“You need to leave,” I say for what feels like the twentieth time.

I’m standing in the kitchen next to the drawer full of knives and Cade is on the other side of the counter. His hair is disheveled and his eyes look a little bloodshot, but the worst part is the smell. I was only with him a few months, but I quickly learned to associate the smell of booze with danger, and right now it’s wafting to me even from several feet away. I still can’t believe I thought he was handsome when we first met. But I guess I should know how even the worst men can put on a clean shirt, comb their hair, and flash a charming smile for a few hours--just long enough to lure me in.

“I’m not going to fucking leave without you,” he says.

“Yes, you are.” My voice is as slow and controlled as I can manage. It feels like I’m trying to talk down a wild animal and even the slightest provocation could be deadly. But I’m not letting him intimidate me into going with him. He’s going to find out what’s in the goddamn drawer behind me if he tries anything.

“Miley. I know I fucked up,” he says. He looks at me with a pathetic attempt at puppy-dog eyes, but to me it just looks grotesque, like some kind of monster putting on a mask--nothing in the expression is quite right, almost like it’s practiced and forced. “If you give me another chance I can be better to you.”

“Another chance?” I ask, voice breaking. The emotion that wells up so suddenly isn’t for Cade. Fuck him. It’s for all the time I’ve wasted with men like him. All the unlucky circumstances and poor decisions up until this point. Maybe it took the worst one of them all to finally wake me up and make me realize I need to change. “Another chance to kick the shit out of me? To beat me? To abuse me?”

“Careful,” he says, dropping the mask of false sorrow so that the cruelty I came to know from him is front-and-center. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, but if you’re going to be a fucking bitch, well, I know how to get you in line.”

I open the drawer behind me and yank a knife free, pointing it toward him. “I swear to God. If you come anywhere near me, I’ll do everything in my power to kill you. I swear it,” I promise.

Amusement lights his eyes. “Everything in your power? You mean jack shit?”

He takes a few slow steps around the counter, coming toward me. I sidestep, trying to use the counter to keep him as far away from me as possible as we both circle it. We change directions, and the amusement on his face turns to frustration. “You think this is a goddamn game?” He lunges forward, clearing half the counter and putting himself within grabbing distance of me and the knife.

I take a wild swing, missing his hand by inches so that the knife clinks off the countertop and sends a nasty vibration through my hand. I’m two steps toward the door to the hallway outside when someone knocks so hard on the door it sounds like thunder.

“Miley!” calls a deep voice from outside. “Are you in there? Miley!”

“Help!” I shout, but it’s all I have time to do before Cade catches me from behind, pinning my arms to my side.

With a loud crash, the door swings open, breaking off its hinges a split second later. I’ve never been as relieved to see someone in my life as I am to see Jayce push his way inside with those gray eyes somehow seeming as hot as fire.

He assesses the situation in a fraction of a second, faster than Cade’s drunken mind can apparently keep up with, and takes one long step toward me before throwing a lightning-fast punch directly into Cade’s nose.

His grip on me goes slack, letting me rush away from him and go to the wall. I turn quickly, holding my knife up in case Cade tries to come for me again. But he’s already on the ground, lifting his head dizzily and holding his bloody nose. Jayce towers over him, legs planted wide and fists clenched at his side--clearly sending the message that if Cade decides to get up again, he’ll regret it.

“You’re Cade?” he asks in a voice that sends a chill through me.

“Fuck you, asshole.” Cade’s voice is thick with what sounds like a broken nose and a mouthful of blood.

Jayce kneels beside Cade, showing no sign of fear at all. Though I guess a man like Jayce has nothing to fear from Cade. It doesn’t take much strength to abuse a woman, especially one who makes the mistake of entrusting her submission to the wrong person. I see that more clearly now that the two men are side by side. Cade looks weak, pathetic, and frail. Jayce is thick with power and confidence, making Cade look like a small boy by comparison.

“I saw what you did to her,” Jayce says. His voice is calm and frighteningly quiet. He hasn’t said a single threatening word yet, but the promise of violence is so clear in his tone that I have to fight my instincts to squeeze my eyes shut.

“I saw the bruises,” he continues. “The first I saw was here,” he says, mercilessly planting a punch to Cade’s eye. Cade’s head snaps back and bounces off the floor. He groans, pulling his hands up to cover his face.

A confusing mixture of sympathy and disgust fills me. Cade is as defenseless against Jayce as I was against him, and as much as I’ve prayed for this moment, to see him get what he deserves and more… it doesn’t feel like I thought it would. I think to how it felt to be hit like that and know I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. All I really wish is that Cade and men like him would never hurt anyone else. So how can I stand here and feel good about watching him get beat senseless?

