It was his own damn fault for trying to claim something that didn’t belong to him. The motherfucker should have paid attention to my warning signs instead of ignoring them.
Averting her gaze, she whispers, “It’s his birthday.”
With that, she climbs out.
So do I.
Rage swarms in my gut when she runs up to George, stopping him right before he gets on the bus.
“I’m so—”
“Fuck you,” George snaps, but that’s all he gets a chance to say because I shove him against the bus.
Lennon tugs on my sleeve, trying to protect him. She doesn’t comprehend that I’m doing the same for her.
“Phoenix, stop.”
Nah. If this bastard wants to take his anger out on someone, he can man the fuck up and take it out on me.
Because I know that look in his eyes. Where it can lead.
And the next time he even so much as glances in Lennon’s direction with a hint of hostility, I’ll make him swallow his goddamn teeth.
“You never stood a fucking chance with her.”
Her rejection wasn’t predictable…it was inevitable.
That’s why he’s so mad.
His jaw hardens. “What makes you so sure about that?”
He’s stupider than I thought if he thinks there was ever a contest between us.
My fingers tighten around his shirt and I look him in the eye.
I don’t need to use my fists to hit this motherfucker.
I just have to hit him with the truth.
“Because you begged her to kiss you…and she begged me to fuck her.”
Hurt flashes across his face as the stone-cold reality of the situation sinks in.
Releasing my hold, I take a step back.
As expected, he doesn’t say shit as he turns and jogs up the stairs of the bus.
Indignation crosses Lennon’s pretty features. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I pin her with a glare that makes her breath catch.
“I’m pursuing this.”
CHAPTER 48
LENNON
I’m pursuing this.
For the last forty-eight hours, those words—the very same words he told me back then—have been echoing in my head like a bad song on repeat.
The door connecting our two hotel rooms swings open and the lipstick I was applying slips out of my hand, falling to the floor.
An irritated and buck-naked Phoenix storms inside. “You weren’t in my bed when I woke up.”
Keeping my gaze trained on his face takes a startling amount of willpower.
So does not thinking about him barging into my room in the middle of the night and ripping me out of my bed…just so he could bend me over and fuck me senseless in his.
It all happened so fast I had no time to object.
At least, that’s the story I keep telling myself and I’m sticking to it.
It seriously sucks when the person you hate is also the very same person who gives you mind-blowing dick.
But hey, a girl has needs.
And right now? I need him to put some clothes on so we can leave for sound check. I’m so not in the mood to deal with Chandler’s bitching…or his bulging forehead vein.
I bend down to pick up my lipstick, permitting myself one cursory peek. Dear God. Even soft, his size is impressive.
“Get dressed. We have to be at the venue in thirty minutes.”
Turning back to the mirror, I finish applying my lipstick.
“I want you in my bed when I wake up.”
I can’t help but laugh, which causes my Ruby Woo to extend past my cupid’s bow. Damnit. “And I want world peace.” I grab a tissue from the box. “We can file both those under things that are never going to happen.”
The tight clench of his jaw tells me he’s not amused. “What part of I’m pursuing this is hard for you to understand?”
This time, the laugh that leaves me is coated with bitterness. “Those words don’t mean what you think they mean, Phoenix.”
Because when you pursue someone? You don’t invite them to your show so they can walk in on you screwing their worst enemy for the sole purpose of stealing their song.
The sex might have been fake, but the pain was real.
“I know exactly what those words mean and exactly what I meant when I said them.” He scans me from head to toe, his gaze downright penetrating. “Here’s a hint, Groupie. It also starts with the letter G.”
Sharp pain flares through my chest, singeing my lungs.
After all these years, the naive girl sitting in the passenger seat of his car handing him her beating heart finally got her answer.