“You look like shit” is the first thing she says to me. I look down at myself as I close the door, noticing the blood on my shirt where it peeks through my leather jacket.
“It appears you’ve also had better days. What happened?” I set my helmet next to her feet and then take a seat beside her.
“What kind of doctor comes home bleeding?” She diverts my question with her own.
“The good kind.”
“Right.”
I chuckle as I grab the frozen peas from her hand. “Show me your face.”
She grumbles in complaint but lets me look at it. A faint red mark remains from where it looks like someone hit her.
“Who did this to you?” This one is trouble, but I’m still surprised by the chill of bloody murder that washes over me.
She rolls her eyes and brings the peas back to her face, essentially flipping me off without using her fingers.
“Some chick I slept with a few nights ago. To be fair, I can’t even remember her name.”
I don’t give a shit if it was a man or woman who hit her; she’s too fucking beautiful to be marred by someone else’s dirty hands. And yet, it’s her nonchalance that’s the most concerning.Maybe, like me, she enjoys the pain, and if that’s the truth, who am I to judge? But I have a suspicion that's not it.
“Who was the guy who punched you in your face? I owe him my thanks,” she quips.
I lean over, thinking of the fond memory. “I think he and I are going to be good friends, actually.” I reach for her boots that are dirtying the coffee table; they've been irritating me ever since I walked in.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She kicks at my hands, but I pin her legs and unzip the first boot.
“You might be a dirty animal, but I prefer not to live in a mess, nor will I tolerate dirty boots on the coffee table.” I refuse to live in an unclean house, even if it is this small, quirky apartment.
Her jaw drops, and she lowers the peas to her side. “This is my apartment. You haven’t even been here for a night.”
I remove the first boot and freeze when it reveals a long sock with colorful llamas all over it.Is she a child or something?I’ve never seen so much fucking color on one sock. I don’t comment, moving on to the next boot.
“This is my apartment now, too, sweetheart, so you better get used to it.”
She scoffs and stubbornly looks away with her nose pointed a little higher in the air. “I doubt you’ll last here too long.”
I find it amusing the way she speaks to me. I wonder if she would be so bold if she knew what I was capable of.
“I do like a challenge,” I purr as I remove my own shoes and jacket, studying her as I do.
She wears thick-winged eyeliner to frame her light-brown eyes. The style suits her prickly personality, which swats away anyone who tries to get close. Or maybe that cruel intention is only directed at me, which makes my cock twitch with excitement.
“Let’s be clear on some things. We’re not going to become friends. The less I see you, the better. And stop texting me,” she says as she raises one perfectly manicured fingernail at a time, listing off rules. Then she raises her pinkie. “I also don’t trust you. You’ve got fucking weirdo vibes.”
My eyebrows rise, and I can’t help but smile. Of all the ways women have reacted to me, I’ve never once received such adamant disgust. I’ve never met anyone like her.
“Are you always this hospitable?” I ask, genuinely curious if this is what she’s always been like or if it's only because of the "recent events," whatever those might be, that I overheard Ara and Lily discussing.
“Are you always this condescending?” she snaps.
“I prefer to be referred to as a shit-stirrer, and if we’re being honest, I fucking love it.”
Her gaze narrows. “I really don’t like you.”
“You seemed to like me enough to ride my cock.” Fuck, she’s beautiful, tempting even. Especially the way she glares at me with spite. My inner menace wants to drive her to craziness, and it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge.
Whatever this little vixen has gone through, it’s broken her. But this is the part I love to see the most in people—what they’re truly made of inside. Their inner animal screaming out in pain, wounded and vicious, trying to defend itself. That’s what she reminds me of. Because at its core, this is the ugly version of themselves no one wants to face.
