Chapter 6: Unhinged Jealousy

*Rosie Fay-Donovan*

Archie was playing with Henry, I could tell. He knew how much his presence was intimidating, frightening even. He always used that in his favor whenever he wanted something or tried to persuade someone. In this case, he was definitely trying to prove a point. To claim his spot as the alpha male. To claim me as his and no one else’s.

I should be annoyed, but I actually found it sexy.

“Archie Donovan,” Henry replied, his voice a bit shaky. But I had to give him some credit, he managed to control his nervousness almost immediately. “What a surprise indeed. I was not expecting to see you here tonight. You seemed too busy last year, so I thought Rosie would be attending alone again.”

I had no idea exactly how they knew each other, but since Henry was a famous figurehead and so was Archie, I imagined they had encountered each other in something business-related at some point in history. I never cared to ask, but now I was feeling a bit curious.

Archie knew that Henry was one of my investors, but he never said anything about it. He wouldn’t though. Henry had become my investor even before I married Archie, so he had no say in this.

Not that I would care. It was my business, and Archie had nothing to do with it. I didn’t put my nose into his stuff, so I should expect the same from him.

“Well, gladly I was able to come, so she didn’t have to attend alone,” Archie retorted. I could hear the hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Sure, sure. It is good, yes. A beautiful woman like Rosie shouldn’t be out alone, especially not looking incredible like this,” Henry complimented, flashing a smile at me.

I politely smiled back, but I felt my entire body shiver as I realized what he was doing. He was provoking Archie. He didn’t sound disrespectful or anything, but I didn’t think I would have liked to hear another woman complimenting my husband in front of me like that either.

What was Henry thinking?

Archie narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw even harder.

Henry laughed dismissively as if he hadn’t touched a sore spot. “Always good to keep an eye on what’s ours. There are sharks everywhere lately.”

“Yeah, well, I love shark meat,” Archie growled, his voice so low that I almost didn’t hear him.

If I didn’t put an end to this nonsense, who knew where these two would stop? I did not want to be the subject of gossip the next day in newspapers and blogs because of a men’s fight.

Since alcohol was involved, I thought it’d be better to just take Archie out of there before it was too late. The champagne was also clouding my judgment a bit and I was starting to have dark fantasies of Archie being possessive over me.

“If you’ll excuse me, Henry, I need to get some fresh air,” I said, smiling at Henry and grabbing Archie by the arm. I glanced at Audrey, trying to pass a message to her through my eyes, and thankfully she seemed to understand it since she nodded at me and started a conversation with Henry.

I didn’t wait to see if it worked. I pulled Archie toward the back door, using all my strength to drag him through the ballroom. He wasn’t fighting me, but he was tall and muscular, and I was tiny and weak. Even though I trained a lot and had some combat skills, I was no match for him.

We got to an empty hallway, but since this place was massive, I couldn’t find the exit to the garden. This seemed like an area that no one was using though, so it would have to do.

“What the hell were you trying to do?” I snapped, turning to look at Archie and finally releasing his arm from my grasp.

He seemed unbothered by my effort though, sticking his hands in his pants pockets and looking at me as if I was speaking another language.

“What are you talking about?”

“You were being rude to Henry, and making a scene unnecessarily,” I pointed out.

Archie barked out a laugh. “Rude? He was f*cking flirting with you in front of me. Was I supposed to do nothing?”

“He was not flirting with me. We work together, he was just being polite.”

“You don’t need to touch someone to be polite. He is lucky I didn’t cut his hand off.”

I had never seen Archie act so possessive like this before. I had no idea what got into him, but even though he was being unreasonable, I thought it was f*cking hot. But I would not allow him to do that. He shouldn’t think he could do whatever he wanted just because we were married.

“You're being dramatic. He didn’t do anything. And honestly, what if he was flirting? Would that be a big deal? It’s not like we’re really a couple, right?”

I saw Archie’s expression change drastically. He frowned, seeming to consider what I just said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked through gritted teeth.

I didn’t know what got into me, but for some reason, I felt like provoking him, making Archie see what he was doing to us. Sienna was right. It was about time I did something. I had to make him see what he was missing and that I wouldn’t be waiting for him forever.

“Well, you know what I mean. We’re married on paper, but in reality, it’s not like we owe each other anything. And you can’t expect me to be alone forever, you know? I’m a woman and I have my needs and wants just the same as you do.”

Archie took a step forward in my direction, his eyes dark and intense on my face.

“What the f*ck are you saying, Rosie?” he snarled. “Do you want him to flirt with you? Do you want me to allow that?” he basically spat the words.

“I didn’t say that, but—”

“But you thought,” Archie interrupted, taking another step toward me. “You want me to f*cking let him try his way with you?”

I was starting to get annoyed. I was supposed to tease him, not be on the other end of a confrontation. That’s not how this was supposed to go.

“Just say what you mean, Rosie.” Archie was getting closer and closer to me, and I had to take a step back so I could keep my distance from him.

“I’m just saying you can’t expect me to be like this forever. If YOU won’t touch me and make me your wife in every sense of the word, then maybe someone should,” I finally snapped, my voice going up and out of my control.

I took another step back and my body hit a hard wall behind me. I wasn’t planning on running away from our argument, but the moment Archie moved forward again and I saw myself trapped between him and the wall, I wondered if I should have escaped when I had the chance.

He lifted his arms and placed both his hands on the wall behind me, forcing me to face him, our noses almost touching.

“What did you say?” His words came out like a whisper as if he was a f*cking snake charmer. My ears rang and my vision went blurry for a moment, and I had to shake my head to come back to my senses.

“I said that if you won’t touch me and make me yours, then maybe someone should,” I repeated, my voice barely audible.

To my surprise, Archie was smirking at me and his gaze drifted to my lips for a mere second before it returned to my eyes.

“No one’s ever going to touch you but me, Rosie.”

And before I knew what was happening, Archie’s body pressed me hard against the wall and his lips passionately grabbed mine.