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Her attempts to sober herself had me grinding my teeth. “You know, you're being super fucking unhelpful, by the way. I expected more from you.”
Clearing her throat dramatically, her face pinched tight as if it pained her not to laugh at my joke of a life, she said, “Okay, okay. But seriously, what do you expect? You're giving him exactly what he wants, playing right into his hands. Duh.”
“What?” I snapped.
“You are his biggest challenge, Ri! How do you not see this? He basically feeds off the attention you give him, always has. You know that, right?” She threw her head back at my blank expression. “How did you two leave things, you know, last time you did... whatever it is you do?”
My mouth dropped open as I gaped at her. “We don't do anything. I mean, yeah, we have these… interactions where we antagonize each other or whatever, but this isn't a thing. He kissed me. Without permission. Once. As in one-time event, never happening again, leave me the hell alone or I'll tear off your balls and present them to Old Man Hammersmith's Rottweiler as a chew toy.”
A sardonic brow lifted. “In other words, you presented a giant red flag to an angry as fuck bull who's never heard the word no before? One who's already borderline obsessed with you. And don't give me that look, like I'm talking out of my ass. You know this. Everyone knows this.”
My mouth flopped open and closed like a fish, before I slapped a hand to my head and sank back down. “I know we have this weird need to rile each other but that’s as far as it goes. I seriously begged him to back off. I didn't think he'd see that as a challenge.”
“Well, he did. And he’s pushing pretty hard for a reaction. She was riding him like a bronco. He did everything except stick his dick in that ho in front of the entire student body.” She quickly thrust a hand out to stop me when I shot out of my seat and scrunched my eyes closed. Her far too accurate recap of our lunchtime entertainment caused bile to rise in my throat and my nails to bite into my skin painfully. “But that show... was all for you, Riley babes. He might have had his hands all up in her junk, but you were all up in his head. Raya knew it, too. And for the love of God, Ri, it can’t be news to you that Maddox Renner has had the biggest boner for you since you outgrew your training bra and sprouted those little boobies! Have you seriously not realized that's the reason he can't leave you alone? He might have toned down his efforts when Leon was in the picture, but the chemistry between you two has always been damn near combustible. You can bet he’s coming at you all guns blazing now.”
The most mortifying thing about her words? How much they appeased me. The spark that had been a second from blowing as images of Reno and Raya replayed in my head, fizzled out like a faulty firework. The vomit climbing my throat receded like someone hit rewind. Her words left a warm fuzzy feeling that should have had me slapping some sense into myself. I shouldn't be hap
py I was in his head. I shouldn't relish the thought that when his hands were full of another girl's ass, it was mine he imagined, or be grateful for the validation that there was something between us. I shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t.
But I was.
I sighed heavily as my mind whirred. What if I want more? Clearing my head with a shake, I muttered with as much feigned disinterest and forced conviction as I could muster, “Yeah, well that still doesn't help me, does it?”
The bark of laughter that hit me had my eyes rolling to the back of my skull.
“Oh babe, you're practically purring like a little kitten now. Seems Reno isn't the only one who wants to play dirty, huh?” She curved a brow. “You’re in trouble.”
Awesome. Just effing awesome.
“You didn’t need to ask why it bothers me so much to see him with Raya, did you?”
She winked, mouth hitching up on one side as she clucked her tongue. “I don’t ask questions I already know the answer to. You think I don’t see you? You’re as clear as glass, Riley Mason.”
My eyes climbed up Liss’ face and landed on her knowing gaze. “Well, you saw more than I did.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
Deep down, I knew she was right… I’d always known it. It just used to be easier to convince myself otherwise.
Twelve
Riley
“You so much as think about putting those crab-infested hands on me and I will throat punch you so damn hard,” I warned, maintaining my stride as I paced down the hall.
Christ, I couldn’t catch a break. The one person I wanted to avoid, and everywhere I turned, there he was. Like a beautiful fucking nightmare.
“Jesus Christ, princess, Imma keep 'em right here, right where you can see 'em, 'kay?” The amusement in his voice had me teetering. It really did. Right on the edge of reason.
“Don't talk to me, don't follow me,” I muttered, head forward, feet carrying me away from him.
With zero warning, he lifted me off my feet fireman style. The screech that caught in my throat morphed into a grunt as my stomach came into contact with a beefy shoulder. A yelp of sheer indignation and outrage squeezed its way past the blockage when a big hand spanked my ass, though. I refused to address the spark of excitement his palm induced; that could shrivel up and die.
“You goddamn brute!” I screamed when I regained control of my voice box, my fists smacking down against his broad and infuriatingly solid back. He didn't even flinch.
“Put me down, Reno. Right fucking now!” I huffed and tried to swipe hair out of my face.
He laughed, swatting my ass again. God, I was legit going to cold-blood murder him. And not a soul could blame me, in fact, they'd marvel at my restraint this far.
