Her jaw drops, and she glares at me as though she’s about to tear me a new one. I wish she would. I wish she’d rage at me. Throw a goddamn plate at my head or something, because all this tension is too fucking much.
She doesn’t though. She wipes the tears from her cheeks and stands straight, shoulders rolled back and chin lifted. “You’re right, West, I guess we never will.” Then she walks out of the kitchen.
I ignore Xander and Zeke’s fierce glares and drop my face into my hands.
“You fucking asshole,” Xander yells.
Zeke remains quiet, but I feel the anger and frustration pouring from both of them. It’s inescapable. And I don’t blame them. I am a fucking asshole.
“Go fix it, West,” Zeke says quietly.
With a heavy sigh, I push back my stool and head off to stop our girl from running away. Blood thunders in my ears. She’s not leaving ever again. If necessary, I will tie her to her fucking bed.
Chapter
Fifty-Seven
LILY
I feel his presence in the room without needing to turn around and see him. My skin bristles with anger and nervous anticipation. I’ve spent the last two minutes throwing my things into my bag and telling myself I never should have come back here. But that’s not entirely true. I needed closure. Without it, I have zero hope of moving on with my life.
I laugh even though I feel like crying. Seems I’m still lying to myself. Because that’s not why I came back here at all. I swallow down a sob and spin around to face my personal demon, my lip curled in a sneer. “You come to make sure I don’t steal anything on my way out?”
He kicks the door closed and stalks toward the bed. “No, because you’re not going anywhere, princess.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He steps closer, and now we’re only inches apart. Heat from his body warms my skin, and my knees tremble. My head spins. I haven’t been this close to him since … I can’t think about that now.
“You think you can stop me from leaving?”
He tucks my hair behind my ear, then slowly trails his fingertips down my neck, and my mind is overwhelmed with memories of his hands on me. Heat coils in my center. “Oh, I know I can,” he replies with an arrogant smirk.
I jerk away from his touch, but that only makes him step even closer than before. “You’re a conceited douchebag.” I blush at the tremor in my voice.
He shrugs. He is such an asshole. “Maybe I am, princess. But I let you go once, and it will never happen again.”
I snatch my bag from the bed and hoist it over my shoulder. “Pity you don’t get a choice, jackass.”
He dips his nose to my neck and inhales deeply. Like an animal savoring his prey before he devours it. A shiver runs the length of my spine. “I will cuff you to my fucking bed if I have to, Lily, and there’s not a thing anyone can do to stop me.”
Holy fucknuggets. I need to get out of this room. “You’re insane.” Scoffing, I try to push past him, but he remains standing in front of me like an immovable wall of muscle and arrogance.
He grabs my wrist and yanks me forward until our bodies are flush. “Yeah, I am, but only because I almost ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “If you’re talking about us, there’s no almost about it. You did ruin it, numbnuts.”
Those sinfully dangerous lips inch closer, and my traitorous body trembles for him. “So why did you come back here tonight?”
I suck in a shaky breath. “B-because Zeke … he made me.”
“No.” He stares into my eyes—into my goddamn soul—and shakes his head.
“Y-yes.”
His hand slides to the nape of my neck. “You came back here because you know that what we have is worth saving.”
I open my mouth, but no words come out. I need to get out of here. Away from his hypnotic eyes and far away from the tantalizing erection currently pressed against my abdomen. That thing makes me lose at least a hundred IQ points.
“I could drop to my knees right now and tell you how sorry I am, princess …”
He damn well should. It’s the least he could do. “But?”
He grins wickedly. “I’ve already told you many, many times how sorry I am, so now I’m going to show you.”
What an arrogant jerkwad. “The hell you are.”
“Yeah, the hell I am. But don’t worry, I’ll still be on my knees.”
Is he suggesting … I shake my head. “N-no, West.” My legs tremble harder than my voice.