The way his mouth dropped open, he believed me. That was little comfort since I hadn’t shared that with anybody - not even Simone or Jasmine, my two closest friends.
While Brantley stood there staring at me, it registered too late that the bathroom door had opened during our argument.
“You got two seconds to leave the damned key and get the fuck out,” Rafferty growled from behind me.
Brantley’s gaze shifted to Rafferty. “I’ll leave, but I’m keeping the key, asshole.”
Rafferty stepped forward, but I put a hand on his forearm. “It’s fine, Tee.”
That earned me a fierce dose of side-eye. It was worth it since it gave Brantley time to hustle out of the apartment, and I didn’t want to spend another minute around him.
The moment the knob clicked, Rafferty faced me and crossed his arms on his chest. “Woman, he can’t have a key to your unit. There’s no fuckin’ telling what he might do.”
I held up my hands. “Don’t call me ‘woman’ since I know what that means in your world, and I’mnotyour woman. And just so you—”
My words were cut short when suddenly Rafferty grabbed my shoulders, guided me to the couch, and sat us both down. “Get this through your head,woman. You’re as much mine as I am yours - it’s been that way for years.”
For a moment, I twisted my head to the side and stared up at the ceiling. “You’ve got to be kidding.Nowyou decide we’re meant for each other or something? Even ifI ignore what happened between us back in school, this will never work. I’ve got another two years of dental school, and you’ve got another eight or nine months of prospecting with the Riot.”
Rafferty tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. It gave me time to admire his thick dark hair, full beard, and the column of his throat leading to those strong, broad shoulders.
And the ink peeking out of the collar of his t-shirt.
Rafferty righted his head and leaned forward so an inch separated our noses. “Your locks have to be changed. Now that I’ve met him, I trust that asshole even less than you do.”
He didn’t address how we wouldn’t work out, and I let that go, shooting him a coy smile. “Of course, I have to change the locks. Luckily, Dad insisted I keep a spare set of locks he had, so once I grab a screwdriver and get to work, I’m all set.”
It wasn’t until his hands slid up to my jaw that I realized Raff hadn’t let go of my shoulders. Our eyes locked. As though his eyes had a direct line to my body, a tendril of warmth skated through my torso, slow and easy.
“God, I almost forgot how damn independent you are. Please tell me that you lied to him.”
My brows drew together. “About what?”
His hold on my jaw loosened while his eyes gleamed with seriousness. “Alexandra. Did you lie to him just now?”
Understanding rolled through me which extinguished the earlier heat. I reared my head back, but his hold didn’t falter. His expression shifted and I wanted to curl in on myself.
He wasn’t supposed to know.
I despised that I’d slipped up and said anything, but I also hated that Brantley had been so horrible.
Some might say boys would be boys and they stuck together, but Brantley telling me that I was a tease was totally out of line. I had gone down on Porter, just not that often. Brantley didn’t know anything about my relationship with Porter, so he had no way of knowing if I’d been a tease. Which highlighted why I should have kept myself in check, andthatled to more self-loathing.
“You’re a virgin,” Rafferty whispered.
Why did him whispering affect me so much?
I tugged at his fingers resting along my jaw. He’d always been sneaky and somehow he kept me from pulling his hands away.
After a long blink, I exhaled, “Yes.”
Finally, Rafferty’s hands left my jaw, but he ran one along the top of my hair to cup the back of my head. “They both need a fucking ass-kicking.”
I exhaled a chuckle. “How do you figure?”
He gave a short head shake. “I’d tell you to just trust me on this, but I know you won’t. Porter’s clearly a piece of shit since he let that jackass think you’re a tease.”
“What are you —”
