“There,” I mutter. “That’swhat makes you look so much better.”
Gracie’s breaths come out in short pants, her eyes wide and filled with need and I know she’s waiting for her turn.
Too bad, she pissed me off earlier when she went off on me and she needs to learn how to be good. Maybe a little delayed gratification will teach her some manners.
I climb to my feet, not bothering to tuck myself away before I hold out a hand and help her to her feet.
She doesn’t run, she just stands there and fidgets with her hands, clearly not knowing what to do.
“Go,” I say and tilt my head to the way we came.
Her eyes widen. “W-what?” she asks, a blush now covering her cheeks.
Is that embarrassment?
Need?
Anger?
I honestly can’t tell.
I cock my head and raise a brow. “You didn’t think I’d just let you off for being so mean to me, did you? Of course I wouldn’t. Now, I said,go.”
THIRTY-ONE
GRACIE
He dismissed me.
He freakingdismissedme.
He chased me through the woods, made my heart pound, came all over me like he was marking his goddamn territory and then fucking dismissed me.
I stomp back the way I came, grumbling to myself the entire way.
I should be happy that’s all he wanted to do, but there’s a part of me that’s seething at the fact he got me all worked up just to leave me high and dry.
Like, whodoesthat?
The asshole who’s been stalking me, that’s who.
It’s darker now, and I use the flashlight on my phone to light up the trail so I don’t accidentally fall over, hit my head and end up with a concussion since that isabsolutelysomething that would happen to me, and I really don’t feel like explaining myself to anyone about what I was doing out here.
I pause and sigh, staring up through the trees at the sky as if it will give me all of the answers I need.
What the hell am I doing?
How do I stop this mess?
What do I do about this guy?
One moment I want him to stop and the next, I’m internally begging him for more.
Just as the thought hits me, something else does too and it takes me a moment to realize that it’s not just my mind messing with me, and I actually I am being pushed to the ground from behind. I land on my front, a body covering the back of mine and once again pinning my arms to the dirt beneath us.
Again? Seriously?
“Didn’t think I’d really just leave you like that, did you?” he says and I grunt, still pissed at him for the little show he put on.
