Frayed (Torn #2)(32)

When I was close to reaching Alexandros, I shoved my lousy thoughts away. “Ready, omorfi mou?” he drawled as he wrapped his arms around me, his eyes sparkling.

Talking to me in Greek earned him extra brownie points. “What’s omorfi mou?” It sounded off when I pronounced it, like I was a total wannabe. I sucked at languages, anyway.

“Omorfi means beautiful. Mou means my. My beautiful girl.” Alexandros broke it down for me in such a cute way. I almost didn’t want to think about how possessive he sounded when he said my. We barely just met and he calls me that in no time. I’m definitely not in America.

“That’s sweet, but we should get going.” My hand reached out to take his before he guided us towards the exit.

I let out a loud gasp when a large hand tightly grasped my arm. “I don’t think so. Sorry bud, but you can’t leave with her.” Taylor’s clear commanding voice hung in the air. I could hear the underlying threat in his words. By the look in his eyes, he wasn’t about to be toyed with.

“Who is this man to you?” Alexandros directed the question to me, his accent more pronounced. His patience looked like it was running out.

“He’s a friend of my friend. He’s just looking out for me, nothing more, honest.”

When I felt Alexandros’s hand grip mine, I knew I had to interrupt before he said something that would detonate Taylor. The last thing I needed was for them to fight. “Taylor, back off. This isn’t funny anymore!” My small hand tried to detach his fingers from my arm; instead of letting go, he held it tighter.

“Do I look like I’m cracking jokes to you, Trista?” Taylor hissed, his words were directed at me, but his eyes were glued to Alexandros, unfaltering.

Seriously, how humiliating was this?

“I’m sorry about this. Let me just talk to him for a second,” I said to Alexandros. Glaring, I spoke to Taylor. “We need to talk. You have gone way overboard!”

Without much consideration, Taylor dragged me with him. My steps had a hard time keeping pace. He was acting like a major brute and was pissing on my parade. Enough was enough.

We reached a darkened turn, Taylor reached for the first door he could get open, made sure it was empty then yanked me inside by my arm.

An angry growl erupted from within me as I violently shook his hand off. “You stupid shit! I’m so sick of this idiotic, damsel in distress, rescue protocol you’ve been exhibiting!” I screamed at him before he even closed the door.

A grating laugh came from him. “You’re calling me stupid? Well, that’s very generous of you. You should look into the mirror first before you call someone else stupid!”

Aw, hell no! The claws and fists were definitely coming out now.

Raging with violent ire, I closed the gap between us in a blink of an eye. With my hands, I pushed him backwards. “How. f*uking. Dare. You!” I emphasized each word with a hard push until he was against the wall. “You have no right to get into my business. You saved my life, thank you, but that doesn’t give you the right to f*uk it for me. It’s my life. My right if I want to f*uk it up or not.”

In a flash, he swiftly switched us, and now I was the one trapped against the wall. My crazy rant had little effect on him. My intentions clearly did not register. In fact, he was incensed with rage, absolutely livid in his own right. He looked like a man who was beyond his limit. “You are a f*uking selfish woman. Get out there and face reality! The world doesn’t revolve around you, Trista! So, what if your boyfriend broke up with you? Big f*uking deal! Toughen up. Life is a big boot camp. Grow some backbone, you self-centered brat.” He furiously spat at me, our faces inches from each other.

SLAP! My palm connected to his cheek with a swift movement. Taylor made a harsh growl. His eyes looked completely dangerous.

Yet, none of it fazed me. I had never known uncontrollable rage until tonight. Where does he get off insulting me like he’s known me all my life! “How dare you! You don’t know me, so you don’t have the right to criticize my actions. Get off your high and mighty f*uking horse, Taylor. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not perfect and I don’t claim to be. I make mistakes, all the time, but that doesn’t make me a bad person. You can’t just stand there and judge me like a bystander watching the drama unfold before your insipid eyes. YOU. KNOW. NOTHING!”

Taylor’s face was an inch from mine, but I wasn’t going to back down, never again. The room seemed small and the only sound my senses could pick-up and concentrate on were the sounds of our shortened breaths, along with the frantic, manic speed of my heartbeat, I couldn’t even hear the club music anymore. It became grave when he didn’t respond immediately.

When he did speak, I was a little surprised. “Then make me understand. Why are you doing this to yourself? I can’t ignore how your eyes always reveal pain. Yet, the only thing you want to achieve is to f*uk it out of your system. Do you honestly know what you’re doing, Trista? Do you really want to go through sleeping with all these men and regret it the next day?” Taylor asked in a worried tone, but his hardened demeanor did not thaw, not one bit.

Heck, people always used sex to get over someone. It’s been a well-practiced theory ever since humans knew what heartbreak was. “I do know what I want! I want to f*uk nameless and faceless men. If you have a problem with that, too bad, because I don’t give a flying f*uk.” My honesty seemed to throw him off, but it did little to ease the tension between us. It was maddening and I badly wanted for him to fight back. I had so much to let off my chest and Taylor made it easy for me to target him as my emotional punching bag.