"You can't say that stuff!" My voice cracks on the words and Asher pauses, spinning on his heel to stare back at me.
"Say what?"
"Say that you love me!" I shake my head. "You can't say you love me and then walk away! You can't say you love me and then choose to stop everything without telling me like you did in the library! You can't love me and also tell me that we have to stop! You can't love me but then tell me I can't fall for you, that I can'tloveyou!"
"I didn't."
"You did." I wave a hand his way. "When we made this stupid deal, you said I couldn't fall in love with you,thatwas your only requirement. In the library, I asked - you walked away."
"I never said I wanted to."
I think back to that moment, shaking my head. "You-" I cut off.
"I wasn't going to force you to love me, Ivy. When you said you wanted to call off the deal, I knew then. I knew you didn't." He starts for the back exit again.
"You don't know anything." I say quietly.
Asher stops his movements but doesn't turn to look at me. "Are you going to tell me that youdolove me, Ivy?"
He turns when I don't reply straight away, his steps swallowing up the distance between us swiftly.
He stops only centimetres from me, the emotion painted across his face sinking into his blue eyes, swirling and swirling, sucking me in.
There's a freckle in his eye that I never noticed before, prominently displayed in the wash of blue and grey waves and I blink, seeing my reflection staring back at me from them.
"Do you love me?" He says the words slowly, precisely. "Because I have been in love with you from the moment I met you, and I'm so fucking pissed at you for sleeping with Dain fucking Chambers when I've been right here, the whole time. I've been in front of you the whole time-"
"Yes." I breathe out, feeling weightless.
He takes in a shaky breath before releasing it. "You love me?"
"I do."
"You love me?" He says again, a smile starting to lift his lips.
I nod.
"Youloveme?"
"Yes, Asher."
His hands delve into my hair, pulling my face up to meet his as his lips land on mine, pillowy soft and full of promises and pleas. "You love me?" He whispers against my lips, "I want to hear you say the words."
"I love you." My breath is taken from me, my back slamming against the locker with a resounding bang as Asher's hands tighten in my hair, fingers digging into my scalp like I'm a figment of his imagination and I won't disappear if he just holds on tight enough.
My hands move to his wrists, wrapping around them as he holds me like I'mhis.
"I love you too." He says roughly, not letting me say anything as he dips his tongue into my mouth, swallowing every word and feeling I want to say.
I gasp into his mouth, a soft moan slipping past my lips as his hands move, dragging down my arms to my back, scooping under my ass and lifting.
My legs wrap around his waist, feeling the evidence of his arousal. He pushes me further into the lockers, trapping me in his embrace and I kiss him back with just as much fervour.
He pulls back, his head resting on mine as we breathe, existing together for just a moment.
I open my mouth, wanting to say something, anything -
"Are you kidding me?" The words are like an ice bath over the moment, drenching us entirely as both our heads whip to the open locker room door, to the person standing on the threshold.
