Page 25 of Every Broken Promise
Tyler let himself be dragged by me. I went to the side of my house where the fence still caged it in so he nor my parents would think I was dragging him outside so I could kick him out.
Once we had some privacy, I turned around to face him. Augh, I wanted to wipe the smug look from his face. His grin made part of me that shouldn’t have any reason to react tingle.
“Are we making up now?” he drawled.
“In your dreams, Tylaster.” His eyes flashed in annoyance at my refusal to say his name, but he kept his mouth shut. “I’m calling for a temporary ceasefire.”
“We are not at war,” he stated.
I ignored him. He was a guy, therefore, he was dumb, and I didn’t have it in me to spell it out for him.
“While we are at my parents’, we will be cordial, but not friendly. They are a big part of our lives, so the strain of our fallout will not fall on them.”
“Do you even listen to yourself?”
“Truce, yes or no?” I bit out.
“I want to have an actual conversation,” he pleaded.
“And I want to get this day over with.”
His eyes flashed. Maybe it was hurt or anger, but I didn’t want to find out.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he questioned me.
I crossed my arms and tilted my head in acknowledgment.
Tyler took one step closer to me, and instinctively I took one back. This was a bad call on my end because I was now backed into a corner. My sharp intake of breath seemed to echo in this little nook. Something Tyler took notice of because those green eyes landed on my lips.
“You’re pissed at me, beautiful. I get that now,” he began speaking, and my stomach dropped. He rarely used that nickname. It used to be said more often when we were little, but once we became teens, he stopped using it, and whenever he did, it got awkward real quick. Maybe it was me making more out of it than it was. “If you want to go around pretending like you hate me, then that’s on you, babe, but I’m not going to play your games.”
My mouth opened and closed as I tried to formulate a coherent thought.
“I’m not playing games,” I hissed.
My eyes narrowed, and his smile turned into a grin. This time it was me, the one who got sucked into looking at his lips. I quickly realized what I was doing and lifted my gaze, but the look on Ty’s face made me wish I had never stepped outside today.
I would have remembered if Tyler Kane had ever looked at me the way he was currently doing so. There was longing in his gaze, but I could detect want for the first time in my life.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
He seemed to get a bit closer, almost as if he had no more control of his body than I did. Every cell in my body was telling me to stay still. That maybe for the first time, I would be able to feel Ty’s mouth on me. That I would begin to discover the other thousand things I didn’t know about him.
I did what any sane girl in my place would do when being pressed against a fence by their enemy.
I punched Tyler in the gut.
“What the fuck, Astrid?” he whooshed in pain.
Using both my hands, I pushed him back by his shoulders. This time, he didn’t resist.
“I hate you,” I told him.
He looked annoyed by my statement.
