Realization slammed into me, and my hands jumped, moving to a safer, less tempting, and less risky place on his back. With a sigh, I dropped my head to his shoulder and closed my eyes as I got lost in the movement.

“You aren’t encouraging my desire to give up men.” I took the chance to inhale the mixture of his aftershave and soap that I adored. “Maybe London men will be less tempting.”

“You aren’t moving to London,” he said sternly.

“I am.”

“Nope.”

“Josh, I am moving to London. You have no say.”

“I might not have a say, but your heart and body will, and my plan is to make you completely forget about the fucked up idea to run away to London. Now if we don’t stop talking about this, and if you keep firing that sassy mouth of yours, I’m going to want to rip your dress off your body and fuck you in front of my family to show you how serious I am.”

I gasped and pulled my face away from the confines of his shoulder. This was the first time he mentioned anything about fucking me. My stomach twisted, my heart hammered, and my breathing died. His eyes burned into mine with a fierce look of possession and ownership. I couldn’t stop myself from dropping my gaze to his lips. My champagne buzz was causing me to think of highly-inappropriate things, like wanting him to rip my dress clean off my body, slide into me, and make me forget all my fears and insecurities that revolved around him.

“You think I don’t want to fuck you?” he asked disbelievingly, and took a step back to stare at me.

“Stop saying that.” I dropped my gaze and focused on the collar of his shirt.

“Stop saying what? I’m not going to hide the fact that I want inside you,” he whispered with intent and purpose. The heat of his breath on my ear and the closeness of our bodies collided fiercely and sent me into an uncontrollable spin of emotions. He wanted inside of me. He wanted to claim me again. Oh, how I had wished to hear those words so many times over the years, but now I was cynical. I was bruised and damaged. I had given up all thought of having Josh, because we were so different now.

I dropped my head back to his shoulder and his arms tightened around my waist. This wasn’t a conversation to be had in the middle of his parent’s backyard with his grandma watching closely. As the second song began, our bodies swayed in perfect sync. My head was still resting on his shoulder, his arms were snaked around my waist, and his hands were positioned on the small of my back. I didn’t think anything could shatter the comfort I felt right at that moment. I was so devastatingly wrong. Josh’s body went rigid and his arms tightened almost to the point of pain around me. My head shot up with a gasp and I looked at him. His features turned fierce and stone-like, and his eyes had transformed into almost pure black. Hatred was beaming off him as he looked over my shoulder, and it confused the hell of me.

My confusion didn’t last for long.

“What the fuck?” Josh hissed and removed his arms from around my waist. It all happened in a flash. He pushed me behind him protectively, and didn’t let go of my hand. Just as I was about to curse at him for nearly ripping my arm out of its socket, I saw my past collide headfirst with my present.

Lachlan was walking through the crowd, his eyes latched firmly onto me, with Ky and Eden on either side of him. He walked with a cocky step, his lips smirking and arrogance beaming off him. This could not be happening. My reflexes ignited and I squeezed Josh’s hand tightly in a silent demand to gain some of his strength to face the unknown.

“Surpri—” Eden started, but was interrupted by Josh’s fury.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Josh roared and pushed away from me, leaving me standing with my mouth agape and my fists clenching at my sides. Eden jumped out of the way as Josh barreled toward Lachlan. Shock registered on her face, and she immediately looked at Ky before her eyes flew to me.

Ky rushed at Josh, just as he reached Lachlan. “What the fuck, Josh?” Ky demanded, confused at his brother’s reaction to seeing who he thought was my boyfriend.

Josh didn’t answer Ky, as his entire focus was squarely on Lachlan. He got in his face and stood chest to chest in an intimidating stance. Josh shifted forward quickly, and pushed his shoulder into Lachlan’s chest, sending him stumbling backward. Lachlan refused to break his stare on me, and the longer it remained the more on edge I became. I was beyond angry—I was furious, I was murderous. I glared at him with every ounce of disgust I had.

“What are you doing here?” Josh demanded. I had never witnessed Josh this furious before. The vein in his neck was pulsating, and the air around him thundered with the intent to destroy Lachlan.

Finally, Lachlan looked away from me and turned his glare to Josh. “I was invited here by my friends to surprise my girl.”

My fury reached a fever pitch. How dare he come here and say this shit. I felt my eyes moisten with unshed tears. Not tears of sadness or remorse, but rather complete and utter frustration. I wanted this over.

“Your friends don’t know what you did, now get the fuck out of here and stay away from her before I make you regret stepping foot in town.”

I hadn’t seen Eden move, and it wasn’t until she grabbed my hand that I knew she was beside me.

“What’s going on?” she asked softly. “Ashlyn? Talk to me, babe.”

“He . . .” I stammered, but halted as soon as Lachlan began to speak.

“They have no clue, do they? It seems like you’re having second thoughts, sweetheart. If you couldn’t tell your best friends . . .”

“She told me, asshole,” Josh stated harshly.

Thankfully, we were away from the majority of the guests, and Sue and Mike seemed to realize that this wasn’t the kind of conversation people needed to see. I didn’t want my dirty laundry put on display in front of Josh’s family.

“Lachlan, can you just go? I will call you tomorrow and we will talk. This isn’t the time or place for this little chat.” I found my ability to speak and sucked back every display of emotion that wanted to show itself. I managed to appear somewhat calm.

He scoffed and shook his head, dismissing everything I said. “I’m going home with you tonight, Ashlyn. The minute Ky called and organized this little surprise, I knew we weren’t over, and I knew you’d still want me. Third time seems to be a charm. I’m going home with my girlfriend after we enjoy the engagement party of our friends.”

He could not be serious. Had he completely forgotten the events of Sydney, and the fact that he said he wasn’t my boyfriend? I had to be dreaming, because this was some kind of messed up reality.

“You lost the right to call her that when you shoved your dick into other chick’s pussy,” Josh spat.

“Get off your fucking high horse, Josh. Everyone knows you fuck anything that breathes, so don’t stand there and try and preach to me what is right or wrong.”

“Lachlan, why exactly are you here? Did you not hear anything I said in Sydney? Have you forgotten that I didn’t answer one of your calls or reply to one of your texts?”

“I’m here to get what is mine. You always come back to me and, now that I’ve had my fun, I thought I’d come to collect. I left you once, and you came back. I fucked around behind your back both times, and you still came back to me. I’ll always own that little pussy of yours, so I’m here to claim what’s mine.”

Bile rose from the pits of my stomach. His spiteful words reopened wounds I had tried to cover with what was clearly the flimsiest of Band-Aids, because now they were gushing with fresh blood. The fact that he was so open about cheating, about having absolutely no regard for my feelings, sent tremors of unworthiness crashing through me. I hated him. I despised him. How could I have been stupid enough to allow myself to be caught up in his web of deceit?