Lazarus gave her a toothy grin. “Damn straight. I fuck like a demon as well.”
“That’s a little too much information—” before she could finish her sentence, there was a meaty thud that put Lazarus on his back with a face full of blood.
Gideon stood over him, looking so magnificent that it took her breath away. His chest heaved, his eyes blazed, his hands were fisted at his sides. All of his focus was on the vampire that lay on the ground.
“What the fuck?” Lazarus spat out a mouth full of blood. He stayed on his back, his own eyes burning just as fiercely. “Gideon?” He sounded shocked and even blinked his eyes a few times.
Gideon made a loud growling noise, his lip curled away from his teeth exposing long, sharp fangs. A shiver ran up her spine. Gideon cursed loudly, then he turned and stalked away.
Although everyone at the table watched him go, as soon as the door closed, the focus turned to Lazarus.
“What did you do?” One of the males asked.
“It must have been bad.” Another chuckled.
“Fuck if I know.” Lazarus responded as he pulled himself into a sitting position.
Jenna grabbed her purse and quickly made for the exit. No one would think for one second that she was going after Gideon. They would assume that she was shaken and that she had decided to return to her suite. Then again, they probably wouldn’t even notice at all. She closed the door behind her.
Jenna caught a glimpse of him as he rounded the corner up ahead. She was tempted to shout after him but didn’t want to garner any attention. Maybe she had it all wrong, but she was pretty sure he had acted that way out of jealousy. Why else? If he was jealous, then she had a chance to make him understand.
She broke out into a jog and crashed straight into him as she rounded the corner. He was on his way back. Gideon put his hands out and grabbed onto her waist so that she didn’t fall onto her ass.
She made a little gasping noise.
“What the hell?” he growled.
Held in his tight grip, staring into his blazing eyes, she felt herself panic and scrambled to get away.
“Jenna.” His voice was pleading and his eyes were filled with concern. Thankfully, she felt the fear melt away as he said her name.
Jenna sucked in a deep breath. “I…” She didn’t quite know what to say. “Why did you turn around?”
His jaw tightened. “I wanted to apologize to Lazarus. It’s not what you think.”
As in, he wasn’t jealous. Like hell. She pursed her lips together and nodded. “If you say so. I’m glad that you are going to apologize. That was uncalled for.”
He breathed out heavily, seeming to notice for the first time that he still held her hips with both his hands and he released her, running a hand through his hair. “It had nothing to do with you.” His jaw ticked and he glanced away for a second as he spoke.
A little snorting sound escaped her. “I know when you’re hiding something. You forget that I know you, Gideon.”
His eyes hardened. “Just because we fucked a few times doesn’t mean you know me.” He spoke under his breath.
Arrow to the heart. It stung. He’d said it to hurt her and had succeeded. “It was more than that and you know it.”
He shook his head. “You were mated to someone else at the time. It meant sweet fuck all in the end.”
“Say what you want. Paint it any way you want. It won’t erase the fact that you declared your undying love to me and I did the same right back. I meant every word, Gideon.” Her voice sounded shrill and she was speaking too quickly.
He folded his arms across his chest. “You lied about everything, so your declaration of love didn’t mean much to me.”
“I may have omitted a few truths early on but I told you everything in the end—”
“You lied when it counted…you let me fall for an already mated female.” His nostrils flared with each breath that he took. Pain clouded his beautiful eyes. Another well placed arrow to her already leaky heart. “That wasn’t the worst of it though. It took a while for me to come to terms with it…to realize that I couldn’t live without you…I tried so hard to deny my feelings.” He shook his head. “I should’ve fucking tried harder.” He mumbled, almost to himself.
What was he saying?
Jenna had to squeeze her lips together to prevent herself from asking at least a half a dozen questions that rose up in her mind.
Gideon clasped his hand to the back of his neck. “It was nine months after I left—”
Jenna felt like covering her ears. She didn’t want to hear the rest. She could guess what he was about to say. Prayed that she was wrong.