Chapter One

Jo nah seriously needed to stop dating men with a ton of insecurities. They were the worst.

That was the main reason he'd ended things with Arlo four months ago, and now it was the reason he was breaking up with Flint. If he was going to keep dating shitty guys, he needed to find ones with better… There weren't better qualities when it came to crappy boyfriends.

"I saw you and Arlo chatting outside of the building! Are you seriously going to stand there and lie to me?"

Jonah was so over the constant repetition of this argument. "Arlo and I work together, Flint. What do you want me to do, quit my job?"

"That doesn't mean you two have to look all cozy together," Flint said, as if he'd just made a point that won the argument.

Not again. Nope. Jonah was tired of repeating himself and trying to convince Flint otherwise. No matter what he said, Flint was determined to believe what he wanted. Jonah had no desire to reignite any flames with Arlo.

Not when Arlo had the same negative traits as Flint. It would be like trading in a constantly barking dog for one that never stopped whining. Flint's bark was a little snarlier, but ultimately, they were both annoying damn men.

But since Arlo had shown a willingness to put their past behind them and spend their work hours together in a cordial manner, Jonah had also made an effort to do the same. After all, who in their right mind wanted to work in a hostile environment?

Or live in one.

"We weren't being cozy," Jonah said calmly and slowly, hoping to defuse the situation. "He was telling me about his mom being on dialysis."

Although Jonah hadn't been over Arlo since the day they'd broken up, he'd always liked the guy's mom. It sucked that Winona's diabetes had caused complications with her kidneys. Jonah wanted to stop by and visit with her, but Flint might accuse him of using it as an excuse to see Arlo.

"Why do you care about her?" Flint's nostrils flared as he shouted loud enough for the people on the next block to hear. "You're not dating that dipshit anymore! Why do you care what's going on in his personal life?"

There wasn't even a trace of compassion in Flint's eyes for someone else's health struggles. Jonah couldn't even recall why he'd agreed to go on a date with him in the first place, let alone start a relationship.

"I think you need to leave." Jonah had already worked a full shift today, and he wasn't about to waste his evening with this bullshit. If Flint wanted to keep arguing, he could go home and yell in the mirror.

When he walked to the front door to open it, Flint grabbed his upper arm in a bruising hold. Jonah sucked in a sharp and swift breath, stunned the guy had laid a hand on him.

"I'm not going anywhere until we settle this. There's something off about that guy, Jonah. You need to cut ties with him."

"Are you serious right now?" Jonah struggled against Flint's grip but couldn't break free. The only person who had something off about them was Flint. "Let me go, you asshole!"

"You're playing me for a fool. I just know it." He shook Jonah around by his arm. "Tell me the truth! You're still seeing him."

"I'm not creeping behind your back!" He slugged at Flint's hand to no avail. "Let go of me. In fact, I'm not seeing anyone . We're done. Get out of my goddamn house!"

Flint shoved him against the wall, pinning him in place. His eyebrows were nothing more than angry slashes, his lips so thin they were almost non-existent. "You're dumping me so you can get back with him ."

"This is exactly why I can't do this anymore." Jonah breathed heavily as he stared up into a fiery gaze. This was the first time Flint had become physically aggressive toward him. He was a large guy, and even though he wasn't overly muscular, he was capable of inflicting serious damage if he wanted to.

"Let go of my fucking arm," Jonah gritted out, doing his best to slow his breathing.

One finger at a time, Flint released him. Jonah took a slow, cautious step back, eyeing the lamp on the end table as a potential weapon if Flint decided to grab him again.

"Stop looking at me like I'm the bad guy." His voice was calm, but simmering.

Because you are.

"Get. Out." Jonah fought to hide his trembling, unwilling to show just how badly he was shaken. Flint simply stood there clenching his jaw, nostrils flaring as though he was deciding his next move.

Suddenly, Flint deflated like a popped balloon. His tense shoulders sagged, and his features, previously set in hard lines, relaxed, but his eyes still held their icy glare. He took a small step closer to Jonah, palms raised in a peaceful gesture. "Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing left to talk about. It's over, Flint. Please leave," Jonah said quietly, but his heart hammered, the rush of blood thrashing in his ears. He wanted to glance at the lamp behind him to gauge how far away he was, but Jonah couldn't risk taking his eyes off of him.

