Chapter 22 #2
My head instantly snaps toward said voice, only for my blood to boil when I see Bryan grabbing Reverie’s hand, spinning her around, and pulling her back into him.
Surprise flashes across her face while fury unleashes in my chest.
I charge toward them, grinding my molars to dust while Bryan flaps a jaw that’s two seconds away from being crushed beneath my fist.
There’s absolutely nothing the fucker should have to say to Reverie. They’re not even in the same classes—I fucking checked.
Reverie spots me over Bryan’s shoulder, and her expression drops into an ‘oh shit’ expression.
Oh shit is motherfucking right.
“You got two seconds to point your teeth in a different direction than my girl before I do it for you and send them backward,” I bark.
Bryan visibly stiffens a moment before he turns to see me and then instantly backs away, holding both hands up in surrender with a smart-ass grin on his face.
“Whoa, buddy. Easy there. I’m not making out with her this time, I swear. I'll wait for her to whisper that sweet little question in my ear, asking if she can kiss me again.”
Then, he winks at her, and I decide right then and there he no longer deserves to have the privilege of eyeballs.
My vision flickers, and I take one step before Reverie is throwing herself in my path, shoving at my shoulders with both hands.
“Dread, stop it,” she hisses.
It does nothing to deter me until she plants a hand against my chest and holds it there.
I only stop so I don’t mow her down. I also happen to like her hand there.
Then, she twists to point an angry finger at Bryan. “You, too. Don’t fucking antagonize him, Bryan.”
The fuck is she saying his name for?
Bryan grins.
The fuck is he smiling for?
Reverie quickly faces me again, pushing at my chest to get my attention. I’m slow to drag my stare away from the fucker and meet her stern gaze. Her thin bangs are getting too long, and somewhere beneath the fury, I'm annoyed I can't see her copper eyes as well.
“He touched your hand,” I say quietly. “So I need you to move so I can break his.”
She blinks at me in bewilderment. “Can you not act like a fucking caveman who's pissed off because someone touched his wheel?”
I’ll have to dissect that analogy later.
For now, I return my attention to the dead man standing behind her, grinning like a fucking clown.
“There a reason you’re still here?” I clip.
“Just wanted to check if she was okay, my man. A reporter cornered her when she came out of class ten minutes ago, and I stepped in. She took off before I could finish telling the dickhead to leave her alone.”
I drop my gaze to Rev, finding her glaring at Bryan.
“I didn’t need your help, but thanks anyway,” she says, and then turns back to me.
“I also wanted to see if you wanted to study with me again.”
Every atom in my body freezes, and I go cold. When I lift my eyes back to Bryan, my fingers tic with the need to wrap them around his tongue and rip it out of his mouth.
“Again?” I ask, my voice devoid of emotion.
That slimy, burning feeling returns, the same thing I felt when I watched Rev kiss him. It twists my stomach until it’s all I can feel through the ice in my veins.
Bryan points his thumb at Rev, feigning an innocent expression. “Oh, she didn’t tell you? We studied together in the library a couple of days ago.” He shrugs casually. “It was a good time, so I figured I’d ask for a repeat.”
Two days ago—when I spent the morning with Mark, silencing the two girls who posted our sex tape. The rest of the day, I was getting my ass handed to me by Coach at practice.
I didn’t get home until late, and Rev was already sleeping. Then yesterday, I spent yet another day at practice before and after class and didn’t get home till late.
She didn’t mention it to me this morning before we left for class, and that only enrages me more.
Again, I drop my gaze to Reverie, who's staring up at me with a pleading expression for me to calm down.
But ice has corroded my insides, and her little puppy dog eyes don’t do shit to thaw me out.
“He’s trying to get beneath your skin. I was at the library studying alone—” She spits the word over her shoulder at Bryan. “—and he sat at the other end of the table.”
Bryan places a hand over his chest in faux hurt. “Damn, girl. Way to put a knife into my heart. You certainly didn’t seem to mind my presence the other night. No need to suddenly act like I was a bother now that your boyfriend’s here.”
Reverie’s nostrils flare, and her eyes burst into flames a moment before she whips her head around to glower at Bryan.
“Don’t play fucking stupid, Bryan. I kissed you once, and Dread punched you for it. Which was a dick move on his part, but what's really fucked up is how you're using me to get back at him like a fucking child,” she spits.