“Jayce…” I say. “It’s enough, it’s--”

“The second was here,” says Jayce, who pulls back his leg and kicks Cade hard in the ribs.

Cade folds in on himself, squirming and groaning. I feel like I’m going to be sick.

“Jayce!” I shout, dropping the knife and running to pull back on him, to stop this before he ends up killing Cade.

Jayce turns on me suddenly, and for a moment it’s like he’s not even there--I only see wild rage in his eyes. But in a few moments, he seems to wrestle back some control, features softening as he looks me over, putting his hands to my cheeks, my shoulders, my sides--searching me for any sign of injury.

“I’m okay, Jayce. He only grabbed me.”

“You’re sure?” he asks.

“I’m sure. Thanks to you,” I say.

Jayce turns to look at Cade again, and I see some of the inhuman anger start to creep back into his features. I take him by the cheeks and turn his face to mine, standing on my tiptoes I kiss him. It’s the first thing I can think of to stop him from exacting more revenge on Cade, but even as the passion of the moment threatens to sweep me away, I know I’ve made a mistake. I can practically feel Cade’s eyes burning into us. When I pull back from the kiss, Cade has already shuffled toward the door, face bloody and hands clutching at his side.

“I’m not done,” he says before stepping over the broken door and into the hallway.

“I could kill him,” Jayce says lightly.

I look at him in disbelief until I realize he’s joking.

He flashes a half-smile back at me. “Sorry. Too soon?”

“Yes,” I say with a small laugh. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

“You didn’t show up for work. I was waiting all day for you to come, then…” He looks slightly uncomfortable for the first time since we’ve met. Jayce clears his throat before he frowns at me, clearly searching for the right way to ask a difficult question. “You and Cade,” he says finally. “Had you really ended things before last night? Before what we did?”

“Yes…” I say slowly, not understanding why he would ask me something like that. “I told you I did.”

He nods, but there’s a strange look on his face.

“Wait,” I say. “Did you talk to Kyle?” I’ve made a habit of keeping the identity of my boyfriends a secret from Kyle in the past, because he has a bad habit of making up stories to sabotage my relationships. Now, seeing the way Jayce is looking at me and the fact that he questioned what I told him last night has me wondering if Kyle is back to his old crap.

“I did.”

“Wow,” I say slowly. “What he said about you was probably a lie, too.” I’m talking more to myself at this point.

“What?” asks Jayce.

“He said you were charged with human trafficking a few years ago. He was obviously hoping it would spook me into staying away.”

“Did it?”

I tilt my head, considering. “Maybe a little,” I admit. “But I was going to ask around at work tonight. And then…”

“ “And then,” he prompts

“What did Kyle tell you?” I ask, changing the direction of our conversation.

“It’s not important. I would’ve only really believed it if I heard it from you.”

“That’s a lot of trust to put in a stranger,” I say with a small smile.

“You didn’t feel like a stranger when I was fucking that tight little pussy of yours.”

I look away guiltily. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

He steps closer, putting his hand on my arm. I hate how the simplest touch from him seems to blast away all my well-laid plans to stay away. “Whatever you need, I’ll give it. Just ask.”

I shake my head, looking down at our feet, wishing I had a magical crystal ball that tells me the right answers. Whether or not I should trust this man when every single time I’ve ever trusted a man, it’s led to me getting hurt--Kyle included. “How do I know it’ll be different?” I ask.

I think I might have to explain more, but I can see from the look on Jayce’s face that he understands. “Because you feel what I feel,” he says softly. “You do. I can see it in your eyes, princess.”

I look away, feeling like meeting his eyes for more than a few seconds is dangerous. Looking into those stormcloud gray eyes is like wading out into a riptide. Where every second I stare into them is another step deeper and deeper, until I can feel the tug of the current at my waist, threatening to pull me so deep I’ll be swept away.

Right now, that scares me more than anything. “Maybe I feel something. But I’ve trusted my feelings before, and look where that got me,” I say, motioning to the few drops of blood on the carpet where Cade was lying.

“One date,” he says. “Give me just one date. You pick the place, the time, everything. If you still feel uneasy after it’s over, then you gave it a shot and you won’t look back and ask yourself if you made a mistake passing this up.”

“Passing this up?” I ask with a grin. “Passing you up, you mean?”

He shrugs. “Sounded better my way.”

I laugh, then shake my head and sigh. “Please don’t make me regret this.”

“Not a chance, princess. Just tell me when, and you’re going to have the night of your life.”

I can’t help smiling a little, because the idea that pops into my head is too perfect to pass up.