Chapter 9 #2
As far as brush-offs went, that one was as pathetic as it was cliched. But it was all I had at the moment. I was no longer naked, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel raw and exposed after what happened. And I wasn’t in the headspace to handle any of it.
I scurried past him as he yanked his shirt into place and pulled the door open, sucking in a deep breath of warm, fresh air that I hoped would help clear the hazy mess that Roe had created.
“Thanks for all . . . that.” I waved my hand toward the mess that was my bed—the comforter had slid onto the floor at some point, and we’d been so vigorous that the fitted sheet had popped right off one corner of the mattress.
“But I’m tired, and I’d like to get some sleep. ”
That was bullshit, of course. I already knew I wasn’t going to find sleep for a good long while. Not with the mess my head was currently in.
My gaze was pinned to the floor as Roe’s boots came into view.
I was so focused on avoiding his face that he startled a jump out of me when his hand came up to cup my throat a lot like he had when he was fucking me only minutes earlier.
Pressing his thumb beneath my chin, he forced my face upward until I had no choice but to meet him eye to eye.
Heat and anger and something that looked a hell of a lot like determination swirled in the deep blue of his eyes as he scowled down at me.
“You think that fucking rose on your back means I’m gone, you’re dead wrong, baby.
You might have tried to erase me, but I’m still there, underneath.
All you managed to do was hide me, but mark my words, I’ll get back to where I belong no matter how much you fight me. ”
I sneered, sliding my mask into place so he could no longer see how badly he still affected me. “Oh yeah, and where is it you think you belong?”
He didn’t hesitate to bring his hand up and rest it against my sternum. Right over my rapidly-beating heart. “I belong right here, baby.”
“Bullshit,” I spat, reaching for bravado as I felt that wall around my heart take a direct hit.
“That hasn’t been yours in a very long time.
” I could tell from the way one corner of his mouth started to curl upward that he didn’t believe me, so I grabbed hold of the first thing that popped into my head to burst his bubble.
“You’ve been out of my life longer than you were in it, Roe.
You’ve made what we had back then into something bigger than it was. ”
I didn’t expect the lance of fire that shot through my chest as soon as the last word passed my lips.
Saying that lie out loud actually caused me physical pain, and from the way Roe jerked back like I hit him, it had the same effect on him.
But he didn’t let go. Instead, he stepped in, closing the last few inches of space between us, leaned in so close he was the only thing I could see.
“You want to feed yourself that shit, you go ahead, but I know the truth. And I’ll spend every waking hour reminding you if that’s what it takes. See, when you kissed me, you made yourself mine, and I’ll be damned if I let you walk away from me a second time.”
My top lip curled up in disgust that I unfortunately didn’t feel. But as they say, fake it ’til you make it, right? “Why? You had no problem with it the last time.”
I knew my blow landed as planned when he winced.
Then I watched as he shook it off and pinned that look of determination back into place.
“You want to hurt me because I hurt you, go for it. I’ll take it because I earned it.
But let me make one thing perfectly clear.
” His thumb tipped my head back even farther.
I wasn’t short by any means, but Roe always managed to make me feel small.
And he’d only managed to get bigger as the years passed.
“You need to get off while you’re in town, I’m the one who’ll do it.
The only one.” His cinnamon scented breath whispered past my heated cheeks as he warned, “You try giving what belongs to me to another man, whatever I end up doing to him will be on your hands.”
My lips parted on a gasp, a shiver working down my spine as the earnestness staring back at me. He wasn’t joking. Not one little bit. “You can’t be serious,” I yelped. “You’re threatening me?”
“Not a threat, Honeybee. A promise. You try playing games with a man like me, you suffer the consequences.”
Ignoring the rush of heat that flooded through me, forcing my nipples into hard peaks and dampening my panties, I jerked my chin from his hold and took a single step backward, bumping into the open door and making it bounce off the wall.
“Stop calling me that,” I gritted out, clenching my hands into fists down at my sides.
“And get the hell out of my room. I’ll be perfectly content to never see your face again.
” I was so furious I nearly stomped my foot like a freaking child.
He smiled, and I swore my palm started to itch with the desire to slap it right off his stupidly sexy face.
“We’ll see about that.”
“There’ll be nothing to see!” I shouted after him as he moseyed toward a motorcycle parked right near my room. For the first time since he showed up, I wondered how he knew where to find me.
I slammed the door to my room on his rich chuckle right before he started the bike up and stomped toward the bathroom. First order of business was to wash Monroe Clifton off my skin. Then I’d take care of the bedsheets.