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“My brother’s an asshole, but what did you expect to happen? He wouldn’t physically hurt her.”
Dane may not like his brother much, but he knew Champ would never physically harm a woman. Destroy her heart and leave the pieces without a backward glance? Yes. Throw a punch or push her or slap her or any number of physical traits? No. He was offended she thought so.
She shrank back from him, knitting her brows in confusion. “I never thought that. Mia may not look fragile, but she is. I didn’t want her to break down in tears again. Jaxson said they were in and out of his apartment without an issue. He said Champ glared at him the entire time and that he barely said a word to Mia. When Jaxson dropped her off at home, she seemed fine. That’s all I meant.”
“Why is she so fragile? Why would you do anything for her?”
She still hovered away from him, irking him further each second she stayed that way. Why was she pulling away like that?
“She’s my best friend. Do you need another beer?”
“What I need is for you to talk to me. You keep avoiding the question. Why?”
She set her beer down, scooting farther away from him. Damn it. The more she kept pulling away in such a manner, the more the decision cemented in his brain that leaving was the best option. She clearly only wanted something physical between them and nothing else.
Her lips were in a tight line, matching his stern features.
“Why do you hate your brother?”
“I don’t hate him.”
And why in the hell was she turning the questions around on him? Why couldn’t she answer a simple question about her friend Mia?
She laughed, almost sounding like a hoity-toity woman he dated once. And damn, once was enough after hearing the woman’s obnoxious laughter for two hours straight. “Yeah, right, and I’m a fairytale princess. Cue the singing animals.”
“He’s my brother. I don’t hate him. I don’t always like him, but I would never hate him. My mother would disown me if I did.”
“There’s more to it than that. You don’t want to talk about it, then don’t expect me to talk about my friendship with Mia.” She stood up and stalked to her dresser where she pulled out a pair of drawstring pants.
“I asked my question first. Answer my question, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know about the issues between my brother and me.” He stood up from the bed, wondering whether he should shove his clothes back on as she was rushing to do.
Hadn’t he wanted to flee a few minutes ago? She was giving off the vibe they were done.
Yet, it proved to have the opposite effect on him. Instead of wanting to leave, he wanted to forget this conversation and make sweet, slow love to her.
“It doesn’t matter.”
What doesn’t matter?
He didn’t matter? The issues between his brother and him? Her friend? He hated that she refused to open up. He hated that he wanted to forget this happened and pull her into his arms and hold her tight. Because it felt like she was slipping away, and he didn’t want that. Sure, he had been confused before. Hell, he was still confused by his swirling emotions. But his heart was telling him that leaving was the wrong move. The rapid beating, the erratic pace—he knew walking away would gut him.
“Why are you getting dressed? A few questions you don’t want to hear, and you run. What is this?” He whipped his hand to the bed. “We sleep together, but we can’t dig deeper than that?”
“What do you want from this? I’m still trying to figure out why you forgave me so easily. Is this what you wanted? A romp in the sheets and ‘see you later, babe?’” she fired back.
“Did those words come out of my mouth? Because I, as sure as shit, don’t remember them.” He growled with frustration as he dragged a hand through his hair. “You didn’t believe anything I said earlier. Maybe I was wrong about you.” He grabbed his pants from the floor and whipped them on.
A man could only take so much.Hecould only take so much. The anger fueled inside him. It didn’t take long for him to get the rest of his clothes on.
“So, you’re just going to leave?”
He looked up from the words that left her mouth tonelessly. “You started to dress first. And it doesn’t feel like we have anything left to say to each other. You don’t seem to trust me, and I’m beginning to think that I shouldn’t have trusted you in the first place. You lied to me from the moment I met you.”
“See, you’re still mad. You never did forgive me.”
He stared at her for the longest time.
Trying to gauge what she was thinking. Trying to figure out how this situation spiraled out of control. Trying to understand how he could want to walk away without another word, yet also want to grab her and never let go.
