Big thanks to Mani & Ella for enduring my endless nagging!
BPOV
Masen settles the check at the diner with cash. There's a large wad of rolled-up bills in the inside of his jacket that makes my eyes grow wide. I arch a brow at him, but he ignores it.
Outside, he grabs my hand, and the way it makes me feel makes me want to run off. If I catch feelings for this guy, I might end up hurting him — if he catches feelings for me, I'll hurt him as much as my parents hurt me.
In my mind, there's an endless cycle of thoughts, a tornado that makes me overthink and over evaluate until I'm not sure of anything anymore. As we walk back to the Greenview, I freeze in my footsteps when the all-too-familiar silhouette walks out of an alley.
"What's up, Doe?" Masen pulls my hand, but I refuse to continue walking. Instead, my heart's racing, and my palms get sweaty. I feel like a deer that's being hunted, like a mouse being preyed on by a fucking leopard.
"I — I…" I can't form a decent word so I stand there, feeling stupid, ridiculous until I gasp and Masen notices why. He pulls me tighter to his body, and when I see the look on his face, I grow scared. If eyes could kill, Paul would be dead right now.
"Baby B," his voice makes my skin crawl, yet my mouth waters thinking about the good stuff he's got on him right now. It's a complete contradiction between what I want and what I know I can't have. It's tearing me apart at the seams from the inside-out.
"Who's he?" Masen's words drip venom, a deadly sneer on his beautiful face that transforms him into something else entirely.
"M — My dealer." I stammer.
"Didn't know you lived around here." Paul goes on.
"She doesn't." Masen spits. "I do." The air around him is possessive, from the way he clutches me to his side to the way his eyebrow arches, challenging his opponent. When I see them standing there in front of each other, I can't believe what I ever saw in Paul.
"What's up, kitten? No more pussy for you? Sure as fuck was a hot little blonde." Paul stares Masen down, brown eyes locking onto vivid, venomous greens. Instead of questioning what Paul asked me, he defends me.
"Yeah, she was hot, and it was fun while it lasted, but I'd rather have B all to myself." Paul gawks at the two of us and I actually giggle. Masen didn't know what the fuck Paul was talking about, and yet it seems like he does. Like he knows everything when I haven't shared a thing.
"Yeah, that pussy's good until you stop giving her a discount, man." Rage bubbles inside of me, threatening to come out.
"Do I look like I give out fucking discounts?" Masen gets even angrier now, eyes narrowing like a lion about to pounce on a gazelle. "Get out of my fucking face before you need crutches." Unlike Paul, Masen doesn't even raise his voice. Instead, he looks dangerously calm.
"Dude, come on. She doesn't date. I've tried."
"Why you think that is?" Masen asks him, looking like one glum motherfucker.
"How the fuck would I know?"
"Because my baby's not fucking easy. She may have fucked you, but you were too stupid to just give her your stuff for free. Who does that, anyway?" Masen laughs.
How did he know I fucked Paul?
My baby?
"Bye Paul." I yank Masen's arm so he'll start walking again, but he doesn't seem ready to let this one go.
"What's wrong, B? Don't you want that good stuff? The stuff that makes you fly high? The stuff that makes boning look like an ethereal event?"
I look at Masen, a silent cry for help swimming in the depths of my eyes. His eyes flit from me to Paul and back again. He's struggling with his anger, with keeping control.
"Let's go, baby," I tell him, cuddling his arm, pulling him into me like it's second-nature to me. He blinks slowly, almost like he's in a trance. His anger vanished.
"I hear you talk about my girl like that one more time, and you can start planning a fucking funeral, you fucking mutt." It's the last he says before he grabs his smokes, offers one to me, and walks us down the street. I struggle to keep up with him and his long-ass legs, but eventually, we're around the corner, sirens replacing the fight between two alpha-males.