"Try to put yourself in my shoes." Flint sounded as if he was trying to be reasonable, but there was still an edge to his voice. "How would you feel if I worked with one of my exes? You would have the same reaction, wouldn't you?"

"I would believe you if you told me nothing was going on," he answered honestly. "I certainly wouldn't have put my hands on you."

"You shouldn't have pushed me that far." Flint spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he hadn't done anything wrong. He was blaming Jonah for the argument and physical attack, as if it was all Jonah's fault for pushing him too far.

"You're blaming me for your actions?" Jonah's mouth hung slightly open.

Flint ignored his question, instead maintaining his unnervingly calm tone. "Just admit you're still screwing Arlo behind my back and we can work this out." A slight twitch started under his left eye.

That was not a good sign. It was a warning sign that he was struggling to hold back his anger, like a bomb with a dangerously short fuse.

"I'm not admitting to something that isn't true." Jonah feigned shifting his weight to his other foot, giving him the chance to inch closer to the lamp. "Your jealousy is causing you to become paranoid and fueling your irrational beliefs."

"My beliefs are not irrational!"

Jonah flinched as his muscles tensed, his breath coming out in quick bursts. All he wanted was for Flint to leave. They'd only been dating for six weeks, and four of those weeks had been filled with intense arguments about Arlo.

Jonah's honesty had backfired in a spectacular way. Only two weeks into their relationship, they'd been cuddled on the couch when the subject of exes had come up.

Flint opened up about his past with his ex-boyfriend, Shane, who would often start arguments over nothing and sometimes exploded in fits of rage. In response, Jonah mentioned that at least Flint didn't have to see his ex every day at work.

Though Jonah hadn't known it at the time, the seemingly innocent remark had been the nail in the coffin of their relationship.

At first, Flint had asked about Arlo out of "curiosity," but then he'd started showing up at Jonah's workplace after his shifts ended.

Once Flint had gotten his first glimpse of Arlo, the arguments and accusations started. That was when things should have ended between them.

Now Jonah just wanted to forget this nightmare of a relationship and move on, but Flint refused to leave.

They glanced toward blue and red lights swirling over the living room walls.

"You called the cops?" Flint gestured toward the windows.

Jonah looked at him with disbelief. "Have you seen me holding my phone or making a call this entire time?"

The doorbell rang, and Jonah began to make his way toward it, but Flint was already there. A bewildered expression snapped into place before he opened the door, as if he had suddenly been thrust into the spotlight and the performance had begun.

"Can I help you, officers?"

Now Jonah wondered if Shane had been the one who'd started arguments or if it had really been Flint.

You know damn well it wasn't the ex-boyfriend.

He took a few steps forward until he saw two deputies on his porch. The one on the right had a tag on his shirt that read "Deputy Tenshi," and his hands rested on his utility belt.

On the left stood Deputy Kingsman, his hands loose at his sides.

Despite their often intrusive nature, Jonah's neighbors may have actually saved his life tonight.

"We received a disturbance call," Deputy Tenshi said as the radio attached to his shoulder erupted with someone talking police jargon.

"A disturbance?" Flint kept up his act of innocence, sounding confused. "My boyfriend and I simply had a disagreement, but there was no reason for the neighbors to involve the police."

Deputy Tenshi focused his piercing brown gaze on Jonah, his expression revealing nothing. After an intense moment, he shifted his gaze back to Flint.

Yet, Jonah felt like Deputy Tenshi was still closely observing him.

"Mind if we come inside?" the deputy asked.

"I told you—"

"Come in," Jonah said, interrupting Flint.

Flint visibly tensed as the pair walked in. Jonah moved deeper into the living room when the entryway became crowded. He should have felt a sense of relief with a police presence in his home. Instead, Jonah kept glancing at Flint and wondering if the deputies would fall for his innocent act and leave.

If the cops left, Jonah would once again be forced to handle Flint's aggressive behavior alone.

