“Enough.”
He shifted in his chair nervously. “Listen, my temper got the best of me, but you should know I wouldn’t remove you from the team. I didn’t want you off in the first place, but it was out of my hands.”
He offered me a shaky smile as if his pitiful promises meant something to me and all would be forgiven. As if I hadn’t just heard him raise his voice at Monroe. As if he hadn’t just called her a bitch and nearly spit in her face.
“Let me make this quick because I have a frustrating female who needs my attention. What I just heard makes me want to cut your tongue out and make you choke on it.”
“Son, liste—”
“As I said… I heard enough. If you ever speak to her that way again, I’ll make your wife a widow early.”
I left him sputtering and red-faced in his office and went after my stubborn headache. I tracked her down just outside the cafeteria doors and quickened my steps to catch her. She knew I would come after her and as much as she pretended not to be afraid of me, she sought the safety of the cafeteria.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I said when I grabbed her arm and dragged her in the direction we’d just come from.
“Let go of me, asshole.” I ignored her struggles and managed to pull her into an empty classroom without being caught. I was breaking every rule and taking too many chances even being near her, but fuck if she didn’t make it hard to break old habits.
Once safely hidden away, I slammed her back against a nearby wall, pushed up against her, and hid my face in her neck. If I looked into her eyes right now, I could ruin us both right here and now. “You want to tell me what the fuck that was about?”
Her scent was making it hard to remember how we ended up here in the first place. All I could concentrate on was the fact I had her in my hands again. Two weeks cold turkey and I’d relapsed. It was about as much as I had expected.
She was fire and ice.
And she had me by the balls.
“I don’t owe you an explanation. I’m only trying to right a wrong.”
“Damn it, Monroe.” I reluctantly lifted my head from her neck and abandoned her scent. “You aren’t making this easy.” How could I stay away from her if she were constantly doing things to pull me back in?
“Stop calling me Monroe. My name is Lake, and I wasn’t aware I was supposed to make anything easy for you. Should I show you the same mercy you showed me?”
I grabbed her face with my hands and held her eyes. “I want you to realize what’s at stake here if you keep pushing me.”
“You never played fair before,” she whispered.
Fuck.
I let her face go. Those twinkling blue-green eyes were pure torture to my dick. “I don’t know what I want more—to kiss you or kill you.”
“Why did Coach Lyons let you back on the team?” she asked, blatantly changing the subject.
“He didn’t let me back on the team. He asked me to come back.”
“He actually sought you out?” Her body rocked against mine in outrage.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” I took a step back, needing to put space between us but not too much. She visibly relaxed as she watched me warily. I noticed her palms brace the wall at her side and every other second they would clench.
“You can’t mean the championship is that important?”
“It is for a lot of people.”
“Enough to overlook the fact that you’re a murderer?”
“I didn’t kill Trevor and Anya.”
“Maybe you didn’t light the match, but it doesn’t make you any less responsible.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“You continuously point fingers but conveniently forget that you are as much an accomplice.”
“I didn’t—”
I cut her off before she could make any more false claims of innocence. “Maybe you didn’t light the match but you knew and you didn’t say anything. Why?”
She stared up at me incredulously. “And give you another reason to threaten my aunt?”
“Is that your final answer?”