I pivot on my heel and walk away before I actually do something stupid and murder a man in broad daylight. Truthfully, I don’t even recall hitting Bryan. I blacked out, and by the time I got my bearings, I was throwing Reverie into the pool.
This time, I’m on the verge of doing the same, except I can’t trust myself not to take it too far.
My body operates on autopilot. I head to my car in the parking lot and get in, only vaguely aware of Rev sliding in the passenger seat.
If she speaks at all during the drive, I don’t hear. I don’t even remember driving, nor do I remember getting out of the car and walking to my dorm.
I hang my coat on the rack next to my door, but the second I finish kicking off my shoes, a fist goes flying into my shoulder, knocking clarity back into my system. With that comes the burning rage flooding my insides again.
Clenching my jaw, I exhale slowly and turn to meet her spitting stare.
“Stop it,” she snaps.
“Stop what?” I ask through gritted teeth.
She waves her hand at me. “This! Stop icing me out just because you can’t regulate your emotions!”
I swear to fucking God—
Snarling, I grab a handful of her hair and jerk her against me.
“You’re only going to get one warning from me, Reverie. Be very careful,” I growl, my voice low and rough.
“We didn’t even study together!” she says, her voice pitching high with exasperation. “He asked if he could sit. I had a six-person table to myself and the rest were taken, so I said yes. We barely even spoke!”
I believe her. In fact, I already knew it wasn’t nearly as deep as Bryan was making it out to be.
But that’s what fucking enrages me. It was effortless for Bryan to use her against me.
She’s a goddamn weakness, a soft spot that shouldn’t even exist. I could accept the physical attraction, but otherwise, I should feel nothing but loathing and resentment for her.
Instead, I’m burning with jealousy and—fuck, it’s a needle digging beneath my skin, seeing her give any man even an ounce of fucking attention.
“Okay,” I say, releasing her and stepping away.
Reverie blinks, her head jerking back in shock. Then, she frowns. She doesn’t seem satisfied by my answer, but what the fuck else is there to say?
You’ve got my head all fucked up, and I’m starting to loathe that more than you?
Fuuuuck.
I need to get out of here.
Immediately.
I go to turn, but her hand shoots out to fist the collar of my hoodie.
“Absolutely not,” she snaps as she jerks me against her.
She gives me precisely zero seconds to process before she’s rearing up onto the tips of her toes and crushing her lips against mine. Instinctively, I kiss her back, but my brain short-circuits, and my heart skips several beats.
Reverie has never initiated a kiss of her own volition—not without being under duress. Which makes this kiss vastly fucking different from the rest.
Because for the first time, she wants to kiss me.
And that really fucks with my head.
It also causes a catastrophic event neither of us can ever come back from, like an asteroid colliding with the planet and wiping out mankind in a matter of seconds. It will scar the Earth for ages, telling our story even billions of years from now.
Sensing something’s off, she releases me and pulls away, her brow furrowing as she stares at me hesitantly, unsure of herself. I had kissed her back, but the rest of my body froze, my arms hanging limply at my sides.
When she realizes that, her cheeks flush red, and she goes from being unsure to mortified.
“I don’t know why I did that,” she says quickly, her thoughts written across her face as her gaze darts around awkwardly. She thinks she misjudged what’s between us and overstepped, that maybe I only want her on my terms.
It couldn’t be further from the truth.
Because that would require me to have even a microscopic fucking morsel of control over how badly I want Reverie.
And I have none.
She's a whisper in my bones. Even if I could locate where she lives inside me, I'd only ask how to make her more comfortable.
It’s the trigger that clicks my brain and body back into sync.
Growling, I grab her head and slam my mouth against hers, my insides lighting up like an exploding star. She gasps, granting me access to tangle my tongue with hers, and the second they connect, it’s as if a thousand sparklers ignite inside me.
I moan, and she responds instantly. Her arms fly up to circle around my neck as she damn near climbs me to get closer, though her short stature prevents her from getting far. I band an arm around her waist and lift her against me while the other dives into her hair.
Gasoline has replaced every drop of blood in my system, and her little mewl is the lit match. I taste it on my tongue, swallow it down, only for my body to burst into flames.
My cock swells against the band of my joggers, and it screams for just a little pressure. I can’t help but grind my hips into her.
She rips herself away, forcing me to release her. It’s sudden, and my head is a few seconds too slow, but I instinctively step forward to give chase.