His brown eyes flared gold, proving just how close he was to the change. Intense anger could do that sometimes, if you couldn’t control it quickly.
“Fucking, ass!”
Alex’s growl raised my hackles, and I made sure to stare him in the eye. No need for him to think he could dominate this conversation.
“There is nothing to be upset about.”
Alex dropped the grocery bags to the floor and walked towards me, his fists clenched at his sides. He stopped just a couple of steps from being in my face, which was a good decision. My own control was slipping, as the waves of Alex’s rage pounded at me. If he got too close, it could cause a nasty fight.
“I know you don’t have any feelings for Sam, but how could you take advantage of her that way?” Alex sneered, his tone clearly disgusted.
My jaw ached, as I ground my teeth at his ridiculous accusations. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Alex’s smile was mocking, showing off his sharp teeth. “I don’t, do I? Well, for your fucking information, before I left, Sam was all over me. Her hormones are all fucked up from the pregnancy.
“She doesn’t know what she wants right now, and I, unlike you,” he growled. “Walked away, because I knew she would hate herself afterwards. She is not ready for us to be making moves on her yet, especially from you. You haven’t even talked to her since she got here.”
As I listened to Alex’s words, dread seeped into my bones. Could he be right? Did she respond to my touch only because of some damn pregnancy hormones? Admittedly, I hadn’t known much about those kinds of things, but I did remember how sensitive she was to even the smallest caress.
My anger dissipated into a wave of guilt. I hung my head in shame, not able to look at Alex. It was official. I was a complete jerk. I did take advantage of Sam. I just hadn’t realized it at the time.
“You’re wrong.”
My head jerked up at the sound of Sam’s sharp voice. She stood in the hallway entrance, wearing only my shirt, her long hair falling over her shoulders. Even with her rounded belly, the shirt swallowed her whole, making her look almost frail, vulnerable. The shaky way she balanced on her crutches didn’t help the image.
I rushed over and helped her to the sofa. She sat down with a sigh and graced me with a soft smile of gratitude. I held onto that smile like a dying man, even as she turned her attention to the fuming Alex.
“Leave him alone, Alex. Jordan did not take advantage me. I wanted to be with him.”
I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief at her words, but the guilt continued to nag at my subconscious.
Alex threw his hands in the air in agitation. “Do you not remember what happened before I left to go to the store?”
Sam blushed, but didn’t turn away. As pretty as she looked with that rosy glow, I wanted to throttle Alex for embarrassing her.
That would have to wait it seemed, because at that moment, I was too busy trying to keep up with the two of them. It was like a ping-pong match, back and forth they went. I wondered when they would realize the fight was useless.
“I remember you being a complete ass.”
“Yeah, well better me being an ass than taking advantage of your crazy emotions.”
“Crazy?”
“Irrational! You threw a book at my head!”
“You deserved it, you prick!”
I watched as Alex came closer and closer to Sam with each shout. It was obvious what had happened. Alex had pushed Sam away, claiming her hormones were too unbalanced, when all he really wanted was to take her up on the offer.
Sam, while it might be true that her emotions were up and down at times, knew exactly what she wanted.
I let the argument play out, knowing how it would end. Alex loved Sam as much as I did and I didn’t doubt Sam felt the same.
Alex was right in front of Sam, leaning down so that their noses practically touched.
“You kissed me!”
“You’re right, I did!”
“You shouldn’t have!”
“No, you shouldn’t have run like a pussy!”
I barely held back a chuckle, as Alex pulled back, his mouth opened in shock at her blunt words. It didn’t take him long to recover.
“Oh yeah, well, maybe next time I won’t!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!”
I grinned, as their lips collided with an intense kiss.
17
Sam
I was so angry with Alex for tearing into Jordan and implying that I couldn’t make my own decisions. I acknowledged that I was feeling uneasy. So many different emotions were crashing into me at the same time. The one thing that had never changed, though, was how much I wanted him and Jordan.
As we argued, my need only increased until it had to have an outlet. And Alex’s mouth was the perfect conduit.