Chapter 123: Chapter 123
Elias threw the cigarette between his fingers and crushed it beneath his shoe when he saw Amara walking out of the club with a strange guy.
The smoke still lingered in his lungs, but suddenly it felt bitter. He stood straighter, and every muscle in him tightened as his eyes locked on her.
She was laughing. She was actually laughing.
It wasn’t the polite laugh she used to mask discomfort, and it was not the short chuckle she offered to people she didn’t trust. No, this was different.
Her shoulders shook slightly, and she threw her head back, laughing like a little kid. The sound went around, even across the dim-lit street where he stood parked.
Elias swallowed, a sour taste coating his mouth.
Distantly, he followed them. His car trailed hers. He dimmed his headlights, shadowing each of her turns. His jaw clenched tighter with every block she drove past.
The stranger in her passenger seat sat too comfortably for Elias’ liking. They finally arrived at her place. He killed the engine and watched.
From his car, he saw her get out, her dress clinging to her frame as the night breeze swept over her. The man was out before she even shut her door, circling around to her side like he belonged there.
She giggled in his arms. Giggled. And then let him walk her to her doorpost. It looked so natural.
Elias’ grip on the steering wheel tightened until the leather creaked beneath his palm.
The man said something low that made her laugh again, that made her actually tilt her head against his shoulder for a second before she straightened and opened the door. She slipped inside first. The man followed. Still laughing
What the hell were they talking about?
Elias leaned back against his seat, his eyes squinting, as he tried to piece together a narrative that didn’t set his blood on fire.
"This might be a long-time colleague," he muttered to himself, voice flat. "Nothing more."
The words tasted false and so out of place the second they left his lips. He could swear they sounded better in his head.
She was a bit too herself. She was too natural tonight. Amara wasn’t a woman who let her walls down quickly. Certainly not with strangers she’d met at a club.
Elias glanced at his watch. Five minutes passed. His jaw clenched, and he waited. He glanced again, and ten minutes had passed.
His chest grew heavier with each tick of his second hand. The air in his car felt suffocating. His vision blurred slightly at the edges, a haze of heat prickling at the base of his neck.
Before he could stop himself, and before he could remind himself that this was none of his business, that she was none of his business, he was already out of the car.
His strides carried him forward, long and sharp, until he was at her door. His knuckles rapped hard against the wood, quick, and impatient.
He swallowed, trying to calm the storm that had risen too fast inside him. He was trying to mask the pure fucking haste that burned through his veins.
If that man was a one-night stand... if she had let him in to touch her, to taste her, and to lay claim to what Elias had convinced himself was off-limits but his all the same.....
He’d rip him apart.
This was no longer about the assignment. This was no longer professional. This wss fucking personal.
She was his.
His jaw flexed. His pulse pounded. No one got to fuck her. Not until he left. Not until his duty was over.
His first three knocks went unanswered.
His shoulder leaned forward, body braced, and ready to break the door down without hesitation, when the knob twisted.
Amara appeared.
She blinked, stunned. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. Her brows furrowed almost immediately. Suspicion darkened her expression.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she demanded.
The door wasn’t open fully. It was just enough to show herself while her body blocked the gap.
"I needed to see you," Elias murmured, a bit calm, seeing her still intact, with her clothes on.
Her eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms over her chest, her bare skin glowing in the faint hallway light. She leaned against the doorframe, her body language sharp and closed off.
He clenched his fist. She was smiling with that man just now, and now, she was acting closed off with him. The fuck!
"You saw me just yesterday."
Elias clenched his jaw. He could feel it. He felt the shift in the air, and the faint scent of another man lingering inside. His every nerve screamed to see him, to see what exactly was happening beyond that threshold.
"I texted but you never replied," he said, his voice lower, and harsher than he intended. "It’s a full day now. I need to make sure you’re okay."
Amara sighed, tilting her head slightly. Her eyes narrowed with a mix of irritation and curiosity. She dropped her arms and gestured vaguely at herself.
"Now you’ve seen," she said flatly. "I’m fine."
Silence stretched between them, sharp and tense. Elias didn’t move. He didn’t blink.
Her brow arched when he still didn’t leave.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, forcing himself to breathe. Just as he opened his mouth, and was about to ask the question that clawed at his throat, Who’s inside with you?, a loud crash split the air.
A vase.
His head snapped toward the sound.
"Are you with someone?" Elias asked quickly, feigning ignorance, as if he hadn’t already followed her here, as if he hadn’t already seen.
Amara rolled her eyes. "Yes. Now, if you’d excuse—"
She didn’t finish. That was all he needed. He needed an unconscious permission from her to send that fuker away.
Elias pushed past her. The push wasn’t rough, but firm. No hesitation.
Her mouth fell open, stunned. "Elias!!!"
But he wasn’t listening. His eyes swept her living room.
And then he saw him.
The man sat shirtless on her couch, his body angled casually, and his smirk still visible before he realized he wasn’t alone anymore.
Elias’ vision narrowed. His blood roared.
"Get out," Elias said, his voice lethal.
The man blinked. "What?" he scoffed.
Amara’s voice rose in tandem. "What?"
"I said," Elias repeated, his voice sharper, colder, and darker, "get. Out. NOW."
The man sat up quickly, sensing the danger in Elias’ tone, the violence coiled beneath his calm. He opened his mouth as if to argue, but then stopped. The look in Elias’ eyes wasn’t one to test.
He stood, pulling on his shirt slowly, glaring between Amara and Elias.
"What a shame," the man spat bitterly. His lips curled in a sneer as he looked at her. "I would’ve fucked you extremely hard. The way no one ever has."
Amara’s expression tightened, but before she could retort, he moved toward her.
As he passed, he shoved her shoulder roughly. She winced, stepping back instinctively.
That was all Elias needed to see.
His body moved before he thought. His hand fisted the man’s collar, slamming him hard against the wall. The impact echoed through the apartment.
Elias’ fist followed, slamming brutally across the man’s jaw. Blood sprayed instantly, and the man coughed out with a choked grunt.
"Elias!!" Amara’s voice cut through the haze, sharp and panicked. "Elias, what’s wrong with you?"
He didn’t answer. He wanted to hit the man again but in respect to her and her space, he stopped.
He swallowed hard, his chest heaving as he dragged the man by his shirt, yanked the door open, and shoved him out with a final brutal force. The man stumbled, nearly falling, before scrambling to his feet.
Elias slammed the door behind him, discarding the man like trash.