Page 46 of Love Me

“Sorry for interrupting your me time. Must have been quite the jerking-off session. I have the stomach flu. And you were the only one home.”

I need him to believe me. I don’t know what I would do otherwise.

He scoops me up, and it’s such a disconcerting sensation to be let down by your own body.

Tiredness drags me under. “Put me down.”

“On the fucking floor? Just shut up, Celine. Shut up.”

His voice shakes, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trapping the weakness he ignites in me.His arms feel like home––the only place I truly have felt I belong. So unfair. He carries me to my room and places me on the bed.

“I hate you.”

“Yes, you do.”

With that, he shuts the door behind me, and I pull the cover over me, needing warmth. Now that I know he wasn’t with anyone else, I can’t stop thinking about who he was jerking off to.

A door opens and shuts, and then footsteps thump downstairs.

Kaden roars my name from outside. I put a dent in your car; you put a damn crater in my chest.

We’re not even. We could never be even.

The exhaustion of the day and the lullaby of Kaden’s ranting puts a smile on my face and pushes me straight into sleep’s embrace.

***

Waking up, feeling more rested, I change into jeans and a sweater, and slip into a pair of brown knee-length boots. Then I pull my hair up into a ponytail.

Downstairs, the fantastic four are in the kitchen, in intimate and comfortable conversation around the island table.

I have that too with my best friends. No need for the pang of jealousy to hit me, but it angers me when the already hushed conversation stops the moment I walk inside.

“Morning sunshine.” It’s Blake, and I flip him the bird.

Kaden caresses what I know is my necklace around his neck. His trophy. My weakness. Forget all the calm breathing.

I pick up a fork and, bending over the table, I slam it into his cold-blooded chest. Gasps and screams erupt.

“Oh my god, what is wrong with you?” Abigail asks.

Whatever she sees in my eyes, she shuts up. I am not human at this moment. This is justice.

“Get out. All of you get out. This is between me and Celine,” Kaden says.

“Forget it.” Blake protests. Maybe he feels the dangerous vibe we both emanate.

“Guys, in two days, we sit at Grandmother’s table under her scrutiny,” Bailey offers.

“I’m calm. I just want something back that belongs to me,” I say.

He leans forward and whispers in my ear. “Tell me, when you threw up, did you think I was fucking someone else? Wished it was you instead?”

I push in even deeper. More droplets of blood coat the silver fork and white shirt. He groans, his jaw setting into a hard line. I know there was no one there, the lying, manipulative, cunning asshole.

“Did you jerk off thinking about me? What was I doing? Because I’d never fuck you again. Nothing in me wants anything from you.”

One second, I have the upper hand; the next, he yanks the fork out, throwing it on the floor. The clang rings with aggression. His hand wraps around my neck, slamming me backward against the wall, stealing my breath.

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