"What are your names and socials?" Deputy Tenshi asked as he pulled a pen and small notepad from the shirt pocket of his uniform.

Jonah stared at the intricate tattoos that covered both pretty brown arms, trying his best not to be intimidated by the man's sheer size.

"Jonah Konopa." Then he gave his social security number, the deputy writing it in his notepad. Although Jonah had never been in trouble with the law, he suddenly felt a strong urge to admit to a crime he hadn't committed simply because of the intimidating presence of the officers.

What're you going to confess, that you cut the label off of your mattress?

Flint gritted his teeth as he gave his name and social. Though they had argued before—too many times to have ever considered their relationship healthy—not once had there been any indication of physical aggression until tonight.

Jonah really needed to reconsider his taste in men. Perhaps a pet was the better solution to his loneliness. At least a dog would bark at all the losers he kept attracting.

"Mind telling us what the disagreement was about?" Deputy Tenshi's question pulled Jonah from his thoughts.

"It was a private issue." Flint's voice held a sharp edge as he spoke. "We'll make sure to keep it down in the future."

What future? Even though Jonah was afraid of Flint's unpredictable temper, now more than ever, he was hanging a "closed" sign on their relationship and moving on. It was time to give Flint the boot, and not the fashionable kind.

"Why don't we talk in the kitchen." Deputy Tenshi's gaze swept the room like he was taking everything in.

At the same time, Deputy Kingsman walked outside onto the porch. Was he running background checks on them?

Jonah wasn't even sure that Flint's name would come back clean. The guy was too hostile not to have had trouble in the past.

"The kitchen is this way." Flint took a few steps before Deputy Tenshi's deep voice stopped him.

"I was referring to Mr. Konopa."

"Me?" Jonah pointed at himself.

"Yes," Deputy Tenshi said.

As if the evening wasn't already frightening, Flint gave Jonah a glare that silently warned him to stick to the story that their argument had been nothing more than a disagreement.

Screw him.

Jonah didn't owe Flint a damn thing, especially after he'd turned things physical. Jonah had an urge to give Flint the middle finger in response to his silent warning.

"This way." Jonah gestured for the deputy to follow him as he led the way through his kitchen and out into his backyard. After drawing in a deep breath of fresh air, Jonah started to feel better. "I know you said the kitchen, but Flint would have overheard us."

Deputy Tenshi nodded understandingly. "This works just as well. Can you walk me through what happened tonight?"

Jonah's gaze darted toward the back door.

"He won't come out here," the deputy reassured him.

"How can you be sure?" he asked. "Your partner is on my porch, which means he isn't watching Flint."

"Deputy Kingsman might be on your front porch, but he's also keeping an eye on your boyfriend."

" Ex -boyfriend." Jonah emphasized the word to make it clear that they were no longer together. "That's what the argument was about."

Regardless of the deputy's reassurance, Jonah couldn't rip his gaze away from the back door, afraid that Flint would make an appearance at any moment.

"He didn't take it well when you broke up with him," Deputy Tenshi surmised.

"Before tonight, I would have told you what happened right in front of him. But he…" Jonah lifted his sleeve to reveal the red outline of a large handprint that curled around his entire bicep.

"Is this the first time he's been physically aggressive with you?" The deputy's gaze lingered on the mark, a spark of anger flaring in his eyes before he masked it. That spark revealed to Jonah the deputy wasn't as emotionally detached as he seemed. That there was more to the guy than asking questions and jotting things down.

Under his stoicism was a beating heart.

"Yes, and it's the last time, too." Jonah let go of his sleeve then told the deputy what they'd been arguing about. "All I wanted him to do was leave, but he refused."

The deputy wrote in his notepad, his concentration focused.

"Does Flint live here?" Deputy Tenshi finally looked up, his voice calm yet authoritative. After the tense shouting match, the quiet way the deputy spoke helped to calm Jonah's rattled nerves.

"No, thank god." Breaking up with Flint sooner would have been the smart thing to do, but Jonah hadn't been foolish enough to ask the guy to move in after only dating for six weeks. Now, standing in his backyard, Jonah berated himself for not taking action sooner. He wasn't a confrontational type of person, yet he'd stuck with someone who grabbed the opportunity at every chance.

