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He looks at me in wide-eyed surprise, and then, as his eyes slowly travel over me, they narrow into frustrated slits. “Get out,” he yells, grabbing the shampoo bottle from the built-in ledge of the shower and throws it at me.
I snap.
Chapter18
Eli
South Carolina
I know I’ve pushed Jeb away since the night at the StanleyHotel. I know it’s for the best that I keep him from burrowing into my defenses any more than he already has. I know that all my actions and the few words I’ve spoken to him since that night have clearly communicated to leave me alone.
And I know I shouldn’t be pissed that he listened.
But I am. Full-on tantrum throwing, foot stomping, hair-pulling mad that he’s not signed us up for a tour of some pirate cave off the coast or bought me some souvenir hoodie with pelicans on it or insisted on teaching me to surf, even though it’s a totally foolish idea.
Instead, he’s been partying with the locals. Last night, I doubted I would last another night keeping myself away from him. I wasn’t even sure I wouldn’t fling myself into his arms as soon as he walked in the door, but while I was looking out the window, I saw Jeb kissing a dark-haired woman in a pink bikini. I closed the curtain and spent the night keeping myself from going online, figuring out her identity, and having her car repossessed.Maybe that’s what I’ll do tonight.
This morning, he canceled our plans to rob a crooked pawn shop that serves as a front for Patriots Now. I wanted to ask if it was because he was spending the day with her, but instead, I just sneered at him as he walked out the door.
Since then, I’ve been lying in bed all day. Trying and failing to get myself motivated so I can accomplish something remotely resembling productive. Finally, I make myself go take a shower.
I turn the water on and start getting undressed. The door swings open, and there Jeb is, standing in the doorway—the source of all my frustration.
He’s dressed in board shorts that sit low on his hips, and his blond hair is a wild mess that somehow just makes him look sexier. I breathe him in, and he smells like the ocean. I lick my lips and wonder if I were to put them to his tanned, bare chest, if he’d taste salty.
Anger flares in me.
“Get out.” I grab the bottle of shampoo off the shelf and throw it at him—hard. As soon as it leaves my hand, I regret it, and watch with a sick horror as it sails past his head and slams into the cupboard behind him and then slides to the floor.
Jeb stares at the bottle on the floor, then at me.
“You little shit,” he grinds out, and then he’s on me at once, crowding me against the wall.
“I-I—”
“What’s your excuse this time, Eli? Did you really want to hurt me?”
I shake my head no, not having a better way of explaining the tornado of emotions that led me to my actions.
“You’ve been meaner than a snake to me. Not just your normal ‘I’ll hurt you before you get a chance to hurt me’ defense mechanism, but a feral, bite-to-the-bone kinda mean.”
“I’m sorry,” I squeak out.
“And now you’re throwing things at me.”
“I’m glad it didn’t hurt you,” I tell him truthfully.
“You know what I think?” he asks, his blue eyes growing speculative.
I try to move away from him, but he doesn’t budge. “You’re angry because you want things from me, and you don’t know how to ask for them.”
“Move,” I plead in a small voice.
“Not yet,” he replies. “First, Eli, I’m finally gonna do us both a favor and lay it all out.”
The water is still running, and since this place is older and not one of Jeb’s normal five-star stays, it has one of those ancient water heaters that lacks the newer safety regulations. Steam billows in the room, creating a sauna-like feeling as moisture clings to our skin.
“Up until two weeks ago, you came to me every night wanting to be in my arms. Then something scared you, and you tried chasing me off, denying yourself.” His eyes spark with anger and something that looks like hurt. “Denying me.”
