I growled at him. “I’m not just sleeping with her, fuckface. We’re actually dating.” I glanced toward Caroline, who was covering her mouth with both hands and watching us from worried eyes. “We have been for a couple months.”
“Dating? Are you kidding me?” Noel turned his attention to Caroline, too. “How many dates has he taken you on?”
She blinked at him, obviously not understanding. “What?”
He rolled out his hand, encouraging her to talk. “How many times has he taken you out to eat? To the movies? Dancing?”
“That’s not fair.” I shifted toward him, balling my hands into fists. “We couldn’t do any of that shit because of you.”
“Yeah. Whatever. The truth is you’re no better than Sander Scotini.”
Oh, that fucker. He just had to go there, didn’t he?
Rage flooded my veins. But what hurt more than hearing he thought I belonged anywhere in the same category as that worthless pussy was that I agreed with him. I hadn’t been fair to Caroline. I’d hidden our relationship in fear of the consequences, in fear of Noel finding out. I’d been just as big of a pussy.
But I pushed all my blame on Gamble.
“You bastard,” I roared right before I charged.
Hamilton wrapped an arm around me from behind and picked me up off my feet, while Hart, Pick and Lowe regathered their efforts to keep Gamble at bay.
Still pissed as hell, I struggled in my roommate’s impenetrable hold. “Take that back! I’m nothing like that piece of shit. I actually love her. And the only reason I didn’t tell you sooner was to protect her, because I knew you’d fucking overreact, and she’d get hurt. I mean, fuck! Just look at her.”
I didn’t know she’d started to sob, but I could feel it in my bones. And yep, when I glanced over and pointed a finger in her direction, the tears were streaming down her face as she clutched Blondie for dear life. It tore a hole through me.
“Damn it,” I rasped, my voice breaking. “We’re making her cry.”
“Noel,” she sobbed. “Please.” The pain in her eyes killed me. I just wanted to strangle Gamble and make him see reason.
He squeezed his eyes closed as if trying to block out the effect her pleading had on him. Then he gritted his teeth and shook his head.