Declare (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #4) by Michelle Irwin Page A

Alyssa and Hunter having a cosy little chat, face-to-face alone in the fucking dark.
    “Declan?” Alyssa asked, sounding surprised.
    “Who else would it be, Lys?” I couldn’t stop the anger that infused my voice.
    “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone, shall I?” Hunter said, not even attempting to mask his sarcasm. He touched Alyssa’s shoulder, and whispered, “I’ll talk to you later.” The innuendo he managed to squeeze into those five words stuck in my craw.
    I growled at him, conveying that Alyssa was mine and I was not to be fucked with. I didn’t care what the hell Danny said about being a team and my neck being on the line; if Hunter laid even one finger on Alyssa again, I would break it off. Fucking gladly.
    She stood quickly and skipped over to me. “What’s the mat—” She cut herself off. “God, Dec, how much have you had to drink?”
    I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is you going off into a fucking secluded area with a man who wants nothing more than to devour you.”
    “Please,” Alyssa snapped, the sarcastic tone in her voice clear and undisguised. “We were talking, that’s all.”
    “Don’t be so fucking naive, Lys.”
    “Naive?” She raised her eyebrow. “You think I’m naive?”
    “Yeah, I do. Especially if you think Hunter wanted to do anything other than to corner you in a dark place and fuck you stupid.”
    She stepped back from me. “How stupid do you think I am, Dec?” she spat before turning away.
    I reached out for her arm just before she disappeared, grabbing hold so she didn’t walk away. I didn’t want a repeat of New Year’s. “Alyssa, wait!”
    “Why?”
    “Because . . . I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”
    She stopped.
    “But I do know that he just wanted to bend you over and screw you.”
    “Oh, you read minds, do you?” The bitter tone in her voice was hard to ignore, and ignited its counterpart in me.
    “No, of course not,” I snapped back. “But I know the look in his eye and the tone in his voice. He’s scum, Lys.”
    “And how would you know that, Dec?” she asked.
    “Because I used to have the same look in my eye and the same tone in my voice. I used to be scum, until I found you again.”
    She huffed but didn’t say anything else.
    “Lys,” I said, trying to fill my voice with a calm that I didn’t feel. I still wanted to go track Hunter down and give him a blow-by-blow on what would happen should he come near Alyssa again, but I needed to fix things first. “I’m sorry. This is supposed to be a party. Can we just forget it and have a good time?” Thinking of having fun reminded me of the missing person in our little party of three. “Where’s Phoebe?” I asked, knowing Alyssa wouldn’t have just left her alone or with anyone she didn’t know.
    Alyssa gave a heavy sigh, turned on the spot, and walked off without another word. The set of her jaw and her heavy breathing were like a neon warning sign that I’d overstepped the mark and made her mad.
    No, she was more than mad; she was fucking pissed off.
    She grabbed something off a small plastic table beside the banana lounge and began to stalk off. I followed her instinctively.
    “Alyssa? What the fuck is wrong?” I demanded when she refused to acknowledge me behind her as she walked toward the house.
    She whirled on me. “I really shouldn’t have to explain it to you!”
    I laughed disbelievingly. “Didn’t we just fucking work out that I’m not actually able to read minds?”
    She sighed. “It’s nothing.” She turned and started walking again.
    “No, fuck that.” I reached for her arm. “I know it’s not nothing. So spit it out.”
    When she turned back to me, tears filled her eyes. The sight left me instantly disarmed.
    “I came here to support you today, because I wanted to show everyone that we’re a family. That we’re strong. A united front.”
    “Yeah, and I appreciate that,” I whispered, pulling her in to