Page 60 of Coerced

How could this be happening? Hadn’t Aria enjoyed the time she and I had spent together as much as I had? Should I have acted on my attraction to her sooner? Would it have made a difference?

Nearly every encounter I’d had with her involved some level of flirting. I thought she felt an attraction to me, that we were forging a connection that went beyond that surface-level desire I had foolishly believed we both had for one another.

But apparently, I was wrong.

Maybe she only saw me as a friend, as her neighbor. Maybe I’d made up everything else in my head. Perhaps she hadn’t ever actually shivered when I touched her. It was possible I imagined her gaze darkening just a few daysago, when I’d indicated I wouldn’t have minded if she’d told others that we were together.

All that I thought had built between us since the day Brutus had gone yapping at her as she prepared to leave in search of jobs was a sham.

She was more than content to have experienced what we did together and still be able to invite this guy back to her house.

I could admit it—I was crushed.

With disbelieving eyes, my attention drifted back to Aria. In that moment, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d gotten it right.

Because despite the darkness and the distance, I was certain she didn’t appear to be very comfortable. Her body had frozen to the spot.

If this was someone that she’d invited back to her place, someone she’d been expecting, I had to believe she would have been approaching him with open arms.

I continued to watch, needing to be positive, and the closer the guy got, the worse I felt.

For a brief moment, I considered my options. I was ready for bed, wearing nothing more than a pair of joggers. If there was something truly wrong, running upstairs to grab a shirt and a pair of socks was out of the question. Fortunately, I had a pair of sneakers sitting right beside the front door.

I watched and waited for no more than a minute before I was convinced this was not a friendly encounter. No matter how much I wanted to celebrate that fact, I couldn’t.

Something else took over.

Protective nature. Instinct. Regardless of what it was called, it was that force which propelled me forward.

My sneakers were on, and I was out the door in a flash.

Now, I was standing here, chest heaving, my eyes pinned on this asshole. Although I was relatively sure when I’d left my house that this guy was trouble, the additional confirmation came when I made my approach.

I’d pulled the guy off Aria, and it was taking superhuman effort not to kill him. I’d heard her struggling against him, and for as long as I lived, I’d never forget the sound of her desperate pleas.

In an effort to settle myself down, I dared to take my eyes off the guy and look at Aria. “Are you okay?”

Her lips were parted, her eyes wide. Slowly, she nodded. “Yes.”

“Did you invite this guy here?” I pressed.

She whispered her response. “No.”

Without another thought, I looked away from Aria and focused every ounce of rage I felt into what I did next. I took slow, methodical steps toward the man. “What are you doing here?” I seethed.

“That’s none of your business.”

“I think it is. She said she doesn’t want you here. She didn’t invite you here. So, it seems you’re trespassing on private property.”

The guy took two steps back, his head jerking back slightly. “Are you the police or something?”

“Something,” I confirmed, not a trace of humor in my tone. “Something you don’t want to mess around with.”

“She was flirting with me,” he argued.

I swallowed that down, telling myself it was part of thejob. The flirting she did with me wasn’t the same as what this guy believed she was doing with him.

“I don’t give a fuck what she was doing. You followed her home when she never invited you. Where I come from, that’s akin to stalking. And I’m warning you now, you don’t want to go around town stalking any woman, but especially not this one.”