My fingers tighten around the phone 114

Ethan’s POV
The moment I witnessed Aria and Leo kissing, something primal and violent clawed at my insides. My wolf thrashed
against its cage, demanding release, howling for blood. White-hot fury blazed through my veins like wildfire, my hands
curling into fists so tight my knuckles threatened to split the skin. I forced myself to take several deep breaths, counting
silently to keep from lunging at Leo’s throat.
I turned away abruptly, every muscle in my body rigid with the effort of restraint. One more second in that hallway and I
might have done something unforgivable.
“Ethan, wait!” Aria’s voice called after me, the sound of it both honey and poison to my ears. My wolf snarled and paced,
arguing ferociously that she was ours, had always been ours. But the rational part of me, the human side, coldly
reminded it that Aria had just made her choice perfectly clear.
By the time I reached the bottom of the stairwell, Aria was already there waiting, having taken the elevator down. Her
midnight hair cascaded over her shoulders in wild disarray, and those amber eyes that haunted my dreams burned with
an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher.
But the image of Leo’s mouth on hers flashed through my mind once more, and I clenched my jaw until it hurt, desperate
to maintain control over the beast that threatened to tear through my human skin.
“What are you doing here?” Aria demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting her chin in that defiant way that
both infuriated and captivated me. Her chest still rose and fell rapidly. Her eyes darted briefly to the side before returning
to mine with a deliberately hardened gaze.
“You haven’t answered any of my calls or messages. You’ve been avoiding me since you collapsed in my office that day.”
“And you slept with Emma,” she shot back, hurt and anger flashing in her eyes like lightning. “Which I discovered when
she answered your phone while you were still in bed together.”
I gritted my teeth, the words scraping against my throat as I forced them out. “It wasn’t like that.”
Aria gave a small shrug, feigning indifference, which only stoked my anger higher. “It’s none of my business, Ethan. What
you do in your free time is your choice. I’ve made it clear there’s nothing between us.”
“Bullshit!” I exploded, watching as Aria visibly retreated behind those walls I’d worked so hard to break down. “Stop doing
that.”
“Stop doing what?” She raised her eyebrows, her chin tilting higher in challenge, a defensive gesture I’d seen countless
times before.
“Stop pushing me away,” I rasped, desperation clawing at my chest like a living thing. “Every time we get close, you build
these walls around yourself.”
“What do you expect me to say, Ethan?” Aria sighed, the sound weary and bone-deep. She looked exhausted, dark circles
shadowing her eyes. I wanted nothing more than to pull her against my chest and promise to make it all better. But the
image of that kiss stabbed at me again, a fresh wound that made me look away. “You weren’t honest with me,” she added
quietly.
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“I have never been dishonest with you,” I growled, still unable to meet her gaze. Each breath felt like lifting a boulder, the weight on my chest growing heavier with every passing second.
“You swore nothing happened with Emma, but when I called that morning, she answered your phone from your bed,”
Aria’s voice carried a trace of hurt so subtle that anyone who didn’t know her as I did might have missed it entirely.
“I never touched her that night!” I hissed, losing my grip on my temper.
“Right, so her bragging about your wild night together was just my imagination?” she fired back, her words landing like a whip against exposed skin.
“That’s rich coming from you,” I snarled, wanting to hurt her as badly as she’d hurt me. “One minute you’re saying we’re
nothing to each other, the next you’re making out with Leo right outside your door. Or are you only with him to get back
at me? I bet Leo would love to know he’s just some revenge tool. Actually, he probably wouldn’t mind. I’m sure you could
fuck him again and again, both screaming ‘fuck Ethan’ when you come.”
My anger was so intense that my chest heaved with the effort of maintaining even a shred of control. How had we come
to this? Hurling vicious words at each other in the hallway of Aria’s apartment building. I didn’t want to wound her, but I
was drowning in my own rage and pain, incapable of doing anything else.
“That’s enough, Ethan.” Aria’s hands flew up in surrender, and for a fleeting moment, I caught the shimmer of unshed
tears in her eyes before she rapidly blinked them away. A pang of guilt shot through me, but my anger was too raw, too
consuming to allow for comfort or reason. All I could see was Leo’s mouth on hers, playing on repeat in my mind like
some twisted horror film. Despite my outburst, Aria composed herself, her voice turning icy calm: “What I do with my
personal life isn’t your concern, just as whatever you and Emma get up to isn’t mine. Though if I were in your position, I’d
consider seeing a doctor for a full screening.”
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“That’s a cheap shot, Aria.” I growled.
A smile curved her lips—cold and cruel, the kind I’d only ever seen when Emma’s name came up in conversation. Seeing
it directed at me twisted something painful in my chest. “Just looking out for your health. Everyone knows Emma’s
reputation. God knows how many Alpha sons she’s entertained before you.”
“So that’s how you see me? Just another dirty wolf who rolls around with anything available?” The last thread of my
control snapped. I was done trying to prove myself worthy of this woman who refused to truly see me. “I’ll never be good
enough for the great Aria, will I? How dare I even dream of being with someone like you? Get off your high horse, you weren’t that good in bed anyway.”
I knew I’d struck deep when her expression faltered, pain flashing across her face like lightning. But I was too wounded,
too consumed by fury to feel remorse. With a disgusted shake of my head, I turned away, desperate to escape before I
said something even more unforgivable.
“Typical,” Aria called after me, her voice low and quivering with barely contained emotion. “When things get difficult, you
just walk away.”
I pivoted back to face her, eating up the distance between us in two aggressive strides. “You’re calling ME a coward?” A
harsh, bitter laugh escaped me. “That’s the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever heard. You’ve been running from the start—
running from your feelings, running from us, running from anything that threatens that wall you’ve built around yourself.”
“You are right.”
Before I could respond, she turned and walked toward the elevator, her back straight and shoulders squared, every line of
her body radiating determination and resol