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By the time I walked into my hotel room, it was almost lunchtime, and we were supposed to meet in Mickey’s private suite for our class only in an hour. I took a quick rinse, and as I was wrapping the towel around my body, there was a knock on my door.
“I’m coming!” Making sure the towel was secure, I opened the door to find Jace standing on the other side.
“This is how you answer the door?” he immediately reprimanded.
“Of course not. If I knew you were standing behind it, I wouldn’t have opened it at all.”
I don’t know what bothered me more—the fact that he was mad I opened the door in a towel or the fact that he didn’t even look at me while I was standing wet and practically naked in front of him. His eyes did not glance down at my body for one second—it was like I was nothing more than a child to him.
“What do you want?”
“For you to put some fucking clothes on.”
“No problem.” I slammed the door in his face. “Asshole.”
I returned to my bathroom to get dressed and put on some makeup. I never imagined when I stepped back into my room…
Jace would be leaning against the doorframe of our adjoining rooms.
Seven
Cove
“This is breaking and entering, Jace.”
“What part of adjoining rooms do you not understand?”
“The part where you’re standing in my room uninvited.”
“I don’t need an invitation when you’re my assistant for the weekend.”
“This is bullshit. Why would you want to be around me all weekend? You don’t even like me.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth I’ve never said.”
“You could’ve fooled me, but you know what? That doesn’t change the fact that I hate you. So why don’t you go find another cheerleader to be at your beck and call for the next two days?”
“No,” he stated. “I want you.”
“You say that like you mean it.”
“I never say anything I don’t mean. You’re my assistant.” He pushed off the doorframe, walking toward me in a calculating stride. “I’m here to claim you, bunny.”
Claim me? Why did that sound sexual?
Each step that brought him closer to me made my heart accelerate.
“I…I…”
“You what?”
“Why do you keep calling me bunny?”
“Because it’s better than me calling you a pain in my ass.”
“You’re in my room, and I’m the pain in the ass?”
He grinned, standing in front of me. “Are you always this quick-witted?”
“It’s part of my charm.”
“Here, I thought I brought out the worst in you.”
“Oh!” I mocked in a condescending tone. “Here, I thought you knew everything about me?”
“Why do you insist on fighting with me?”
“Why do you insist on pissing me off so much? Last time we spoke, I was a slut who was a bad example for your sister, remember?”
“A slut would actually spread her legs and not just pretend to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a cock tease, Cove, and not because you’re genuinely interested in lying on your back for a random boy. You’re simply trying to find validation in all the wrong places. It’s why you’re still a virgin.”
My mouth dropped open. “You have no right—”
“Truth hurts, bunny. I warned you on the bus to stop baiting me, but I'll lay it out for you since you don’t know how to take no for an answer. I’m not afraid to hurt your feelings, which only has about a five-second delay before you’re back to being a pain in my ass.”
“You assho—”
“Let me finish,” he ordered, further infuriating me.
“You need to stop pretending to be someone you’re not. It will end badly for you if you continue down this path just because you’re lonely and looking for attention from the wrong people.”
Feeling naive, I lied, “I’m not a virgin.”
He eyed me up and down for a moment. “People blink less when they’re lying and blink more after they lie, so try that again with less deception this time.”
“So now you’re Sherlock Holmes?”
“If I told you”—he grinned again—“I’d have to kill you.”
I swallowed hard.
“You nervous, bunny?”
“No.” I quickly blinked twice. “Shit.”
He scoffed out a chuckle.
“So what? You’re like a walking lie detector?”
“Something like that.”
My eyebrows pinched together.
“Stop weighing your words.”
“Then get out of my head.”
“But you make it so damn easy, Cove.”
“You don’t know anything about me. Stop generalizing me with your statistics of case studies. They have nothing to do with me.”
He purposely stepped toward me, expecting me to step back.
I didn’t.
“What part don’t I know? You’re impulsive, and you think you’re grown.”
“So does every eighteen-year-old who’s ever lived.”
“Alright… how about this?”
This man was full of surprises. “You move your hair to cover the side of your face when you’re anxious. You fidget with your fingers when you’re deep in thought. You bite your fingernails when you think no one is looking. You smile when you’re hurting. You hate to admit when you’re wrong. You laugh when you’re uncomfortable and pretend you don’t need anyone. In reality, you’re just looking for a boy to fill that void that Daddy never gave you.”
