Page 47 of Crash
“He kissed me,” I blurted.
“And?”
“And what?” I asked, rising to my feet. “There’s a point where you have to stop and let me make my own mistakes!”
“To the point you get hurt again?” he roared, edging further into the room.
I jerked backward. “Ash, you’re scaring me.”
“Fuckin’good.” He began to grind his teeth.
“Good?” I exclaimed, tears threatening to rise up and overwhelm me. “Good?You’re not my father!”
He paused, his face falling like I’d slapped him into silence. “No, I’m not, but I had to be after they left us.”
“Don’t make this about them,” I snapped. “That’s ancient history.”
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Ren exclaimed as she appeared in the doorway. “I can hear you two going at it from in the apartment.”
“He’s getting worked up over nothing,” I said, hugging my arms around my middle.
She glanced at me, then at Ash, and this dark cloud seemed to pass over her features. With one swift movement, she shoved Ash hard in the chest, and he fell back against the door. If there was anyone who knew my brother better than I did, it washer.
“I thought we were through with this,” she snapped. “You and your fucking anger issues. Can’t you see you’re scaring her?”
Ash pushed against her, bringing their bodies together. “Better me than him.”
“Him?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “You mean Lincoln?”
“She won’t say it, but I know he touched her. He—”
Pushing off the wall, I strode up to them and shoved Ash as hard as I could. “I have feelings for him,” I cried. “I have feelings for him, and I don’t know how to deal with them.”
He stared at me then, his anger dissolving into something that looked a hell of a lot like shock. “What?”
“I’m not a child, Ash,” I said, my hands shaking. “I’m twenty-four. I’m a woman. So fucking yeah, he touched me.I wanted him to.”
Ren was smiling like an idiot, like she’d known all along that this would happen. She wasgood friendswith both Twins after all. Ash had had a rivalry with them since day one, and I doubted that would ever go away.
“I thought—”
“You thought it was a one-sided schoolgirl crush,” I interrupted, shaking my head at him.
His eyes widened, and that’s how I knew I was right on the money. He still saw me as his little sister—the sixteen-year-old who came to watch him fight and the nineteen-year-old[CS1]who[CS1]was raped by his AUFC rival. I was neither of those girls anymore. I was Violet twopointoh, and I was only just beginning to wake up.
Ash swallowed hard. “Vee… I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“I know, but you need to back off.”
His jaw tensed, and he glanced at Ren, looking for back up.
“You can’t control her heart, Maverick,” she said. “You of all people should know that.”
“You said it yourself,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s a good guy.” Who’d done some stupid shit that had hurt me, but Ash had to give us a chance to work it out.
“I just want to protect you, Vee,” he pleaded.
“You can’t wrap me up in cotton wool for the rest of my life,” I said, my voice lowering. “You’re the one who wanted me to get out of the house and live my life. You were the one who offered me this job.”
