Page 94 of The Fire We Make

“My attention is exactly where I want it to be.” Ace leaned against the brick wall, arms folded and the picture of cool despite the lips smeared with transferred lipstick.

“Well maybe I don’t want your attention,” Joy shot back, raising her voice.

Ace tilted his head slightly. “Are you bipolar?”

“Don’t fucking do that,” Joy snapped.

“Do what, Rose?”

“Try to make me seem crazy.”

Ace slowly pushed off the wall. “I’m just trying to figure out what I’m dealing with. You weren’t kissing me a second ago like someone who wasn’t interested.”

Joy released a sharp, humorless laugh. “Temporary lapse in judgement.”

“Temporary truth.”

“Stop acting like you have me all figured out,” Joy snapped, taking a step back. “You don’t fucking know me.”

Ace chuckled, running his hand over his mouth. “I don't have you figured out,” he said, his tone tight. “That’s the problem. I’m trying to, though.”

“Well stop trying.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s nothing here for you to see. Nothing you want. Whatever you think you’ll find here, you won’t. I promise you don’t want this so just let it go.”

“You tr⁠—

“You’re not the first man I’ve kissed, Adonis and you won’t be the last. Stop trying to make this mean more than it does.”

“Watch yourself, Rose.” His voice was low in warning and the possessive flicker in his eyes would’ve made a lesser woman back down, but not Joy.

“Or what?” she challenged, standing her ground.

Joy didn’t like this. She felt exposed and vulnerable, a place she was never comfortable in. So she did the only thing she knew to do. The only thing that had protected her all her life.

She fought.

She shoved at his chest. The force only made his bulk retreat an inch, but it was enough breathing room.

“Back up,” she snapped, shoving him again.

Instead of retreating, he kept advancing on her.

“You need to stop,” she warned.

“You said that already,” he replied with a grin on his lips that only made Joy angrier.

“And you’re still not listening.”

“Because you’re lying.”

“I don’t do… whatever this is,” Joy said, waving her hand between them frantically in exasperation.

“You think I do?” Ace hissed, his face scrunched in the same agonizing irritation she felt. He was crowding her now. With each step forward, Joy took one back until her body was trapped between the wooden door and the firmness of his body yet again.

A rock and a hard place.