It made me step closer.
Close enough that if either of us leaned forward an inch, we’d collide with each other. He didn’t flinch when I moved within his space. He didn’t blink or even look away once.
The silence stretched between us.
Neither of us was willing to surrender.
His breathing had slowed down, but mine hadn’t. This close, I felt on fire.
“You gonna fucking move?” he asked, annoyance getting to him, along with the weight on his ankle.
“Not even close.”
“Stubborn, Jailbait. Guess it makes sense since you’re still sucking on your mama’s tit.”
His voice had dropped. Or was lower and rougher. Scraping against my every nerve. It was like he was just as tired of pretending this was a normal argument as I was, and I looked him over without meaning to.
Scuffed boots.
Broad shoulders.
Typical stupid dumb jock cop with tattoos like armor.
His stupid, stubborn jaw was set, as if he expected the entire world to disappoint him, and the perpetual frown was permanently on his face.
My eyes met his again, and he caught me looking.
His eyebrow lifted in surprise-disgust laced with the growing pain.
“What, freak?”
“Nothing.”
“You looked at me like a damn chick. Stop checking me out.”
“I looked because I was wondering if your face always looks like a puckered asshole .”
His laugh surprised me.
It was short and real, but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
“You know,” he said, “for someone who claims I’m the pig…” He glanced down at the fist still wrapped around my jacket and glowered and hissed. “You haven’t let go either.”
I looked down at my hand.
He was right.
Somehow, somewhere between the shoving and the yelling, my hand had stayed exactly where it landed.
Curled in the front of his jacket.
Close enough to feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing beneath the fabric.
I loosened my grip, but he didn’t.
Neither of us said anything now.
The air between us felt heavier than it had any right to, and I felt the thickness in my throat gather. It was like the argument had stopped being about the guy from the bar ten minutes ago, and was now something else entirely.
