What got Bram to give in was Vivian saying she’d ask Reid to swing by to check on me and me agreeing to text Bram a bunch of times checking in.
I would’ve been lying if I’d said I wasn’t nervous after the first twenty minutes of them being gone, when the silence in the house really hit me.
Annoyingly, I was too nervous to focus on my book.I can do this,I thought as I set it aside and headed to the bathroom. To distract myself, I considered washing my face, but then decided to take a relaxing hot shower instead.
As the warm water trailed down my skin, the tension throughout my whole body started to ease. Nerves aside, I was feeling a lot better physically. Monday was the last time I’d taken the pain meds Bobby had given me. The bruises were almost gone. What mostly remained were the pink scars from the cuts on my side and the long cut on the outside of my arm. I knew they’d fade over time, but they were ugly and a reminder of what had happened.
After getting out and towel-drying my hair, I wrapped another towel around my body before heading into my room. I made my way over to my closet and stepped inside to go through the folded clothes on the shelves until I found the black lounge set I wanted to wear. Lost in my thoughts, I unwrapped my towel as I walked out of the closet and let it drop to my feet so I could get dressed.
“Charlotte,” a male voice said.
I let out a high-pitched scream as I jumped and spun around to face the voice.
Reid was standing by my open bedroom door. His eyes slowly descended my naked body.
With my pants and shirt, I quickly covered my intimate parts. “What the fuck, Reid? You scared the shit out of me!”
“My mom told me to check on you.”
“So you thought you’d walk into my room without knocking and stare at me naked?”
“Your door was open and you took off your towel before I could say anything,” he said. “Besides, I’ve pretty much seen you naked already and you had no problem flaunting those tits in my face before. Why are you acting shy now?”
“One, I was still in a thong that morning you walked in on me and Roe. Two, I didn’t flaunt my tits. I didn’t know my shirt was see-through.”
He took a step farther into the room. “Still, you’ve never seemed shy about your body before.”
“It’s my body. It’s up to me whether I want to show it off or not.”
He didn’t argue with that. “You’ve put on weight.”
My mouth dropped open in disbelief.
“I mean you look good,” he corrected before I could go off on him. “You look healthy.”
I glanced away. “I’ve been eating.” When silence took over and all he did was continue to stand there, I had to look at him again. “Is there anything else you would like to discuss while I stand here naked?”
He smirked. “I could think of a few more things.”
At first, I was shocked. Then I was just frustrated. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to try to drive me away all this time, and then when you finally make me realize that I’m changing things between you three and your future, you suddenly want me.”
His smirk dropped and his expression became unreadable. “I told you I’ve always wanted you.”
“But you didn’t want to want me,” I snapped. “I may be naive about relationships and the feelings that come with them, but I understand that I deserve someone who wants to want me.”
“I do.”
It just felt like words. “I don’t believe you.” I tossed my clothes on the bed and just stood there naked. “I think you just want to fuck me. So fuck me. Maybe we’ll both get it out of our systems.”
His eyes never left mine as he just stood there silently, which infuriated me into wanting to push his buttons.
“Do you want me on the bed? On my back? Or on all fours?”
That got me a reaction. His schooled expression slipped—turning into something so hard, his jaw muscle ticked.
“What was it you called me before?” I asked as I walked toward him. “Oh, right. A spoiled, entitled rich girl.” I came to a stop inches away from him. “Would you like this rich girl to get on her knees for you?” I reached for the button on his jeans and undid it. “How do you want me, Reid?”
As I started to pull down his zipper, his hand shot up and captured me by the back of my neck. He pulled me against him before he covered my mouth with his.
