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“Please don’t do this right now. I’ve got a massive headache.”
“Go to your room, Riley.” Her shoulders draw back at the mention of her name. By now she knows I only use it when I’m furious. “We need to have a little talk.”
“I’m so tired…”
Not giving her a chance to fight this any longer, I push open her already ajar door and force her inside. Slamming the door closed, I go right for her roommate's bed and rip off the comforter to make sure we’re alone. Once I’m certain we are, I walk briskly toward the center of the room, where Riley is watching me keenly.
My fingers graze either side of her pink cheeks. “Tell me everything.”
Averting her eyes anywhere but on mine, she says, “There’s nothing to tell. Lev stopped by and we went for a walk.”
I can feel myself getting worked up again as her deceitful words slice through my heart. “You’re lying to me, Angel.”
Her soft blue eyes land on mine. “And what reason would I have to lie to you, Ridge? I don’t owe you anything.”
“Is that so?” I grumble. “Do you owe Maddox anything?”
She huffs like it’s a moot question, but it’s valid.
“Well. Do you?”
“Honestly? No. Maddox and I have been spending a lot of time together, but we haven’t labeled what we have going on. I’m free to do whatever I want, and so is he.”
“And what you want is to go for walks with a psychopath in the dark?”
“I can tell you what I don’t want and that’s getting grilled by one, alone in my dorm room.”
Her words make me laugh. “Is that what you think of me? After everything I’ve done to protect you, I’m still just a psychopath?”
“Are you implying that you’re not? Listen to yourself. You’re totally obsessed with everything I do.”
“You’re right. I am and I won't deny that. My world revolves around you. You’re the air I breathe and my favorite scent. I’m consumed by your existence. So tell me why I’m willing to lay my life on the line for you, but you can’t even answer a simple fucking question without lying to me.”
“Please don’t say things like that. It makes me…uncomfortable.” She takes a step back, freeing herself from my touch.
I drop my hands to my sides, scorned. “Does my touch repulse you? I thought we were beyond that. After all, I was your first and I better have been your fucking last.”
“You’re too intense, Ridge.” She waves her hand back and forth between us. “Thisis intense.”
“Love is intense.”
“See,” she jabs a finger in the air, the sleeve of her hoodie riding up her hand, “that’s what I mean. All this talk about love and my scent and how consumed by me you are. It’s crazy.”
“That’s because I’m crazy about you.”
“Stop it!” She walks to the window that’s still open. Fortunately, it was replaced last week so it’s no longer boarded up. Her curtain blows with a gust of wind and she gathers it in her hand and pulls it to the side, giving herself a clear view of the outside.
“He’ll eat you alive. Lev, I mean. He’ll never treat you the way you deserve—”
“Shut up!” She spins around and the curtain falls from her hand. “I don’t want Lev!”
Matching her tone, I shout back, “Then why the hell have you been spending time with him?”
“Because I have to.” Her hand claps to her mouth as if she said more than she wanted to.
I peel it away, holding it tightly in mine. “What do you mean,you have to?”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant, I want to.”
