jobs I had to get through in the morning. My reasoning was that if I was busy thinking about that, I wouldn’t be busy thinking about Nash.

I was so wrong.

“Fuck it, give up, cause you’re never gonna stop thinking about him,” I muttered to myself as I washed my mug up. “Shit, now you’re even talking to yourself.”

I was deep in thought when there was an almighty bashing on my front door. At least that’s where I thought it was coming from. A couple of moments later, I peered through the curtain to see Nash standing on my verandah.

I opened the door to find him waiting for me with an intense look on his face. He didn’t wait for an invitation to come inside; just barged straight in and stalked to my kitchen where the light was on. I didn’t particularly want to talk to him while he was in this kind of mood so I took my time following him.