Page 134 of Challenge Me

“I don’t need—”

“I know,” I interrupted. “It’s not about protecting you. It’s about communication.”

“It’s not like I knew he’d run and talk to Clara.”

“So, if he hadn’t, then I never would’ve found out?”

He lifted one shoulder and took a step back from the mirror. “I take care of myself. You know that.”

“But you don’t have to!”

“Just stop, Amir!”

“No.”

He pushed past me out of the bathroom. I followed, even as I struggled to hold in my frustration. Oli wasn’t wrong about those boxing gloves, but words didn’t need a buffer, as long as I could make him use them.

“Were you going to stay at the bar forever?” I asked.

“I needed space.”

“Space from what? I’ve been gone for three days.”

“This!” He gestured at me sharply. “You’re pissed, I’m pissed. There’s clearly no winning here. Clara has made sure of that.”

“Remember when you told me to stop caring about that?”

“But you do care. We both know it. Every time something comes out, I see how it affects you.” I shook my head, but he continued. “You can’t tell me that you’re not sitting there trying to find a way to fix it before it spirals out of control. What happens when it’s beyond fixing?”

“Nothing is beyond fixing.”

“Ask Renshu if that’s true.”

“Fuck Renshu. Fuck Shawn. Fuck Clara and anyone who cares what that demon says.”

Wrapping his arms around himself, he tucked his head, as if he wanted to become smaller. I stepped close to him and ran my hands across his shoulders, then grunted when he shoved me backward.

“Remi,” I warned. He did it again, forcing me to take a step back.

“This is what you want, right? Me, completely stripped down to what I really am.”

“This isn’t what you are.”

“Maybe you should ask Cole that.”

“I don’t have a single question for Cole.”

He let out a roar that turned his face red as he advanced on me again. He stopped just short, and his chest rose and fell so rapidly that I worried he’d hyperventilate.

“You know why he’d hit me?” His eyes were crazed, worse than when he’d talked about his dream in the backyard. “Because I hurt him first. I broke up with him, then came crawling back, then did it all over again. I drove him to the brink of his sanity.”

“So what?”

“That’s who I am, Amir. You think you’re pissed off now? You don’t know the half of it.”

“You push people’s buttons. What better way to get them to abandon you, right? Or better yet, to lash out.”

He rolled his eyes.