Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
“Let him go right this minute,” Dylan demanded, wiggling a finger at Row. “Or I will strangle you with all the wrath of a woman who has not seen her knees in five months.”
“Ambrose!” Zeta gasped from the depths of the crowd, shouldering the throng as she made her way to us. She pushed through curious bystanders. “What in the world are you doing?”
“Making a headline we both don’t need,” Kieran answered indifferently, staring Row down.
Finally, I snapped out of the weird haze Kieran’s kiss had put me in and stood up, stepping between the two men. I blocked Row’s way to Kieran, giving his chest a push. “Don’t you dare go anywhere near him,” I seethed.
Movies and books had taught me that this was the part where Row would soften, explain himself, calm down. False advertisement. In reality, he stared at me like I had betrayed him. Up close now, I could read his face. The words written across it, in invisible scars.
Pain.
Damage.
Despair.
Distrust.
Distrust.
Distrust.
The edges of his snakeskin eyes turned scarlet, his jawline tensed, and he was panting like a wounded beast.
“Ambie?” Allison purred behind my back, brushing past me as though I were air. To her, I probably was. “Are you coming?”
But he ignored her completely, shoulder-tackling my midriff and hoisting me over his shoulder. “Privacy,” he clipped out shortly, pushing through the crowd as he made his way up the street and toward an alleyway between Dahlia’s Diner and an auto shop. “Showtime’s over.”
“Put me down before I destroy the crown jewels.” I thrust my legs desperately, trying to get to his groin while raining my fists on his back and shoulders.
“That would be on brand. You seem to destroy every other fucking thing in my life.” He put me down carefully, my back pushed against a redbrick building. His mouth was twisted into a scowl. We stared at each other, panting. I wasn’t going to say something first. Not because I didn’t have anything to say—I did, and the words were plentiful—but because I wasn’t sure if I was touched by his concern for my phobias or enraged by his uncalled-for possessiveness. My ancestors had not burned bras on the street so he could treat me like a prize he could knock over the head and drag into his cave for a good time.
“You know, it’s my fault.” He sucked his teeth.
I sighed, relieved. “Finally, we’re on the same page. If you want to remain friends, an apology would be accep—”
“I promised myself I’d never give you the pleasure of making me feel like shit again.” His nostrils flared, his words cutting me like a dagger. “Yet, here I am, doing this song and dance with you again.”
My mouth fell open. “What?”
“I let you in, and you let me down,” he gritted out. “I told you I liked you, and you’re giving me mixed signals. I told you I wanted to take you out, eat you out, and you’re friend-zoning me even though your nipples are harder than stones whenever we’re in the same zip code. I told you how I feel about Kieran, and you went and kissed the crap out of him the first time we are all together.”
“First of all, he kissed me, not vice versa. Second, I told you how I feel about her,” I hissed, my voice pained. I was glad Allison wasn’t around because I wouldn’t be able to speak freely otherwise. Pathetically, I was still scared of her.
“And I listened carefully. Stayed the hell away. If you let me explain—”
“No need to. I have eyes. You guys seemed chummy enough. A picture is worth a thousand words.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, messing it further. “Fuck, I keep making the same mistake, expecting different outcomes.”
He was being so hypocritical. We’d both confided in each other before we’d started hanging out, and we’d both kept a cordial relationship with the people who had hurt the other person. Besides, there was no symmetry between Kieran being a dickhead and Allison trying to kill me. Row was acting like some kind of saint, not a man who’d let his ex—my enemy—dry hump his leg a second ago. “Don’t try to gaslight me. I have eyes, you know. You two came here together—”
“I came here alone.” He sliced through my words. “I was planning to join you and Dylan. I was gonna ask if you wanna grab dinner afterward. At Descartes.”
“As a friend, a worker, or…?”
“As a date.” His cheeks flushed, and he looked ready to murder himself for the confession. He had been going to ask me out? Misery slammed through me. I wished things hadn’t gone so sideways tonight. The idea of doing something so normal and mundane, such as going on a date with a man without being deathly scared, appealed to me.