Page 17 of After All This Time

"Yeah, so… I did something, and you're not gonna like it."

The buzzing sound fills the space between us as I point awkwardly down to the box on the floor. Her eyes suddenly widen, darting between me and the box of secrets barely tucked under her bed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she snaps as she scrambles out of bed.

She's blushing so hard it travels down her neck, and honestly, I've never seen her turn this shade of red before. It might even be cute if I wasn't genuinely fearing for my life right now. She dives for the box, not bothering to pull it out completely, instead reaching underneath to fumble with the switch until the buzzing abruptly stops.

"Hey," I say, raising my hands in surrender, "it was sticking out from under your bed, and I accidentally kicked it. I swear I wasn't looking for anything."

She looks like she's about two seconds away from beating my ass.

"Amelia—"

"I'm going to kill you,"she hisses, her voice low as she faces me, her tiny pajamas doing absolutely nothing to make her less intimidating.

"I didn't see anything!"

"Get out of my room!"

"I just came to see if you wanted to join me for coffee. I'm meeting Harry, maybe Jen, and Tessa will be there. She mentioned yesterday that she wants to meet you."

She spins to face me, eyes narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere with you until I can forget the last five minutes of my life."

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad. So you like sex—so what? Admittedly, I prefer having sex with other people, but…"

"Yeah, well, hooking up with strangers isn't my thing. Unless I take a page out of your book and fuck the first person I see when I step outside the front door." The fire in her voice almost masks her embarrassment, but I know her better than she realizes. "Maybe I should just yell out my window and start blowing the first guy ready to drop his pants for me." I raise an eyebrow, but she's not done. "Fuck, Tobias. Stay out of my room."

"I'm sorry, okay. I'd never intentionally embarrass you. You know that." She lets out a frustrated breath, her eyes rolling toward the ceiling like she's praying to the universe to end her suffering.

"If you ever bring this up again, I swear I'll smother you in your sleep."

"Now you're just talking dirty to me, baby."

"Tobias!"

"Fine, fine. I won't bring it up. But I promise you, one day, we'll laugh about this."

"Whatever. I know you're practically pissing your pants right now."

"For a moment there, I was shitting my pants. You're terrifying when you're mad. Now do you want to come?" Hereyes widen, the glare sharpens, and how hard I'm laughing leaves me nearly hunched over.

"You know I hate you, right?" she deadpans, arms crossed over her chest.

It takes me a moment to catch my breath, yet I continue to laugh. "I'm sorry. I swear that wasn't even on purpose. Let me try again—would you like tojoin me for coffee?"

She sighs heavily, but a hint of amusement hides behind her annoyance. "Sure."

"I'll leave you with your box then," I say with a grin, barely dodging the pillow she hurls at me. "You've got an hour, Firefly."

Chapter 8

Amelia

Despite sitting right next to Tobias in his car, I haven't spoken a single word to him since he walked out of my room after the vibrator incident.

My coral-colored nails stand out against the dark fabric of my black jeans as my fingers drum lightly on my thigh. I'm staring at my hands rather than looking in Tobias's direction because the memory of him pointing to that fucking box keeps flashing in my mind, triggering the same wave of mortification, and I have to swallow down the urge to throw myself out of the moving car.

I've never been so humiliated in my life—and yes, it even tops me throwing up and sobbing over my asshole ex in front of Tobias that one Christmas.

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