“Touch her again, Jake, and I will kill you.”
“Enough, Rook,” I said through gritted teeth, pushing hard at his chest, but he wouldn’t budge. “I can’t believe I made a show of that. Let. Me. Go.”
“Shh,” he whispered, his hot breath sending shivers down my spine. “I will in a second.”
My mouth dropped open, my eyes narrowing as I freed one hand enough to pull back and slap him. The sharp sound echoed, and the nearby crowd went silent. But Rook’s reaction was a slow, menacing grin that only made me worry I had made a bigger mistake than kissing him.
“Don’t shush me,” I said, proud the words were only slightly stuttered. I always kept my mouth shut and I rarely talked back, but I didn’t want him to walk all over me. I should be scared, but the way he seemed to think he was untouchable only made me want to prove him wrong.
“Cute, Rebel, very cute,” Rook mocked, towering over me. “And lucky for you, I like your attitude. But if I let you go and you run right to him, we are going to have issues.”
His arms dropped, letting me go, but his eyes promised consequences. As soon as he let me go, I turned, my heart pounding in my chest, as I bolted towards Jake. Every step felt weighed down by the certainty that Rook wasn’t going to let this go without repercussions. And that made some twisted part of me excited.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know this would happen. I didn’t know he would be here,” I said to Jake.
I technically hadn’t known he would be here. I had hoped, but I didn’t think that was important right now.
“It’s alright,” Jake said. “It’s really alright. I didn’t know you had any connection to him.” He looked past me, and I knew Rook had stepped up behind me again. “Sorry, Rook. I really didn’t know.”
“Wait, so you won’t drive me home?”
“Not a chance in fucking hell,” Jake said.
“Glad we cleared that up. Come on,” Rook said, grabbing my arm to drag me along with him.
“Wait, why wouldn’t you drive me home? You drove me here! You would leave me stranded?”
“Pretty sure you have a ride home,” Jake said, nodding at Rook.
“I came with you. What if I don’t want to leave with him?”
It wasn’t actually how I felt. I wanted to leave with Rook. It was almost the entire reason I came here tonight. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to happen after that, but I definitely didn’t want to get on the back of Jake’s bike again.
I pulled at Rook, trying to slip out of his grip, but he picked me up instead, throwing me over his shoulder.
“You are such a brat. What were you doing here tonight, Rebel? Looking for me?”
“Put me down.”
“Tell me the truth. If you didn’t even know what a backpack was, I know you weren’t riding with other guys before. So tell me, were you looking for me?”
“Maybe.”
“I like that, Rebel,” he groaned, the rumble of it reverberating through me. “I like that a lot.”
We made it to his bike before he finally set me down.
“Looks like I’m your only ride home now tonight. Going to take me to the wrong house again or are we past that?”
“You know where I live now. Stalker.”
“You know where I hang out now,” he said, leaning down onto the bike. His face was inches from mine now, and the thought of his lips on me again made my heart race. “Stalker.”
“I’m not stalking.”
“You are too, Rebel,” he said, running his lips up my neck. “You run around here looking for me all night and the moment you find me, you act like the rich, stuck up brat you are. Like you are too good for me and this place when you’re here hunting me down.”
“I am not,” I snapped.
