RYKER
I was moving before the chair hit the floor.
My arm went across Rowan's chest a half second before he cleared the table and I planted both feet and used my full weight because Rowan had stopped thinking and a Rowan who had stopped thinking was not a small problem. I had eight inches of reach on Cole and Rowan had twenty years of controlled fury that had just found somewhere to go and none of that was going to end well for anyone in this room if I did not stay exactly where I was.
"Rowan."
"Get out of my way."
"No."
He pushed against my arm. I did not move. We had done versions of this our whole lives, him pulling me back from something, me pulling him back from something else, and neither of us had ever loved it and neither of us had ever stopped because it was the only system we had and it had worked so far.
"Rowan." I kept my voice level. "Stop."
"He knew." His jaw was tight enough to crack something. "He sat at my table for four years and he knew."
"I am aware."
