Read Online Watch Me by Cynthia Eden - Free Book Online Page B

own restraining order, are you, Gwen? I guess some women just can’t stay away…”
    Chance’s hands slammed down on the bar top. “I know what you’ve done. Did you think no one would find the cameras you set up at Gwen’s place?”
    Ethan’s eyelids flickered. “Cameras?”
    “We traced the feed back here. To your place. The cops know, and they’ll be here any minute to haul your ass in to the station.” Rage growled in each word.
    Gwen inched a little closer.
    “You torched my home last night,” Chance continued, his voice sharpening even more.
    “The hell I did!”
    “The home can be replaced…but you sonofabitch…” His hands fisted on that bar top. “Gwen was inside.”
    All of the color drained from Ethan’s face. “Wh-what?”
    “She could have died!” Chance lunged across that bar, moving faster than a striking snake. He grabbed Ethan’s shirt front and jerked the guy close. “Are you just one of those sick bastards that can’t let a woman go? Would you rather see her dead than with someone else? She doesn’t want you anymore. Get it through your head. Stay the hell away from her!”
    Gwen wrapped her arms around her stomach.
    Lex was pacing near Ethan’s side. “I bet the computer equipment is in the back. This is going to be a slam dunk for the cops.”
    It looked that way.
    Ethan’s gaze cut to Gwen. “I didn’t do it.”
    Gwen’s lips parted.
    “Bullshit,” Lex threw out. “The signal tracks back to you. What? Did you get jealous ‘cause you thought Gwen was hooking up with someone else? You put a camera in her place so you could watch her. You needed to see her, right. Twenty-four, seven. You—”
    “I want to protect you,” Ethan said as he gazed at Gwen. His words were rough, raspy.
Just like the voice on the phone?
“Gwen, listen to me. You’ve got this whole thing wrong!”
    “Chance lost…” Gwen stopped and cleared her throat because her voice sounded too weak. “He lost his home, Ethan. The fire was everywhere. Why would you do that? Why?”
    Ethan jerked away from Chance’s hold. “I didn’t! Why the fuck would I want to torch this jerk’s home?”
    Lex laughed. “Because you thought the jerk in question was screwing Gwen.”
    She could feel heat staining her cheeks.
    Ethan glared at Lex. Then at Chance. “You think I didn’t know, even back then, how much you wanted her?” He shook his head. “Gwen was the blind one, not me. I could see how you looked at her. Like the lust was tearing you apart. But
I
got Gwen, not you. She would have stayed with me, if you and her dick of a father hadn’t poisoned her against me. Gwen would have stayed—”
    Chance leapt over the bar. He just cleared that thing in an instant. He grabbed Ethan and shoved the other guy into the wall of glasses to the right. Chance lifted his fist and drove it into Ethan’s face.
    “No!” Gwen screamed. Chance couldn’t do this, not again. The cops were coming. He’d get hauled to jail with Ethan. She didn’t waste time running around the long bar. Gwen climbed right over the thing. Sure, she didn’t clear it nearly as gracefully as Chance had, but Gwen managed to stumble over the thing.
    Ethan wasn’t fighting back, and Chance was gearing up for another swing.
    Lex was just watching.
No help at all!
    “No!” Gwen yelled again. She threw herself against Chance and held on tight. “Don’t do this! Let the cops take care of him!”
    Chance had busted Ethan’s lip. She could feel the fury vibrating in Chance’s body. The guy needed to back away. If he didn’t, she knew this scene was going to end badly.
    “Please, Chance,” she whispered. “Use some of that famous control of yours.”
    But Ethan laughed. “Don’t you get it, Gwen? He doesn’t have control, not when it comes to you.”
    She sucked in a sharp breath when Chance tensed. “Stop it!” Gwen ordered. And she meant that order for both Ethan and Chance. But she stared hard into Ethan’s eyes even as she