Page 7 of Brutal Titan

“Expecting someone else?”

Her lips form a thin line as she glares at me. “Not you since you’re so concerned about Asher ‘flipping his lid’ … yet here you are.”

Yes. That’s still a concern, but the answers I want outweigh what little self-preservation I have. “Did you sleep with him?”

“You really are a jackass.” She reaches down, grabbing her sketchbook and pencil off the floor before sitting on the sofa to resume drawing.

“I need to know.”

Her hand freezes in place as she looks up, her emerald eyes penetrating every cell in my body. “Not that you’re entitled to an answer, but I’ve already told you that nothing happened. Whether you believe it or not is your choice because I don’t give a damn either way.”

I want to believe it, but I can’t. There’s something she’s not telling me, and I’d rather focus on that than the way she feels pressed against me—which is perfect, like she belongs there. “You’re lying.”

“Okay.” She resumes her task, leaving me standing there like the pitiful chump she’s turned me into. “You stink by the way.”

Bending down, I take in a breath of her before whispering, “Think I’ll go for a swim. Wanna come?”

Tensing, she leans away from where I stand, glaring at me in exasperation. “No, not with you. Besides, you’ll probably back out before we get there anyway.”

Pretty much, because it’s easier to do the leaving than be the one abandoned. Plus, I can only resist her for so long. Then when I do cave, my brain takes a long time to overrule my dick. I want her and I shouldn’t. What a clusterfuck. “And I’m sure you’d find someone to jump right into my place soon after.”

She doesn’t give me any response, worse she puts the earbuds back in, drowning me out with music as I stand by drowning in her. With no way to surface on my own, and all it does is make me want to pull her under with me. Misery loves company—if I’m gonna suffer, she should too.

Reaching forward, I snatch the sketchbook from her, stepping out the French doors onto the balcony. She follows me out, clawing at my arm. I rear back, slinging the book through the air. It splashes into the water of the large pond just off the back patio, the loud thwack and the fountain’s spiraling water splashes are the only sounds to be heard as a heavy silence stretches between us. As Victoria stares at her prized possession floating in the murky water, my eyes don’t leave her face.

Slowly, she turns, locking eyes with me as she speaks harshly. “Go get it now.”

“No.”

Furious, she lunges forward. “Get it. Now.”

Gripping both of her arms, I pin them to her sides as she struggles against my hold. “Go get it yourself, or maybe you can have someone else take care of that for you too.”

No longer struggling against me, she speaks bluntly while I maintain my hold on her. “I hate you. I really do. All I’m doing is staying as far away from you as possible. Just like you wanted me to.”

“I never said that’s what I wanted.” The words escape before I can stop them, but they seem to do nothing but enrage her further.

“Too bad because that’s what I want.” She jerks away as I release her arms, hurrying through the doors.

All I can do is stand rigidly in place, realizing I got exactly what I was aiming for. And yet, I still feel like I’m drowning.