Page 24 of Not that Impressed
Did something go wrong during the event to put her in a bad mood? I thought our connection had shifted at Charlie’s. I know I haven’t won her over completely, but that’s what I’m here to do. Give us a chance to get to know each other better so I can show her that I am a nice guy, and our connection is worth investigating.
I take a deep breath and plunge in. “Great event today.”
“Surprised?” she snaps, putting a hand on her hip. She’swearing a pair of wide-leg jeans with heels. They’re only a couple inches high, so they don’t bring her anywhere near my height, but she has an attitude that makes up for the height difference.
“No, no.” I’m confused, and I didn’t think about my tone with my quick answer. She’s still glaring at me, so maybe it came out wrong. Too tight or cold or something? Why is it that I can’t get anything right with her?
“What do you want, Will?” she says, openly hostile with me.
Warning bells tell me I should retreat. I’ve caught her at a bad time, and since our relationship is iffy already, it doesn’t bode well.
But I’ve already worked up the courage, and I’m here. I’ve never backed down because the other side looked intimidating.
I try to soften my voice. “I know we got off on the wrong foot. I thought I knew you because your whole life is out there online, and it’s not always flattering. I want to change that.”
She scowls. “You want to change how people see me?”
“No. No, that’s not what I meant.” I growl quietly, angry at myself that I can’t get across what I want. That I want a chance to get to know Ellie. For her to get to know me. Without all the judgments between us. Ellie clenches her jaw. I need to get this out before she stomps away. “I know—Iknow—it doesn’t make sense. You’re always in the spotlight. Everywhere. And it’s obvious I hate that. We’ve only really had one barely civil conversation. It doesn’t seem to matter. I can’t stop thinking about you. Despite all of it, I can’t.”
Ellie scoffs and folds her arms, shaking her head like I’m an absolute idiot. “Are you asking me out, Pemberton? Becausein spite of everything I am, you can’t stop thinking of me? When you’ve been critical of me from the first moment you met me?”
Can someone get me an Ellie Bennet translator? Is that what I said? My stomach plummets as I run back through my words to her. My brain flashes a red warning sign and screamsAbort!I have never run from trouble. On the field, I run into it. I createthe disorder. Ellie Bennet is a level of chaos that I’ve never experienced before.
“I shouldn’t have—” I start, but she cuts me off.
“You think you’re better than me because you worked so hard and I didn’t?” She laughs, cold and condescending. “Yeah, my dad is a billionaire, and my show puts me in front of millions. I’m not the only one who got a leg up.”
I clench my fists. I hustled my butt off to be where I am. I deserve everything I’ve gotten, just like her. I fold my arms and ignore the discomfort in my stomach over what she’s said. “I worked hard every step of the way,” I grind out. There’s more I want to say, more I want to acknowledge, but the words don’t come quickly or easily to me like they do for Ellie, especially when I’m trying to make sure I don’t sound like a tool.
“Of course you did,” she says, her voice so cold it makes playing in New York in January seem like a tropical vacation. “Because you’re Will Pemberton.” She takes a step toward me, now with both hands on her hips. “I should be flattered you even asked, right? Considering how I live my life. I’m sorry I’m taking up so much of your precious brain space.” She huffs. “After everything he’s done … Wow.”
Everything I’ve done? Yeah, I screwed up and judged her unfairly. Worse, I did it in front of a lot of people. Is that unforgivable? Am I missing something?
My whole body tenses. I’m never the one standing still while the threat advances—I am the threat—so my footing feels off, loose, like I’m going to be overrun at any moment and there’s nothing I can do.
“Listen, I know I’m not the most charming guy in the world, and I say things wrong?—”
“Are you serious right now?” she barks.
I clap my mouth shut.
She folds her arms, drawing attention to the way her loose, sleeveless top shows off toned arms and shoulders. And I hate how attracted I am to her in this moment as she tells me off.
“Yes. I was,” I grind out.
“Exactly what part of your body are you thinking with if you believe I’d say yes?”
Heat sears my face. She’s diminishing all of this to me thinking she’s beautiful? I’m angry and embarrassed that I misread her completely. “So your answer is no?”
Her eyes flare and she presses her lips together before saying, “There is no grand gesture big enough to tempt me to say yes.” Then she whirls around, but her words still ring clear as she stalks away. “After what you did to Grayson Hollis, there is no way in he?—”
Her heel sticks in a break in the sidewalk and her words are cut off as she flails and cries out. There’s a snap that I hope is her shoe and not something else, and she falls backwards. I dive toward her, but not before her head hits the ground with a sickening crack.
CHAPTER 12
WILL
“Ellie?” I kneel next to her.
