Page 69 of Halo

“Hey, pal—” he stumbles backward—“I don't appreciate your tone.”

“And I don't appreciate how you're talking to her. You are not going to speak to her like that.”

Declan stares at me for a moment.

Then … this asshole laughs.

He fucking laughs.

My hands ball into fists as rage clouds my vision. Whatever disdain I felt for Declan before this moment pales in comparison to the fury burning through me now.

A gentle hand presses to my back, pulling me from my haze. I spin around to find Leah standing inches away from me, tears streaming down her face. Before I can stop myself, my hand cups her cheek, my thumb brushing gently across her skin.

“Darlin’, did he hurt you?”

She catches her breath, adamantly shaking her head no.

“I think it's time you take your hands off of my wife,” Declan sneers, stepping to my side.

Wife.

I heard it the first time moments ago, but now that I'm hearing it again with Leah so close I could taste her, something in my chest cracks.

“Wife?” I search her eyes.

She quickly shakes her head. “No. He's not my husband. Not anymore.”

“The state can sign whatever papers it wants,” Declan cuts in, “but in the eyes of the Lord, she is mine.”

I turn to face him, shielding Leah with my body. “And this is how you treat someone your God gave you?”

His lips curl. “She never seems to mind how I treat her when it's just the two of us.”

“You're disgusting—”

“Says the degenerate.”

I narrow my eyes. Crossing my arms, I slowly step forward.

“What? You think I'm immune to the hospital gossip, huh?” He snickers. “The cocky hotshot. The serial flirt. The doctor with a different nurse hanging on his arm every other month.”

I don't move as he taunts.

“Are you just going to stand there—?”

“Declan—”

“Hush, Leah.” He keeps his gaze trained on me. “Nick Crawford. All bark, but no bite.”

“You haven't said one thing that isn't true,” I interrupt. “But I'd rather be a sinner than the kind of man who makes the woman he's supposed to love cry.”

He furrows his brow as a crimson hue creeps up his neck.

Before I can blink, Declan's hands slam into my chest.

“Stop it!” Leah screams.

I absorb the shove without taking a step, staring him down.