I wanted to punch a hole through the wall from the news. I wanted to march down to the café they were at, grab Goldie and claim her as mine, but I knew that was probably the worst idea I ever had because, not only would that be going against everything I believed in, but it would also give the fodder Rex wanted to take me down. I needed to make it seem like I didn’t care if he took Goldie, just like he took Natasha, even though it was eating me up inside.

Why did she have such an effect on me? I reached up to my desk and grabbed my bottle of bourbon. I took a long swig and sagged a little lower on the floor as my head rested against the wood of my desk.

I technically shouldn’t care. I needed to distance myself from her; she was getting too close to me. It wasn’t her fault, though, it was mine. I was the fucking moron who decided to take her out on a date. I shook my head as I realized that was my downfall. Before the date, I was able to have a tight hold on the way she made me feel. Yes, there were moments where I saw her starting to break down my façade, but I was able to rein everything back in. After the date, I lost myself completely and saw the nineteen-year-old come back. The naïve nineteen-year-old that thought all women were amazing, sensitive creatures that would never hurt me, because even though my mom was not that much a part of my life, she still loved me. I put all my faith in women and then Natasha tore that faith away with her conniving personality and ability to break someone in half without even caring.

I was a pathetic fucking sack as I sagged on my floor and drank the only thing that would remove the feelings coursing through my nerves. Fucking feelings. I didn’t do fucking feelings. I was a stoic bastard that took what I wanted, when I wanted it. I didn’t sit around acting all pussy-whipped and drinking over a girl that I barely knew.

The thing that really bothered me was I felt like I knew more about her than anyone. I had a strong pull gravitating me toward her the moment I saw her drawing my mom’s grave. I wasn’t lying when I said I thought my mom brought us together, but why she did, I had no clue. I often talked to her like Goldie talked to her parents and I told her I didn’t need anyone, that I was happier than when I was with Natasha, so why my mom thought it was necessary to bring a bold-mouthed, sassy, honey-haired girl into my life was beyond me.

Fuck. I ran my hands down my face trying to get the image of Goldie out of my head that I just conjured up. She really was so sassy, so incredibly soft and her eyes, fuck, they spoke a million words when you just looked at them. She was audacious; funny…God was she funny and sexier than any other woman I had seen naked. The only thing wrong with her was she wanted something I couldn’t give her, that I wouldn’t give her, a relationship. It was written all over her face.

The door to my office crashed open as Kace stood in the doorway with his chest heaving. The minute his eyes connected with mine, I realized that he was about to kill and I was his prey. Fuck.

He charged toward me and grabbed me with both hands by my open shirt and tossed me on my desk.

“What the fuck are you thinking? You’re just going to let her go?”

A maniacal laugh came out of my mouth as I took another sip from my glass bottle. “This coming from the person who didn’t want her here in the first place.”

Kace ripped the bottle out of my hands and threw it against the wall, making a loud crash and a wet mess. My wall had been taking a beating lately. Golden liquid slid down my wall as anger raged through my body. Not even knowing what I was doing, my body slammed into Kace’s and took him down to the floor. We scrambled on the floor as we threw cheap shots at each other. The fact that I was fighting with an ex-professional boxer who had the ability to kill a man with one punch should have shown me that I was pretty drunk, but I didn’t care. It felt good; the blows Kace was giving me took away the other pain that was radiating through my body.

We rolled on the floor and I wound up on top of Kace, giving me the chance to throw a punch to his jaw, which he wasn’t able to block. The crunch of my fist to his jaw was a welcome sensation. Kace’s face barely flinched and his fist made contact with my face shortly after. My head flew back, giving Kace the opportunity to struggle free. He stood and hovered over me as I looked up at him, pressing my palm against my now-bloody mouth.

“You feel better, dickhead? Is your rich, pitiful ass trying to prove something? That you’re a match for me? Keep wishing; I could destroy you if I wanted to.”

I stood up and got right in Kace’s face as I said, “It’s funny how fast you can forget that I hold the keys to your future. If anyone can destroy someone in this room, it’s me. So watch your fucking mouth.”

“What’s this really about, Jett? You really going to let Goldie run off to Rex? Just like Natasha?”

I felt my jaw clench down at Kace’s low blow. The urge to drive my fist through his smug face was overwhelming, but reason won over, knowing my bloody fist was not going to solve anything.

Instead, I turned around and said, “Get out. Make sure she gets home safely…wherever that is.”

“So that’s it, you’re just going to let her go because you are too damn stubborn to let yourself see what you have together?”

“And what is that exactly?” I asked, as I turned around to face him.

“Fuck if I know, but what I do know is that you’re a different man when she’s around. You care for her and if you care for her, then why the hell are you going to let her walk away, especially walk to Rex? You know he won’t treat her well. He’ll only wind up using her until he’s done and then toss her away like every other woman that’s graced his sorry dick.”

I didn’t answer Kace. I just looked at the ground, trying to not push the man out of my office with all the pent-up force in my body.

“What did you say to her that made her storm out of here and straight to her room?”

“It’s none of your damn business.”

“Fuck, man, when are you going to realize the fact that, for some unknown reason, I care about you? That I actually do give a fuck what happens to you? You can be such a stubborn asshat sometimes. Fuck!” Kace dragged out as his hands ran through his hair and he turned around, not being able to look at me.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I spoke up, “I can’t give her what she wants. I told her I didn’t want her here and I didn’t deny her claims of bringing her here to get back at Rex.”

Kace spun around and looked me dead in the eyes. His arms dropped to his sides as he tried to figure out what was wrong with me.

“Dude, I know I gave you a hard time at first for bringing her here for all the wrong reasons, but that was until I heard the real reason. Why didn’t you tell her about the cemetery?”

“I fucking did!” My temper rose. “I fucking told her in the cemetery, but then she went off to talk to Rex and…I just lost it when she questioned me and believed him. If she wasn’t going to believe me then, she sure as hell wasn’t going to believe me now, after she spoke to Rex. It’s just better this way.”

“Better for you or better for her? Because, from where I stand, you’re a narcissistic ass who is pushing away an amazing girl because she broke your walls down. She made you actually question your life and brought you a glimpse of true happiness for brief moment in time. She’s scared you and instead of tossing away the vagina you have under your pants, you have hung your balls up for life and refuse to give her the chance she deserves. Give yourself a chance to be happy. She was doing well here, Jett. She was harmonizing well with the girls, she was a member favorite and she was actually getting her shit together. Now that you are sending her away, what does that mean for her future? She doesn’t have enough money to do anything. It will last her a couple of months, but what does she do after that? Go back to Kitten’s Castle, get paid for sex and hope to make her payments every month? You can’t fucking do that to her, not because she felt for you, because she actually turned metal-molded you into a human again. She doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment and, to be honest, it goes against everything you believe in when it comes to the Lafayette Club. Yes, you might not want a relationship, but you can’t turn her away now, not when she was ready to become a Jett Girl. You owe her more than that.”