“You’re a little bitch!” he spat, his face radiating anger. He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me to stop. I flinched, thinking he was going to strike me. I held my breath, readying myself for the blow. Before anything happened, Ashton gripped his shoulders and yanked him away from me, slamming him against the car, making a huge crash echo in the empty parking lot. I whimpered and looked at the scene, shocked.

Ashton’s jaw was tight as he stepped closer to Dean. “You don’t ever touch her again! I don’t care who you are, I will put you down if you even look at her harshly again. You got that, Agent Michaels?” Ashton’s voice rang with authority and menace. Dean nodded quickly, his mouth popping open in shock. Ashton shoved him away, making Dean stumble and almost fall. “Go. I’ll ride with Anna,” Ashton ordered. He turned back and waved his hand for me to get into the car, but I couldn’t move, my body was frozen on the spot. “Anna, get in the car,” he said softly, taking the keys from my hand and opening the passenger door. That snapped me out of it and I climbed in quickly, looking down at my lap.

From the corner of my eye, I watched him walk to the driver’s side; he looked like he was trying to calm himself. I needed to say something to him, what he just did was so sweet and protective. Dean wouldn’t have hurt me, but Ashton hadn’t hesitated for a second in protecting me.

I waited for him to climb in and buckle his seatbelt before I spoke. He didn’t even glance at me as he started the engine. “Thank you,” I mumbled, still not able to look at him. I needed to stay strong, and his eyes wouldn’t let me do that.

“You don’t need to thank me, it’s my job,” he replied sarcastically. I cringed at the tone of his voice; he was obviously annoyed that I’d suggested I’d get him fired. I felt like a first class bitch. He hadn’t done anything wrong at all – it was my fault that I cheated on Jack, not his.

He put the car into drive and he didn’t speak to me again. In fact, he didn’t even glance in my direction, but I couldn’t help stealing little glances at him from the corner of my eye as he drove. He looked so handsome in his blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up at the elbows; blue worked really nicely with his skin tone. I bit my lip and ripped my eyes away from him to watch the road, hating that I’d noticed.

We finally pulled up at the house after what seemed like a week of driving in an uncomfortable silence. I grabbed the door handle, but the ominous click of the lock told me I wasn’t going anywhere until he’d said his piece. If anyone else had trapped me in a car with them, I would be totally freaking out, but deep down I knew he wouldn’t physically hurt me. Mentally he would probably hurt me a lot when I agonised over what we’d done and how he’d somehow made me open myself up to him.

“Open the doors,” I instructed, focusing my gaze on the house, wishing I could get inside and away from him.

“I just need to say something first, and I need you to look at me so you know I’m serious,” he replied flatly.

I didn’t want to look at him; I hated to see that hurt expression on his handsome face. I knew I had to do it though; he obviously wasn’t going to let me go until I’d been reprimanded for sneaking off without guards. I willed myself to stay strong and turned to look at him, avoiding his eyes and looking at the spot just below his eyes instead.

“I know you were upset, but you will not leave without me again. If you don’t take me, you take someone else, but you do not go out on your own again. Do you understand me, Miss Spencer?” he asked angrily.

I recoiled at the use of my name. Somehow, him using my title like that showed me how angry he was with me. I should have been glad. If I’d annoyed anyone else as much as I appeared to have annoyed him, I would think that a successful morning, but with Ashton it actually pained me to know that he was upset with me. Irrational anger was building in the pit of my stomach because I couldn’t seem to treat him the way I treated everyone else.

“Is that understood?” His voice was hard and authoritative as he prompted me for an answer.

“Yes. Now open the door,” I snapped.

His gaze held mine for another couple of seconds before he flicked the lock button, dismissing me. I frowned and pushed the door open, ignoring Dean watching me from the other car. I turned on my heel and ran into the house, needing to get away from everything and everyone. My thoughts turned to the gym. I didn’t even bother changing into my workout clothes before heading in there to try and work out some of the frustration that was crushing me inside.

Needing to do more than run today, I put on the training gloves and went straight to work on the punch bag, hitting and kicking it until my fingers arched. Spent and exhausted, I stepped back, putting my hands on my knees as I caught my breath. Sweat trickled down my back, and I silently wished I’d stopped to get a bottle of water before coming in here.

“I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that anger.”

I twisted on the spot, gasping because I hadn’t heard anyone come in. Ashton was leaning casually against the wall, watching me. “What the hell do you want?” I asked, frowning. Why can’t he just leave me alone?

“Want to go for that walk now?” he offered, raising one eyebrow.

Is he kidding me? I told him to stay away from me! “No thanks. Want to train me how to fight?” I countered, shrugging.

He sighed and nodded, kicking off his shoes and walking over to the mats. He pulled his shirt over his head and a wave of desire shot straight through my body. I bit back my moan of desire as memories of this morning flooded my brain. I kicked off my shoes and socks and followed him, pulling off the gloves and tossing them in the corner.