Page 7 of Unpredictable

I don’t want to lose this side of him.

I move further into the kitchen, leaning against the wall behind Sage. My movement must distract him because he pauses for a moment as his eyes meet mine.

Why can’t you just love me?my mind thinks as my heart starts racing.

Sterling shakes out of whatever hold I had on him and finishes his story quickly before convincing Keaton to tell one of his stories.

As Keaton begins talking about one of his many escapades at school, Sterling moves towards me, leaning against the wall next to me. His hand ghosts down the side of my arm before he takes mine in his. Wordlessly, he pulls me from the room. It isn’t until we’re alone in an empty study that I realize we’re alone and my feelings are still a mess.

He shuts the door behind me then pushes me up against it, giving me one chaste kiss before leaning his forehead against mine.

“Talk to me, V,” he whispers. “Please talk to me. Stop avoiding me.”

At the almost begging tone, I break down.

“You’re leaving. What do you want me to say?” I cast my eyes down, refusing to meet his.

“I want you to tell me you’ll come visit me. We will make this work, V. You can come visit me once a week. I can come back on weekends. We don’t have to end this now. Unless you want to. Do you want us to stop this arrangement?”

I meet his eyes once more and see a vulnerability I’ve never seen before in them. “What’s this, Sterling?”

“We’re fucking, like we have been.” He pulls away from me, but I pull him back.

“We’re fucking?” I harden my voice, refusing to let my emotions take over.

“Come on, V. Don’t be that girl. You knew the score when we started this. I don’t date. This isn’t going to end with me on one knee begging you to marry me.”

“I know. That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking for clarification. If this isjustfucking, why does it matter if we end it now or later?”

Rubbing his hand across his face, he takes a moment to think. Then he meets my eyes once more. “This is just fucking. We can’t be anything more. You want something from me, something I can’t do. I can promise that for the time being, you’re the only girl I want to fuck. If you can accept that for what it is, I can give that to you, but that’s all I can give.”

My heart grasps at the little bit he gives me—an opening I never thought I would have.

“When does it end? If we’re going to continue this, I need to know. When do you see this ending?”

Please say never.

“It ends when one of us decides it isn’t working for us anymore. We have the conversation and we maintain our friendship. That’s what we have always been, V. Friends. I want us to always be friends. For now, we keep the benefits up.”

I lean my head on his shoulder as I process his words. “Were you going to tell me?”

“I was. Actually, I want you to come up with me and help me pick a place out. I never meant to make you feel like I was hiding this from you. I didn’t think it was relevant yet.”

My heart aches. He didn’t think it was relevant to tell me when he found out. I’m not his number one, while he’s mine. I always want to tell him everything.

Can I really do this? Continue this with him?

Keep your heart out of it. Fuck him, but don’t love him.

“When are you going to get a place?”

“This weekend.” He pulls me closer, encasing me in his embrace. “Come with me.”

“Okay.”

I hope I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.

“Okay,” he repeats.

---