Page 36 of Devoured

She defiantly pushed the plate away.

I walked over and placed two pills down on the counter. "You need to eat with these." I pushed the plate back toward her.

"I'm not taking those."

Yes. You are."Dr. Ridge left them for you. They're for the pain."

"I'm okay. Actually, I'm used to dealing with pain now. Where is my phone?"

I clenched my jaw. "Penny, take the pills. Eat the waffles. I'll give you your phone when you're done."

"I need to tell Melissa where I am."

"Your friends know where you are." I emphasized the word friends. Because I’d even texted limp dick Tyler Stevens. And that prick would never be anything more than her friend ever again.

She huffed and sat down.

Well, if I hadn’t known she was a teenager a few days ago, I would have guessed it now. I was withholding her phone privileges because she was being petulant. My hand was itching to spank her. And I knew she’d like it. She liked that I was older than her. She liked when I punished her.Breathe.

She downed the pills with some water. "How do you know Dr. Ridge?" She cut up the waffles and poured syrup over them.

"He's an old friend." I clenched my hand into a fist so I wouldn’t actually be tempted to spank her. That’s not what she needed right now. She needed to eat every piece of that waffle and drink the rest of her water.

"A friend of Isabella's too?"

Fuck me."No." I put my elbows on the counter and buried my fingers in my hair.Stop pushing my buttons and eat your food.

She took another bite and then pushed the plate away. "I can't eat anymore."

Forcing this wasn’t working. I needed to make her feel comfortable here. To calm her down. I walked over and sat down on the stool beside her.

"Look, thank you for taking care of me last night,” she said. “You didn't need to do that..."

"I did need to." I put my hand on her thigh, savoring how warm she felt even through her yoga pants.

She immediately swiveled her chair to remove my hand. "You didn't. But I do appreciate it. I'm fine now, though. And I need to go. Please give me my phone."

Absolutely not."I can't let you leave. You have a concussion."

"I can take care of myself."

I forced myself not to laugh. "You certainly didn't take care of yourself last night."

"I was fine before you showed up," she snapped.

"You haven't been taking care of yourself these past few weeks either."

She stood up, her stool squeaking against the floor. "How dare you throw that in my face? I tried. How can you sit there and judge me for feeling? I loved you. I loved you so much.”

Past tense.The knife was back in my chest, slowly twisting.

“And it meant nothing to you.Imeant nothing to you. You're completely fine. It's so hard to see you that way when I'm falling apart."

She couldn’t be more wrong. "Penny..." I reached out for her.

"Don't touch me. Don't you dare touch me." She glared at me. "I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. Because of you! Because you left me!"

The words seemed to echo in my apartment. And maybe I needed to hear them over and over again. To remind me of my mistakes. So I wouldn’t be tempted to make them again. But this wasn’t all on me. We’d had a fight because of her. "That's not fair, Penny. You can't put all the blame on me."

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