Fever (Breathless #2)(113)

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Jace punched the button for the elevator and seethed with impatience as he rode up to his apartment. The day had gone to hell fast with the departure of two investors for their Paris hotel project. Damn it, he’d worked long and hard on getting them committed and now they’d waffled at the eleventh hour.

He and Gabe had spent most of the afternoon on the phone trying to find out what the f**k was up and he’d left far later than he’d planned. All he wanted to do was see Bethany, take her for a nice dinner and then make love the rest of the night. Tomorrow morning would suck because with the withdrawal of the two largest investors, it was entirely possible others would follow suit. They had to repair the problem and fast. Even if it meant sinking more of their own capital into the venture.

The doors opened and he was greeted by the sight of Bethany and Ash standing across the living room in front of the window. And she was smiling. Her entire face was lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree. It was the first time he’d seen her really smile with that much enthusiasm in a week. She was looking at Ash like he’d just hung the f**king moon.

And then Ash touched her face. It wasn’t a casual gesture at all and it sent alarm bells clanging in his head. There was an intimacy to that touch. And the look on Ash’s face. Tender. Affectionate.

What the f**k was going on?

His temper exploded, a result of a shitty day gone even shittier by finding Ash in his apartment, touching his woman and her smiling at f**king Ash in a way she hadn’t smiled for him in days. All he could think about was that night. Ash’s mouth on her skin, his dick inside her mouth, her ass. The gasps of pleasure that Ash had wrung from her. It made him crazy.

“What the f**k is going on here?” he asked icily.

Ash and Bethany both whirled around to look at him, Ash’s hand sliding from Bethany’s face. Bethany’s eyes widened in alarm while Ash immediately looked pissed off. Fuck that.

“Ash came by to see you,” Bethany said in a low voice.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Jace growled.

“You know what? Fuck you, man,” Ash snapped. “Can’t believe you’d come in here like this, especially after all we had to say in the office today. Moreover, can’t believe you’d disrespect Bethany this way.”

“The way I see it, I’m the one being disrespected in my own apartment,” Jace bit back.

“I’m out of here,” Ash snarled.

He paused and sent Bethany a look of apology.

“I’m sorry, honey. Really sorry. If you need anything, call me, okay?”

And that just set Jace off even more. That Ash was actually suggesting that Bethany would need him as a result of whatever the f**k was going on here and now.

“I’m sorry too,” Bethany whispered.

Her face was a wreath of mortification, red suffusing her cheeks. As Ash stalked by Jace, he muttered, “What a dick,” and then got into the elevator.

When Jace glanced back up at Bethany, prepared to demand an explanation, tears glittered in her eyes and her shoulders were slumped in defeat. She wouldn’t even look at him.

His stomach knotted and he immediately regretted the conclusions he’d jumped to. He couldn’t even call them conclusions. He’d lashed out because he was already pissed, frustrated and tired. All he’d wanted was a quiet evening alone with Bethany and he’d arrived here to see Ash up close and personal with Bethany.

Fuck, but he’d done it again. Spoke without thinking. And now Bethany was next to tears. He’d embarrassed her and he’d pissed off his best friend. He was beginning to make a regular practice out of being a first-class ass**le.

“Bethany,” he said in a quiet voice as he closed the distance between them.

She flinched away the moment he tried to touch her. She turned her head, clearly trying to hide her tears from him. And that pissed him off even more. Not at her. At himself. Because he’d f**ked up.

“You still don’t trust me,” she whispered brokenly. “I don’t know why we’re doing this. I can’t do this, Jace. I won’t be with a man who continues to think the worst of me when I’ve done nothing to deserve it. I’ve given you everything. My trust, my heart. You may have given me material things, but you’ve given me nothing that truly matters.”

“My love doesn’t matter?” he demanded.

This time she met his gaze with her liquid eyes. They were fiercely determined, her mouth drawn into a tight line.

“You cannot stand there and tell me you love me when you think so poorly of me. You may be in lust with me, you may be infatuated. But you do not love me.”

“Don’t tell me I don’t love you!”

His pulse was roaring in his ears and panic clawed at his throat. He damn well did love her, and the hell of it was, he did trust her. After he’d calmed down, he knew damn well she and Ash weren’t doing shit behind his back. He trusted her and he damn sure trusted his best friend. Neither of them would ever do anything to betray him.

But he’d reacted emotionally and lashed out at the two people he cared most about. Because he was a hotheaded dick with a shitty temper and a propensity for biting the people closest to him.

Jesus, he had to get his shit together. Starting right now.

“You say you love me, but your actions say otherwise.”