The First Taste(110)

“Please, Andrew,” I say, allowing more emotion into my voice. “Just go. Don’t make this harder.”

He pleads with me, his deep-blue eyes sad, beaten down like I’ve never seen. “Just a few minutes.”

“No.”

“I rode all the way here—”

“You should learn that when a lady says no,” Reggie says behind me, “she means no.”

My heart leaps into my throat. What the f*ck is he doing?

Andrew looks past me, pushing off the doorframe. “What is this?”

Oh my God. Andrew might think Reggie’s here because I invited him. “I can explain,” I say.

“There’s only one explanation,” Reggie says. He comes up behind me and grabs my ass so hard, I inhale a sharp breath. “She chose me. Didn’t you, muffin?”

Andrew looks between the two of us. “Is that true?” he asks me.

My mind is spinning. I don’t know the right answer. If I say yes, it’ll kill Andrew. But if I tell him Reggie’s blackmailing me, Andrew might snap and do something stupid. I can’t have that. From the start, Andrew and I had an understanding: hurt me now to save me later. I owe him that. My urge to protect him trumps my fear.

“It’s true,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster. “I asked him here.”

Andrew narrows his eyes. “Why?”

I don’t have to reach too deep. I know how to hurt Andrew, and that’s what I’ll have to do to get him to leave. To stay away until I can deal with Reggie. “I thought about what I said earlier, and I was wrong. I can’t be what you need,” my voice cracks, and I clear my throat, “what she needs.”

“She . . .?” Andrew asks.

My stomach drops. “Bell.”

Andrew’s jaw ticks. “I see. You can’t, or you don’t want to?”

“I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want me,” he says. “Don’t want my little girl.”

I have to look away from his scrutinizing gaze. Hot tears scald the backs of my eyes. “No.”

“Well. Fuck.” He shakes his head. “I’ve been an idiot, haven’t I?”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Reggie says. “You couldn’t have known it would end this way. Well, actually, you could’ve, if you’d listened to me from the start. But what’s done is done. Go on back to your little life. Amelia’s had her fun.”

Andrew swallows and drops his eyes to me. The sadness is gone, and now they’re just sharp with anger, hurt. “All right. I’ll go if that’s what you want.”

It’s not. It’s not what I want. My heart urges me to speak, but my brain knows better.

“But do one last thing for me, Amelia, will you?” Andrew asks. “Before I go . . .”

I can’t even open my mouth or I’ll scream. I want to launch myself into Andrew’s arms, but I’m afraid. For both of us. “What?” I rasp.

Andrew nods. “Move a foot to your left.”

My mind goes blank, confusion coming on fast. I’m sure I’ve misheard. “What?”

“Move.”

I leap aside when Andrew lunges into the apartment, grabbing Reggie by his shirt. He barrels him back into the nearest wall, and Reggie oophs like he’s had the wind knocked out of him. “How f*cking dumb do you think I am?” Andrew asks, nearly rattling the walls with the deep rumble of his voice. “Did you honestly think I’d believe this? That she’d choose a scumbag like you?”

Shock freezes my limbs, keeps my mouth from doing anything but hanging open. My instinct is to pull Andrew off, but the way he’s hulking out, a full-grown man wouldn’t be able to separate them.

“Get out of my apartment,” Reggie says through his teeth, wheezing.

“This isn’t your apartment—it’s Amelia’s. You have a real bad habit of showing up places you aren’t wanted, don’t you?”

Reggie straightens, despite his obvious disadvantage. I know him. He feels cornered, and Reggie fights with words and threats, not muscles. “You should’ve taken the money. Amelia might fight and resist me, but eventually she’ll come crawling back when she needs something. Money, sex, companionship—I’m the one she’ll turn to. You’ll be a chump, but you could’ve been a chump with ten grand in your pocket.”

“Amelia’s been trying to get away from you for a year, yet you keep slinking back. Who’s the chump?”

“Fuck you,” Reggie says, spittle flying. “You’re delusional. You should be locked up. You can kiss your daughter goodbye. I’ll have you thrown in jail so fast for this—”

Somehow, Andrew grows even bigger. Toe to toe, with Reggie cowering, Andrew looks almost twice Reggie’s size. The muscles in his back tighten through his t-shirt. “You’re going to bring my daughter into this?”

“Somebody has to. You’re a f*cking Neanderthal. Whoever left you in charge of a small child should be ashamed.”

Andrew raises his fist. Reggie looks more amused than afraid. This is what he wants. Once Andrew hits him, Reggie will have what he needs to take him down.

I grasp Andrew’s bicep, pulling it with all my strength. “Bell,” I cry out.