Hurting him is just easier.
It makes more sense.
It’s not as alarming as the alternative.
We sit in silence for the rest of the ride. Every once in a while, he clenches the wheel like he’s fighting me in his head, while I blankly look out the window since talking is causing more chaos than control.
He pulls up in front of my house fifteen minutes later, the engine cutting off, the silence still thick and stifling.
“You know, I’m not the bad guy here, Poppy. Fight me. Hate me. Keep twisting my words to make yourself feel better. Do whatever you like to push me out of your mind. But I’m not going anywhere. I see you, Poppy. Like really see you,” he says. “Everything you try to hide, I see.” His eyes meet mine, and the heat between us is scalding.
“Well, stop,” I fire back, yanking my door open. “I didn’t ask for that.”
I’m halfway up the walkway when his door slams.
“Don’t walk away from this,” he shouts.
I spin around. “Walk away from what?”
“Me. Us. This blatant attraction we’re both feeling.”
“I’m not attracted to you,” I snap. “I can barely stand to look at you.”
He closes the distance between us in three long strides. Those blue eyes, devilishly wild. “It’s because I challenge everything you stand for. You pretend to hate me. Use my past as a weapon. But the reality is, deep down, you know I’m the one person you need the most.”
“You don’t get to psychoanalyze me, Wesley,” I scoff. “You punched someone at prom. You don’t get to be the mature one here.”
His mouth curves into a humorless smile. “He disrespected you.”
“Well, your help wasn’t needed.”
“Well, you didn’t needhimeither,” he shoots back. “I know what you wanted from him, and it’s bullshit.”
My temper flares. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
“No,” he says, stepping closer. “But I’m gonna call bullshit when I see it.”
My parents aren’t even home; both of them are away on a business trip, and Pippa is still at prom, probably being crowned queen. And then there’s me… standing a few feet away from my door, staring into the eyes of the most infuriatingly handsome person on earth.
“Just go home, Wesley.”
He doesn’t stop me from turning toward the door.
But he does follow me. Every step he takes is heavy and full of intent.
I shove my key into the lock with trembling hands, my walls crumbling.
“He’s not the right one, Poppy. Not for you.”
“You don’t know anything about Tony.”
“I know he was only using you to gain points on his roster,” he informs me. “He didn’t give two shits about you, Poppy.”
“Maybe that’s what I wanted?” I fire back, even though my heart is stuttering like it’s gasping. “Someone who was willing to take my virginity and not want anything else.”
Silence falls between us.
“Is that what you really wanted? For some guy to take you to prom, give you a half-hearted fuck, and be done with you?”
