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Every eye in the bar was on Delaney and the college girls, tuned into the drama like it was their own personal reality show playing out in front of them.
“Go ahead.Try, bitch.”Another shove caused Phoebe to stumble back, her hair flying as she struggled to stay on her feet.“Try.”
The two friends seemed to snap out of their shock and stepped forward, trying to defend their friend.“Hey—”
Delaney lifted a hand into the first friend’s face.“Shut up,” she snapped without taking her gaze off the blonde.
Nishia watched, her hands fisted in my shirt.“Don’t let her get hurt,” she whispered.
I tucked a curl behind her ear before tipping her chin up to look at me.“Max has it covered.Don’t worry about your friend.I’m more concerned about what’s going on with you.”
She tightened her hold on my shirt before abruptly releasing me.Her chin lifted, and she huffed angrily before meeting my eyes.“You didn’t kiss me.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
nishia
“You didn’t kiss me.”
The words seemed to echo around me even though I knew they didn’t.That wasn’t possible with Delaney still screaming in some blond girl’s face.Yet as Jack looked down at me in bewilderment, they echoed in my head, and my face heated.I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or anger, but either way, I couldn’t believe I’d said it aloud.
After all the weeks of sharing the same bed every night, of Jack telling me how gone he was for me, I’d thought his lips would be on me as soon as my jaw was healed.So far, I’d been wire-free for over twenty-four hours, and he hadn’t even looked at my mouth.
I’d dreamed of him devouring me the moment my teeth weren’t wired together.Fantasized about how he would taste, if it would melt me as easily as it did when he kissed the back of my hand or brushed his lips over my brow or even when he kissed the top of my head right before he fell asleep each night.
But all he’d done was take me back to Sanctuary, made sure I was comfortable just as he did after every doctor’s appointment, and then left for work.Gracie ate dinner with me a little later, celebrating my first solid meal in months.I’d figured he would kiss me when he got home from work, but he’d only climbed into bed with me around dawn, and I’d been too tired to think about it.
Until I woke up that morning, and he once again didn’t even glance at my mouth.
Disappointed didn’t even come close to describing how I felt.If he wanted me so badly, why hadn’t he kissed me yet, damn it?
I tried so hard not to let it bother me—or at least attempted not to let it show—but Delaney had realized something was off when she and Max came to pick me up.Too upset to care that Jack’s cousin was there to hear me whining about the man I loved not wanting to kiss me, I vented to my best friend.
It still blew my mind a little that I even had someone close enough that I could label them my friend, let alone abestfriend.But I was thankful for her, even more so when she got angry at Jack on my behalf, yet still tried to soothe me.
“That asshole.I’m going to get Max to kick his ass.Max, kick Jack’s ass for making Nishia sad.”I’d made a distressed sound at the thought of anyone hurting my bear.“What?You don’t want him to beat on him?Fine, Max, you don’t have to kick his ass.”
“Maybe Jack didn’t want to overwhelm you.Of course he wants to kiss you.He adores you.He’s not just gone for you, Nishia.He’s lost, honey.”
I’d accepted her words as truth, my heart telling me that she was right.Feeling better, I ate my amazing dinner and then readily agreed when she suggested we stop by so I could check out Hannigans’.But then I’d come face-to-face with Jack, and my brain started kicking my ass again.
He didn’t kiss me.
I really, really wanted him to kiss me, but he’d acted like he couldn’t care less.
Maybe he didn’t want me.
Maybe he wasn’t gone for me.
What if he only felt sorry for me all these weeks, and now that I was able to eat and had the casts off, he was tired of taking care of me?
The thoughts made my heart hurt, but I couldn’t get them out of my head.
Gripping my chin between his thumb and index finger, Jack tilted my head back.“I didn’t kiss you?”he repeated, his voice dropping lower than I’d ever heard it before.
Embarrassed tears filled my eyes, and I rushed to blink them away.Swallowing hard, I pulled back from his touch.“Forget I said that,” I pleaded.“I-I didn’t mean it.Pretend I didn’t say anything.”
“No, you don’t,” he growled, turning me so the bar hit my back.“You don’t drop shit like that and expect me to forget.That’s not how this works, baby.Do you know how fucking hard it is for me not to kiss you?How desperate I’ve been to taste you?How much I goddamn ache?Huh?”He lowered his head until his eyes were level with mine, his green gaze blazing.“I told you that I didn’t want to scare you.You have all the power, Nishia.You are the one in control of how fast this relationship moves.If you want me to kiss you, then you tell me.”
