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“Why?” She kicks her legs. “What is it you have to say that is so important?”
I grip her wrists tighter as her eyes search mine. I have always been drawn to Ellery’s fire and determination. But those traits that I adored, are part of the reason I can’t stand to see fuckers like Royce, Dex, and Asher around her.
Among the well-groomed show ponies, Ellery was a mustang. She had more personality and spirit in one finger than in all of Elmhurst’s student body combined, and I hated the idea of those asshats trying to minimize her spark and turning her into one of their mindless clones.
She may no longer be mine, but that didn’t mean I wanted her with any of them because of what I had said or done. I didn’t let her go, to wind up in their clutches.
“I’m sorry.” I press my forehead to hers and breathe her in. “I shouldn’t have said what I did the other night. And I’m sorry if anything you heard today hurt you.”
She draws in a shuddering breath, and I pull back, finding her watery eyes on mine.
“Why does it matter who I hang around with or date?” she asks quietly. “You made it clear we were over, so I moved on, just as you told me to.”
I know what I told her to do, but I didn’t want that. Not really. I never moved on. I moved past. There was a difference.
“You’re too good for them. You always were. You deserve better.”
She swallows and tightens her firsts. “I deserve a lot of things, Cruz, and being called a whore, and treated like one, isn’t on that list.”
She yanks her arms out of my hold and pushes up, sending me falling backward. I know she wanted a different answer, but I can’t tell her that it drives me insane to see her with anyone but me.
“You can’t dump someone, ignore them for two years, then show up out of the blue, and blow sunshine up their ass about what they deserve,” she spits out angrily while pushing up from the bed. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“Then howdoesit work?” I do the same. “Because I’m trying here, Ellery. I really am.”
“Just how are you trying?” she demands. “By demanding no one touches me. Or better yet, telling me you want me to leave your party, then flying into a rage when you see me with someone else, then kissing me like the last two years never happened.”
“No.” I stalk toward her. “By not doing what I really wanted to do today.”
She looks me square in the eyes, unflinching. “And that was?”
“Peeling that bikini from your body and fucking you on that beach in front of everyone so they know who you belong to, who you willalwaysbelong to.”
Her mouth falls open and she pulls back, eyes wide with surprise. Then after a moment, she closes it and lifts her chin. “You would never do that.”
“Oh?” I quirk a brow. “What makes you so sure?”
“Because…” she says coolly. “I gave you every reason to tell the world who I belonged to two years ago and you didn’t. Instead, you left me. You left us.”
Her words sting. The past was a cut deeper than I ever imagined. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, Ellery. You have no idea.”
“You’re right, I don’t. Because I never heard from you again!”
“Didn’t see you trying to contact me, baby!”
Ellery’s head snaps back as if she’s just been bitten. “What?”
“You heard me.” I’m breathing heavily now. My anger, matching hers. “No, I didn’t call, or write, or come down here to see you the way I wanted to. But I didn’t exactly see you making any grand gestures, either.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said,” I cut her off. “But you could have at least tried!”
“That’s not fair.” Her resolve starts to slip as her lower lip trembles. “You told me to stay out of your life.”
“I did.” I nod. “But that didn’t mean I didn’t need to know you gave a shit.”
“Are you serious?” she asks numbly.
