Feel (Sovereign Book 3) by BJ Harvey Page B

Aiden had punched him, his eyes full of anger. “What the hell?”
    “I told you to stay the fuck away from her,” Aiden yelled as the rain pelted down on us. By then I was soaked through and my arms were covered in goose bumps—from both the weather and the situation I’d found myself in.
    Barrett turned his head to look at me. “Lys, I needed to see you. Last night, I—”
    “You son of a bitch!” Aiden took a threatening step toward Barrett again. I stepped between the two men and put my palms against Aiden’s chest, pushing him back. His brows furrowed, and he looked first at me, then my hands before returning his gaze to mine.
    I turned toward the windows of the building and a crowd had gathered to watch us; some held up cellphones to take photos, and others were blatantly staring. My head dropped, my cheeks burning at the spectacle we had made of ourselves. Stepping back from Aiden, I spun around to face Barrett. He stared at me, his eyes boring into mine. He went to lift his hand up to my face but stopped when I shook my head. “I can’t do this right now. I need to get out of here.”
    Barrett’s hand dropped to reach for mine. “Okay.”
    I took a step back, instinctively making a decision I didn’t realize I was ready to make. I saw the hurt in his eyes as he pulled his hand back. “Lys?” he asked roughly.
    Aiden’s hand rested at the small of my back and he sidled up beside me. “We need to go,” was all he said, his voice low and controlled, when I could tell by his expression that he was anything but.
    “You need to fuck off, Lawrence, and leave Alyssa with me.”
    “That’s the last thing I’d ever do. Never again, Lucas. Never. Fucking. Again.” Aiden grabbed my hand, turned, and walked us toward a blue Honda idling at the curb.
    He jerked the passenger door open for me, but I stopped and looked back toward Barrett. He stood there, watching me, his face tight with anger, yet he didn’t move toward me. It was as if any fight he might have had for me had gone. Part of me wished it wasn’t true; the other part of me was relieved he hadn’t fought for me. But even that thought tore through me in such a way I knew I would never recover from it.
    When I’d stood there too long, Aiden growled and gently pushed on my shoulder, which snapped me out of my daze. I sat down in the seat as the door slammed behind me, then Aiden rounded the hood of the car and dropped down jerkily behind the steering wheel before pulling out into traffic.
    Barrett’s gaze never left mine as we drove off. His body remained motionless; he never even tried to stop Aiden from taking me with him but I definitely didn’t miss the return of the war in his eyes.
    “Why are you here?” I asked Aiden but still stared in the direction of Barrett.
    “Harrison gave me a heads up that something was going down with Gavin. He tried calling you but couldn’t get through either last night or this morning. Guess I now know why,” he retorted.
    I hadn’t checked my phone since leaving Barrett’s place, it didn’t even cross my mind. I was too preoccupied with thoughts of Barrett and Aiden and the mess I’d created for myself. It also hit me that Aiden could’ve been in Seattle last night while I was with Barrett and with that, my heart sank further.
    I knew Aiden; I knew how he was. He’d come to help me, he’d taken time off work to see me—he was always helping me. As much as I wanted him, I knew then that in no way did I deserve him or his protection.
    I still felt I knew nothing about Barrett. He’d answered my questions, but I hadn’t spent enough time with him to know the man outside of a dream rooftop date and spending hours naked in his bed.
    Aiden had seen Barrett kiss me. He’d seen me melt into it as I gave in to the temptation of the man I’d been naked with just hours earlier. A man that wasn’t my long-term lover. A man that I had the feeling Aiden couldn’t stand.
    I faced the most unlikely of