His jaw tightens. “That’s not what I said.”
“Liar.”
He runs a hand through his hair, pacing once like he’s trying to collect a coherent argument. “You didn’t have to humiliate me.”
“You humiliated yourself. I didn’t do shit!”
He stops pacing. “Don’t pretend you’re above this. You’re the one who started it.”
“Started what?”
“This whole thing. You and my dad and your revenge on me.”
“You think this is about you?”
“Itisabout me,” he insists. “You went after him to get back at me.”
I stare at him. “I got over you last year. That was just payback for you and Faith.”
“You’re not over me.” He laughs, short and disbelieving. “That’s some bullshit you tell yourself so you can keep your distance. You still want me.”
“I don’t want you, Jason. I don’t think about you. I don’t fantasize about you. I don’t wake up wishing you’d made a different choice. That’s over now. It’s been over for about a year now, actually. You’re nothing to me, and if you’re not careful, you won’t even be my brother-in-law, so go find Faith and stop running back to me when you have a problem.”
His expression flickers. “You were in my bed with my father on New Year’s. How is that not about me?”
“I was angry.”
“You wanted me.”
“I wanted payback on you and Faith,” I say bluntly.
He smirks at that. “So you admit it.”
“I admit I was hurt back then. That doesn’t mean I want you now.”
He steps closer again, lowering his voice. “You’ve always wanted me, baby.”
The confidence in that statement would be impressive if it weren’t so delusional. “Not anymore. Not for a very long time.”
He leans in slightly. “You don’t get this fired up unless there’s still something there.”
“There isn’t.”
His eyes search mine like he’s trying to locate the girl who used to melt under that look. She’s dead and gone. And the realization seems to irritate him more than anything else. “You tried to ruin my life.”
“Back then, yeah. Now? My life has nothing to do with you.”
He shakes his head slowly, his voice still low and seductive. “Be a good girl and go tell Faith this is your fault.”
And for the first time tonight, I see something in him that isn’t arrogance. It’s panic. About losing Faith or losing me, I’m not sure, but he’s out of his depth, and he knows it.
Hearing “good girl” out of him is revolting. “Absolutely not. I didn’t make you proposition me, and I’m done with this conversation. Don’t ever refer to me as ‘good girl’ again, and I’ve been done with you for a very long time?—”
Jason lets out a sharp laugh that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You expect me to believe you’re over me? You slept with my father.”
I fold my arms, partly to keep from shaking, partly because I refuse to let him see how raw I still feel. “So?”
“That’s not a normal rebound,” he shoots back. “That’s revenge.” He’s still stuck on the version of events where he remains thecenter of gravity, and I orbit him like a deranged satellite. I’m not surprised. “The only reason you got with him, was to get back at me.”
