He sounded hurt by the way he spoke, and I felt guilty.
“I’m not as blind as you may think, Forsythe. I know you’re into her. Why else would you remember her eye color so well?” He roughly shifted gears and pulled the truck over along the side of the road, throwing it in park. “What the hell are you?—”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, instead of this bullshit ring around the rosie crap?” I didn’t answer. He hung his head and sighed heavily. “Lucille,” he groaned. “What’s really bothering you?”
He lifted his head, and our eyes met. “Nothing.” I turned my head away and stared out the passenger window. “Let me out here.”
“Excuse me?”
I tried to open the passenger door, but it was locked. “Bone Ridge isn’t too far from here. Let me out. I’ll walk the rest of the way home.”
“You’re not walking home, Lucille.”
I began to feel cramped, like my anxiety and feelings were pressing against me, restricting my breathing. I needed to get out of the damn truck. I needed to feel less claustrophobic.
“Let me out.” He refused to unlock the door. “I said, let me out!”
Forsythe tossed his cigarette out his window. “I’m not letting you walk home, Lucille.”
Fine.
I placed the cigarette between my lips and raised my leg, kicking the passenger door. Forsythe shouted for me to knock it off, but I was already at the point of not caring. And so, I kept kicking until the old door weakened and shot open.
I hopped down from the truck, stumbling into the dirt on the side of the road. “Lucille!” He yelled after me, but I ignored him, lifting the hem of my dress as I stomped through the dirt in the direction of the ranch. “Lucille!”
“I don’t need you!” I flicked the cigarette away and tried to stomp over the large hill.
And I don’t need this crap.
Forsythe followed me, grunting and cussing as I continued to march down the hill, sliding to the open plain. “Damn it, Lucille!” He slid down behind me. “Would you just stop!” He ran after me and spun me around. “Stop running and just talk to me!”
“I already told you,Idon’t need you. So just take the truck back. I’ll be fine.”
He refused to let me walk away, jumping in front of me. “I already toldyou, I don’t give a damn what you want.” I tried to move past, but he stopped me. “Lucille,” he growled.
“Move.” I kept my eyes low, refusing to look at him.
He grabbed my chin and forced my head up until my eyes finally looked up into his. “And what if I don’t?” I didn’t answer. “If you’re so upset, then stop acting like a damn brat and ask me the question you really wanna know the answer to. Hmm?” He stepped closer. “Go on, little viper.Ask me.”
My jaw tightened as my anxiety nearly swallowed me whole.
“Your stubbornness is no match for me, Lucille.” He smirked. “I’m a patient man, and I can wait here all night if I need to. ‘Cause you're worth waiting for.”
There he goes, teasing me again.
“Fine.” I stepped closer to him, standing between his legs. “You like her, don’t you? Priscilla,” I hissed her name. “Miss blue eyes.”
Forsythe grinned. “Was that really so hard?” I rolled my eyes at him. “No, I don’t like little miss blue eyes.” He paused and I felt the energy around us shift as the evening breeze swirled around us. “She’s not my type.”
“And whatisyour type?” I asked in a whispered voice.
He reached his other arm up and held my face within his grasp. My breathing slowly increased, and I felt every muscle in my body tighten with each passing second. There was something about him—the way he was staring into my eyes—it made me feel like I wanted to take a risk and dive head first into whatever this dangerous little game was brewing between us.
“Your eyes.”
I blinked at his words. “What?”
Forsythe tilted my head back gently, allowing a faint gasp to escape my mouth. The evening sun burned as its warm light washed across the skin of my face. He rotated my face somemore, leaning in close as the light hit my eyes. “Normally, they resemble golden pools of honey with a variety of color bursting within them. But in the sun, next to that fiery hair of yours”—he brushed my hair aside as his mouth hovered close—“they remind me of sage leaves adorned in golden flakes. They may not be blue, but why would I want someone with eyes the color of the sky, when I get to stare into the chameleon irises of someone with hair that dances like wildfire and a wild soul? ” I felt a thump in my chest. “It terrifies me to speak so freely with you, so I am.” His mouth grazed the side of my cheek, and I felt his warm breath as it glided along my face. My body surprised me and leaned slightly further into his.
