Page 20 of Bryce

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Iwas unclear on who I hated more, Bryce or myself.

He raised a hand to his face, where I’d just slapped him hard enough to leave my palm tingling. It wasn’t hard enough. Not after how he’d used me.

“But—but you—” He was at a loss, looking from me to my hand and back again. “You practically—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You enjoyed it.”

“Please, don’t throw that in my face,” I hissed. “You kissed me. I responded before I could think straight. I’m thinking straight now.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Evidently not.”

“So stop pretending as though you do,” I warned. “Next time, my hand won’t be open.” I curled it into a fist to demonstrate my meaning.

He sighed, then lifted his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. “I’ve never deliberately hurt you. If I did hurt you, I’m sorry. I wish you would have told me straight out rather than leading me around in this childish game of yours. I can’t read your mind, Isla.”

“It never occurred to you that I would take it hard?”

“Take what hard?”

Was he truly this stupid? Had I been wrong about him all along? Or was this a deliberate attempt at exonerating himself? Perhaps he’d rationalized his behavior for so long, it was second nature to him now. No matter the reason behind it, the expression of blank surprise on his face made my hand tighten into a fist again.

“You disappeared on me,” I snarled. Just speaking the words took me back to that final day, looking about the resort, wondering where he could possibly be. Why he’d left without a single word. “You never said goodbye.”

“Mary had work for me to do, though I hardly disappeared.”

“Liar. Is this what you always do? I wish I had known in advance. I would never have wasted my time with you.”

“I did not disappear. Yes, I admit, I could’ve tried harder to reach out over these last months, though I didn’t see you bending over backward to pay me the same courtesy.”

“How was I to know where to reach you? Logan was only just boasting of how you were in Central America, and Morocco before that. How would I ever know how to find you? No. The impetus was on you. Mary could have arranged it during your—I’ve no idea what to call it. A break or what have you.”

“And vice versa,” he offered with a smug smile. “You could have reached out to her yourself and asked her to send word.”

“Ridiculous. Everyone would know.”

“Know what?”

“You know what. Precisely the ‘what’ that kept us sneaking about all those weeks. You didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Neither did you.”

“Because I wanted privacy.”

“You got your privacy, although you’re going to destroy it if you don’t stop making a point of picking at me. You’ve already caught Logan’s attention with that.”

“What of it?” I fired back, angry with myself and taking it out on him. Just as I’d been doing all along. I knew it, too, which made it worse. “I don’t care anymore. In fact, it might be nice to see your friend’s reaction when he finds out how you turned your back on me. Everything you said was a lie. Every moment we spent together. If I wasn’t worth tracking down before we left the island, it means nothing that seemed to be between us was real. Not a minute of it.”

“I wish you wouldn’t think in extremes. You’re as bad as my lion.”

“What does that mean?”

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