His eyes seemed to burn a hole through me and suddenly, I was not feeling too brave now that Cole was no longer in the house to protect me from this monster.
Jasper was one of those fierce, determined and dangerous types of guys who made you feel scared but also made your pussy wet at the same time. His looks and attitude sometimes reminded me of Gerard Butler and his performance in 300. God, I had had such a huge crush on that man after seeing that movie. But I couldn't think like that about Jasper Wells.
He was off limits. Period.
"He'll notice you don't like me eventually," I spoke up, trying to make peace if only to dispel some of the awkwardness. "It's going to fuck with his head if he realises you aren't happy about me. For Cole's sake, can't you at least try and get along?"
He folded his bulging arms in front of that massive chest and widened his legs in an aggressive stance.
"You want to get along after cock-blocking me last night?" he questioned bluntly.
Wow. This guy...Trust him not to sugarcoat his language.
I rolled my eyes and took up my own aggressive position, hands on my hips and back straight.
"Please. You just wanted to show off because I pissed you off in the kitchen. I had to make a counterattack. But I'm willing to make peace with you because I care about Cole and I know he will worry if you aren't okay with this."
Jasper sneered at me. "Don't act like you care more about Cole than I do, Skye. You've barely known him for two weeks."
"It's not an act. I do care about him but I'm sure you love him a lot more. This isn't a competition," I told him exasperatedly.
He scoffed. "Like hell it isn't."
I stared at him in shock. He actually did regard my presence as a threat. Was he really that insecure? Couldn't he tell how important he was to Cole?
"Jasper, I'm not going to take him away from you."
His dark eyes glittered in warning. "You couldn't even if you tried," he bit out.
"Yeah? If you're so sure then what the hell are you so worried about?" I challenged in a cool voice.
He looked me from top to bottom like I was a piece of garbage. "I just want you gone," he admitted bitterly. "I don't want to share him."
My forehead creased in a frown. "Well, shit. Then why did you tell him that it's okay?"
"Because he's in love with you!" Jasper yelled and I flinched at the sudden outburst. "He fucking went and fell in love when I was right here thinking I was making him happy and I was all he needed. And I can't...I can't even hate him for it," Jasper choked out and looked away from me, turning to grip the counter as if he needed to hang onto something solid to hold himself together.
"I want Cole to be happy. What I don't want is to play the blame game and spoil whatever we have. I thought I could do this for him but just looking at your face, fuck!" he cursed and rammed a fist down on the counter, making me wince from imagining the pain of that impact. "I hate it," he continued vehemently as though he did not care if he cracked his bones. "I hate you."
I couldn't speak because there was this huge lump in my throat. Jasper was just a blurry figure in front of me because my eyes were full of hot, fat tears. Damn it. I swiped at them and took huge, gulping breaths. I did this to him. I broke up his happy home. When Cole told me Jasper was okay with this, I believed him.
But the pain in Jasper's voice. Shit. This was really bad. Really, really bad. And Cole...loved me? I had no idea he had fallen so deep. He never mentioned that part.
The right thing was for me to walk away. Cole would get over it. I was just a passing thing for him. Soon, I will become a memory. A beautiful one, I hoped. I would make some excuse as to why I couldn't do this anymore. He was a sweet guy. He would understand. It didn't matter that he was the only person to love me, to show me so much affection and passion. It didn't matter that we hardly got a chance to be together properly. He belonged to Jasper. I was the intruder.
I wiped some more of my tears and then pinned a smile on my face. Then I walked over to Jasper and rubbed his shoulder in a gesture of comfort. I had been wrong about him. He was just hurt and afraid. He wasn't evil.
Jasper regarded me warily and I sniffed and cleared my throat.
"It's okay. I'll back out," I told him weakly because my voice refused to support me. God, why did this hurt so much? Cole was basically a stranger. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was causing so much damage. Just...just be there for him when I'm gone. He might have a little trouble getting over it at first. Do you...um...do you have a pen and paper I can borrow?"
~~~
Chapter 9
Jasper
The door opened that evening and I looked up from my laptop to see my boyfriend step inside our apartment with the most devastated look on his face I had ever seen.
I stood up instinctively, walking over to Cole and stepping close to him with a worried frown. "Hey. You okay?"
I tried to catch his gaze but he would not look at me as he shed his jacket
