"Like what?" He says it almost softly, letting me hit him again, and again.
"Like this—impossible!"
A string of curses spills under his breath as he catches both my wrists in his hand, the other dropping to his pants, trying to press his erection down.
"Ben... listen to me!"
I'm still scrambling for breath, for words, for anything, but he drains the glass in one swallow while still holding me, slams it down, and shoulders past me.
On the way out, he takes off the upper part of his suit and carries it in his arm to cover his crotch.
His steps echo through the corridor as I rush after him, manage to catch up and grab his arm.
"Ben, it's not fair to pin everything on me! You also need to answer your damn phone when something's wrong. All that ghosting? Unacceptable. I hate it! I hate it!"
He slows his step, but doesn't stop, so I have to rush. “You don’t know what the last four days have been. No sleep. Even picturing him brushing his teeth next to you makes me want tocrack my skull open. I can’t contain the things I think. I was this close to breaking into your house and dragging you out—” He pinches his fingers together. “So out of my goddamn mind that I slipped while climbing on that rock. Nearly killed myself—”
"What?!"
"Yeah," he mutters, rubbing his face. "Don't even care anymore. Too tired for it."
I nearly trip over my own shoe. "I care! I care more than you know!"
His head whips to me. "Do you? Because you looked me in the eye and saidnothing."
I grab his sleeve, clutching and pulling on the fabric to slow him down. "And you didn't even look at me when you said we were over."
He just snorts bitterly.
"I reached out to you! I wanted to talk before I came!" I say.
He gives me that disdainful nod that makes my chest burn. "You seriously thought I'd be okay with it? After everything? That you could walk in with him and I'd still be waiting?"
"But you didn't even let me explain! Maybe try picking up your phone if you want me to plan a future with you!"
He stops, looks me dead in the eyes. "And you should've come back from Seattle like you said you would. If you had, we wouldn't be here."
The heat climbs up my throat, almost suffocating me and my voice rises, "Wow! You're unbelievable, you know that?!"
He snorts a laugh—harsh, humorless. "I do know that. You hate me. Right? Heard it all," he says and starts walking faster.
"I do! I do hate you so much! I'm done with you!"
"Good. 'Cause I don't give a damn anymore." He throws the suit over his shoulderand yanks the door open so hard it rattles.
I catch up just in time, half breathless, heart in my throat, as we both rush into Mara's dressing room, our argument still hanging in the air like thick smoke.
Luckily, Mara is too distracted with her own feelings to notice.
She explodes the second she spots him."Grazie a Dio!I thought you were passed out somewhere,idiota!"
"Just needed a second to breathe," Ben says flatly.
"What happened with your shirt?" She points, and before he says anything, she's fussing, fixing him.
When her fingers undo one too many buttons, I turn away.
Pathetic, really. That chest has been claimed by my hands more times than I can count, and just about a minute ago, I begged him to ravage me, but here and after everything, it feels indecent.
