Protective Secrets (The Protective Series, Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-One

[Jarmo's P.O.V]

"What'd you do that for?!" I snapped the moment Jed left the room, angrily throwing my arms up in the air. "He's going through enough shit as it is, and here you are acting like a jerk! Real smooth move, Ascot."

He rounded on me, his face contorting into an expression of pure rage. "I didn't do anything! He just asked me a question and -

"And you snapped at him, like he was a burden!" I shouted, matching the loudness of his voice. My blood was boiling in my veins, the adrenaline pumping through my body seconds away from being physically released into a full-blown fight. "We've got enough enemies showing up out of the past without you causing any more unnecessary drama!"

"You don't even know what you're talking about!" Asko yelled in my face, standing only inches away from me. I saw spit fly from his mouth, landing on the floor beside us. "Everything was fine until you brought up Summer being my girlfriend, which she's not!"

I inhaled a deep breath to steady myself, willing my aggravation to die down a bit. If I didn't, heaven knew I was going to clock him in the face without giving a second thought to it.

"What else was I supposed to think?" I grit out through my teeth, narrowing my eyebrows at his naïve remark. "You left to go to her house the other night, and the next morning you show up with fucking hickeys all over your neck! You're just as bad as Janne was, and that's saying something!"

His fist flew through the thick air of tension between us, connecting with the edge of my jaw. Stunned from the unexpected blow, I staggered back into the door, feeling my head knock heavily against the wood. The strength behind his punch overwhelmed me. Even if I could rewind back a couple of seconds, I would still be unable to withstand such a viscous attack.

"Asshole!" I spat venomously, clenching my jaw so firmly the muscles in that area began to ache worse than they already were. My hands were already in fists by my sides, ready to return an even heavier blow, but I reeled myself in. "You really need to stop and look at yourself. You're acting like a complete stranger. The Asko I know would never raise his voice to me over something minor, nor would he hit me!"

With that, I turned around and pulled the door open, slamming it shut as I made my exit. I hoped it hurt his ears as much as his punch had hurt my jaw, which was still throbbing with pain. I needed to down a couple of pain pills. But before that, I needed to locate Jed and make sure that he was okay.

--

Taking the halls one floor at a time consumed almost two hours of my time. Eventually I found him seated at one of the booths in one of the various dining areas, staring at the bright computer screen in front of him. Long rectangular lights hung from the black ceiling, covered with matching black shades. Tiny white dots adorned the outside, creating the illusion of looking up at a starry night sky. The booths beneath curved elegantly into a semi-circle, the rich brown leather giving off a sheen of light reflected in the distance.

Jed positioned his thumb underneath his chin, his index finger resting against the side of his face. On the other side of the enlarged video stream, a young boy, no older than two, giggled and chortled at him. Realisation dawned upon me, and I knew instantly it was his son. He looked the spitting image of Jed, save for a few differences, like his platinum blonde hair and round-shaped face.

Deciding not to intrude on their conversation, I took a seat on one of the vacant couches on the perimeter of the restaurant. The others were occupied by young people, most likely exchange students, judging by the excited chatter taking place about the city and how it was different to Paris.