Page 57 of Tell Me You Like It

The fucking asshole. He came here to make a point, and he did. I fell into his trap so easily….like a Little Rabbit caught in a snare.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Roman

I can’t fucking breathe.

What just happened between Lux and me was...unhinged. I don’t even know how to process what just happened. I’m still fucking shaking when I slip into my car and head back to Rush House.

By the time I get back, the whole house is alive. Everyone from the club had re-convened here, plus an extra thirty or so people. I head straight up to my bedroom without stopping to talk to anyone, slamming the door shut.

I can’t deal with people right now.

Not after what just happened between Lux and me.

The door opens, and Lucas walks into my room.

“Dude. Knocking is a thing,” I say.

He ignores me, as usual, his green eyes wild. “So what happened?”

I walk over to my nightstand and place my phone on the charger. “What do youthinkhappened?” I say, exasperated, because, honestly, I don’t want to fucking talk about it.

“So it’s done or what?” When I turn back around, he looks confused.

He wants a definitive answer from me right now, and I don’t know if I can give him that. I don’t even know what the fuck just happened, to be honest, let alone analyzing that shit.

“It’s fucking complicated,” I answer.

Lucas’ eyes narrow. “So you fucked her?”

Listen, I have no qualms about admitting I fucked Lux. It’s the fucking torrent of feelings that engulfed me after that has me fucked up.

“I’m not talking about it tonight,” I say. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

A couple of days a week, Jackson, Christian, Lucas, and I all meet at the ass-crack of dawn, and catch a few waves before class. Each one of us has been raised at the beach, surfing for as long as we could stand upright.

My brother is the one who taught me how to surf. James spent half the summer here, and half the summer with his dad in Oregon. But when he was here in Malibu, he lived and breathed surfing. That’s how my brother and I connected—in the darkness of the morning, sitting on our boards, waiting for a wave to come in. We talked about so much shit in those early hours, before the rest of the world was even awake.

It was my brother, the ocean, and me.

Lucas scrutinizes me, but when he talks, his tone is casual. “Yeah, okay. You good, though?”

Lucas has always been my best friend. Out of all the guys, he and I are the closest. And I know, no matter what, he has my back. Same for him. No questions asked—we’re there for each other.

“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “I just have some shit to figure out.”

Lucas purses his lips and nods. “Cool, yeah. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

When he leaves, I lock the door. I’m sure he’ll convey my message to the other guys, but I don’t want to risk the chance of some groupie finding her way into my bedroom. That shit has happened. Parties happen here all the time, and there have been a few times I’ve forgotten to lock my door, and woken up to some random chick in my bed. Not that I’m complaining.

But tonight I want to be alone—unless Lux were to pop up in my bed. The chances of that are less than zero. Never has a girl fought me like Lux has fought me, and that defiance has me all twisted up. But, in the end, it won’t matter how hard she fights. I always get what I want, one way or another…

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Roman

The sun is still tuckedbehind the horizon when I show up atthe spot–a public beach about two miles west of Rush House, where the waves are better.

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