Crumpling the paper in her fist, she hands it back to him. “Not if you paid me.” Spinning on her heels, she ignores me as she walks toward the door.
A spurt of anger jumps up and bites me. “What? No goodbye for me?”
“I’ll write you a letter,” she spits out over her shoulder, slicing my heart in two all over again. I knew she probably hated me, but this level of anger speaks of deep-seated, entrenched hurt that’s never healed. I desperately need a chance to fix it, and her doing this is the only way I stand a snowball’s chance of getting through to her.
“You’re going to do this, Zeta. This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me.”
Turning around, she plants her hands on her slim hips and fixes me with a glare the devil would be proud of. “There is nothing you can say or do that willeverget me to agree to this.”
“You’ll be eating your words soon. A little chat with your boss should do the trick.” I can’t help smirking because I know I’ve got her where I want her.
“You clearly don’t know Harrison Meadows if you think you can bully him into anything.”
“He’ll agree if I’m his boss.”
Thatshakes her.
“What?” she splutters
“I’ll buy the fucking magazine if I have to, but mark my words, you’re doing this,baby.”
The expression on her face is classic. She looks like she wants to throttle me with her bare hands, and I’m fucking loving it. I feel alive, properly alive, for the first time in years, and I don’t want to stop sparring with her, so I milk it a little longer.
Stalking toward her with a smug grin on my face, I say, “I’ll get your bedroom ready, or we could just save ourselves all the back and forth, and you can move straight into mine.”
I’m being an asshole. I know it. But I’ll take her anger over indifference any day.
Her mouth drops open, veins thicken in her neck, and her face turns red with rage. I think she might actually hit me, but she restrains herself. “Buy the magazine, see if I care. I’ll quit and get another job.” Defiance glints in her eyes and as I get all up in her personal space, I want nothing more than to kiss the living daylights out of her.
My eyes drop to her lush mouth, and I’m reminded of how incredible it felt to kiss her. Before I get sidetracked, I deliver the parting shot. “Go for it, darling. I’ll just buy wherever you move to. And if you move again, I’ll do the same there. There’s no way you can escape this or me.” I sweep my thumb across her pouty lips. “Fate drove us apart, and now, it’s bringing us back together. Stop fighting the inevitable.”
“I hate you,” she says, but she doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t even realize her body is arching toward mine, and her eyes keep lowering to my mouth. She can deny it from the rooftops all she wants, but she can’t hide the truth from me. We never could shield our feelings from one another.
She still loves me.
I see it in her eyes, and as long as that truth remains there, I’m not giving up. I want her back, and this time, I’m going to fight tooth and nail to hold onto her.
“We both know that’s a lie.” I press my mouth to her ear. “If I slid my fingers inside you right now, how wet would you be?”
She shoves at my chest. “You…you…pig.”
I chuckle, enjoying this enormously. She’s all flustered, and that’s my doing. I feel like patting myself on the back for a job well done.
“You can keep denying it, but we both know this is happening. Get used to it, baby, because this is on.” I slap her on the ass, and this time, I’m convinced she’s going to swing at me, but she just storms out of the room, completely agitated, before returning two seconds later.
“Deny this, asshole,” she fumes, violently flipping me the bird.
There’s my girl, and this time, I’m not running away from her. If I have to be an asshole to ensure she’s back in my life, then so be it. Because I’m not lettinghimscare me into pushing her away again. I’m going to protect her and keep her safe, and I’m going to prove to her that we are meant to be together.
I’m not giving up until she’s back in my arms again.
21
Zeta
Icradle the phone under my neck while I use my free hands to open a bottle of wine, pouring a large glass and taking a quick sip. My plan is to get completely trashed so I don’t even remember my name. Maybe that way, I can stop rethinking the shitshow that was my life today. “I really fucking hate him.”
“No, you don’t,” Kayla calmly protests. “You love him. It’s always been him. It’s why you’ve never entertained the idea of a relationship with anyone else.”
