Page 39 of Together We Burn
“What are you doing, Jake?” I interrupted. “What do you want out of all this? Following me to jobs? Breaking and entering?”
Dragging my gaze away from the bin, I turned to face him. Jake carded a hand through his hair, leaving the strands sticking up in different directions, making him look youthful, almost relaxed and carefree, which was laughable considering his tight posture and the uncertain expression that had replaced the playfulness.
Muscles in his jaw clenched as it looked like he was choosing his words carefully. I didn’t need to be coddled.
“Okay, well, thanks, messenger boy, you can leave,” I said shortly. I wasn’t going to give him time to spin some pretty story or say the right things that would make slutty Stevie take the reins and pounce on him like a cat.
Fucking him in the strip club had been a moment of insanity. The battles, the disgusting emotions plaguing me right now; pointless.
“Stefany…” he rasped, his tone soft, almost begging, but my raised hand cut him off. He reached out, grabbed it, and wrapped his large fingers around mine, pulling me toward him. I gasped and instinctively placed my free hand on his chest. His heart beat unsteadily under my fingers, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from where I touched him.
“None of what happened was personal,” he said, and it was like a knife stabbed into my heart. Of course, none of it was personal. Why would it have been? Letting my guard down for the first time in my life, opening myself up to someone I thought cared. It had all just been a manipulation tactic.
His eyes widened as he realised what he’d said, and he squeezed the hand he still held tightly in his like he needed to keep me close.
“Fuck, I didn’t mean it like that,” he muttered as his eyes darted across my face in search of some sort of reaction. Not that he’d get one.
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” I said, tugging my hand free from his grasp, stepping around him and turning my back. “We both lied, both used each other, and this back and forth between us will never work. So do yourself a favour and leave. You were a mistake, Jake. What you think we have isn’t real.Wearen’t real.”
My throat wanted to close with the acidity of those lies. He needed to believe we were all wrong for each other. This was unwanted lust and nothing more.
But it never felt like that.
My room was deadly quiet, until he said in a low, dangerous voice, “The fuck we aren’t.”
Chapter fifteen
Jake
Thiswomanwasinsufferable,stubborn, and a pain in my ass. One minute, her walls were coming down, bearing some of her soul for me to see, and the next, they were sky high. Why wouldn’t she admit to herself that there was a pull between us? Fine, make me suffer for what I’d done. I could take anything she wanted to give. But why deny the sparks that were always present when we were together?
Well, enough was enough.
Stefany pushed past me, walking toward her bedroom door, clearly indicating she was done with me. Right on her heels, I followed, waiting until she turned her body to mine, when I collared her throat with my hand and squeezed only enough to let her know I wasn’t playing.
“The fuck we aren’t. This, Stefany,” I growled, gesturing between our bodies with my free hand, “this is real. And your cute little declarations of hatred–although they might have been true at the start–hold less conviction every time you say them.”
A stunned Stefany was almost as endearing as a violent one. As if dazed, she parted her lips slightly before clamping them shut and knitting her brows together.
“Fuck you,” she spat, and tried to push at my chest.
I tightened my grip on her neck, and a flash of alarm flickered through her eyes as my temper got the best of me. I went without her for two months, unaware if she had managed to recover from her time in the warehouse. And the past two weeks had been torture, dreaming of her and unable to claim her.
That day in the Lion’s Den had changed something for me. Watching the dirty fuckers in the club as they laid eyes on her and shouted perverted remarks made me want to protect her. The way she trembled in my arms as we walked in silence to the main bar had me hating Will for setting up this–fuck,any–assignment up.
Her small hands circled my wrist as she swallowed hard under my hold.
“You wanted to know what I get out of this, so stop being a fucking brat and listen,” I scolded, and stroked my thumb across her pulse point. I loved how responsive she was to my touch as her pupils widened, and a slight shiver ran down her body.
Much to my amusement, I also found rage accompanied the arousal that had filled her beautiful sky-blue eyes.
“It’s not what Iwant,but what I get. Yeah, at first, you were a means to an end for securing the partnership with Will. But as soon as I met you, I realised you were so much more.” I paused and huffed humourlessly while lowering my head. “Do you know how pathetic it is for a thirty-three-year-old man to be blindsided by someone after one encounter?”
She barely breathed as I spoke. Instead, she bit down on her lower lip like she was refraining from butting in.
“You are captivating, beautiful, smart…” I paused when she dropped her eyes to the floor. “Stefany,” I croaked, slightly shaking her by the throat to urge her to look at me. I needed her to feel the meaning of my words as well as hear them. “I know all about your childhood, your assignments, and I’m still drawn to your darkness.”
I pressed my lips to hers, intending for the kiss to be brief, as I still had so much more to say to the infuriatingly stubborn girl, when I felt her respond. Brushing her tongue along my lower lip, I opened for her, relishing her taking the lead. Her tongue pushed inside my mouth, tangling with mine and bringing the minty taste of her toothpaste.