"This isn't your fault." Deputy Tenshi pocketed his notepad, his brown eyes growing soft, making him seem more personable and finally giving Jonah the sense of safety he'd desperately needed. "No one should have to live in fear of—"

"It's not that." Jonah rubbed his arms, wincing as his hand brushed over the tender, bruised area. "I know it's not my fault what Flint did." He looked away as shame filled him. It was an emotion he was too intimate with. "What is my fault is not seeing the warning signs before now."

For weeks, Jonah had endured Flint's relentless accusations and unwanted visits to his workplace. The arguments were like a never-ending carousel, going round and round with no possibility of reaching a compromise or resolution.

Being with Flint had felt more like a harsh prison sentence than a fulfilling relationship. The weight of their disagreements had hung over him like a thick cloud, casting a shadow over even the simplest moments together. Each day had felt like a struggle, as if he were trapped in quicksand, sinking deeper into this unhappy existence.

And the absolute kicker? Jonah had put up with all of that for someone he didn't even love.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing he had sacrificed so much for something that ultimately brought him no joy or satisfaction.

Jonah looked up when he realized Deputy Tenshi had fallen silent. Those piercing, russet-brown eyes were focused on him once again, just as they had been in the living room.

Only, this time, his gaze wasn't sweeping the room like he was taking everything in.

This time he was taking in Jonah, watching him steadily with a sort of curious regard. It was as if he was searching for something hidden within Jonah's very being.

The silence stretched on, broken only by the noise of the outside world. Already reeling from Flint's reprehensible behavior, Jonah couldn't handle the strange fluttering taking hold in his stomach, or the way his heart wobbled, or how every nerve in his body seemed to hum.

"This is your fucking fault, Jonah!"

The moment was shattered by Flint's belligerent shout, bringing Jonah crashing back to reality. He blinked several times, grounding himself in his surroundings.

What in the hell just happened between them?

Pivoting on his heel, Deputy Tenshi headed back inside. Jonah hurried behind him, trying to shake off those strange feelings as he entered the house.

When he reached the living room, his eyes widened at the scene before him. Flint's chest was pressed against the wall, his wrists handcuffed behind him. Deputy Kingsman, who towered over Flint's five-eleven height, was performing a pat down while reciting the Miranda warning.

"Happy now?" Flint snarled at Jonah. "If you'd just admitted you were screwing Arlo behind my back, none of this would've happened!"

"You must not have heard me when I said you had the right to remain silent. Do me a favor and exercise that right." Deputy Kingsman pressed his hand into the center of Flint's back then looked at his partner. "He has an outstanding warrant in a town called Maple Grove."

"What's the warrant for?" Deputy Tenshi asked.

"Assault with a deadly—"

"It was a broken beer bottle, and that asshole had it coming!" Spittle flew from Flint's mouth as his angry face flushed a deep shade of red.

"Just like I had it coming?" Jonah narrowed his eyes.

Without warning, Flint lunged sideways, snarling like a crazed animal. Jonah's heart vaulted, terrified the maniac would reach him. With lightning-fast reflexes, Deputy Kingsman swung Flint back against the wall, while Deputy Tenshi pulled Jonah behind his muscular frame with surprising speed and gentleness.

"Come after my mate again and I'll show you who's truly savage," Deputy Tenshi snarled, his voice dripping with menace and warning.

Jonah stared shockingly at the deputy's broad shoulders. His snarl sounded so realistic and deadly. This was definitely more than a spark of emotion. He should have been terrified, but Deputy Tenshi was defending him.

But what was with the "mate" reference? They weren't friends. They'd barely spoken the entire time the deputies were there.

Deputy Kingsman yanked Flint away from the wall and shoved him toward the front door, throwing over his shoulder, "Congrats, Kijani."

"You're gonna pay for this, Jonah!" Flint shouted as he was hauled outside.

As badly as Jonah had wanted Flint out of his house, this was not the way he had envisioned it happening. Hopefully, it was the last time Jonah ever saw him.