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“Will you talk to me now?” I moved into the seat opposite her, forcing her to see me.
She drew in a ragged breath, her chest rising with the air that filled her body before she released it again. “Why do you keep coming back here, Callum? Are you obsessed with trying to piss me off? Maybe your plan is to run me out of town again?”
She pushed the seat back before forcing her feet to the floor, her hands resting on the table in front of her, her expression like thunder. “Let me tell you something. I don’t want to be here either. The sooner this house is sold, the better it will be for everyone.” Her words rushed out, her shoulders rising and falling in quick succession as if she was still trying to catch her breath.
“Sit down, Alina.” I couldn’t mask the anger manifesting itself. She thought she knew it all, but she had not a single clue.
“Yeah? Or what?”
Fire flashed in her eyes, and I almost choked up with pride. My girl had grown to be courageous. Even faced with an adversary, she was here, fighting me every step of the way.
“We need to talk, and you need to goddamn listen, so sit down.” I was at my wit's end with her ignorance and presumptions. It was about time she learned the truth. I was beyond trying to win her forgiveness when she clearly was hell-bent on holding onto her hatred and what she thought happened between us all those years ago.
“No.” Alina spun, dashing from the room.
I heard her footsteps on the stairs before I got out of the chair. She was tiny, but fuck me, she was fast, but I gave chase. I was determined not to leave until she knew the truth, not some fable she believed.
My foot hit the edge of the bottom step, and overbalancing, I fell forward but caught myself before plummeting headfirst into the next step. “Fuck.”
Righting myself, I continued in pursuit of Alina. She’d slammed the door to her room, but after testing it, I found it not locked and charged blindly in.
Ooof.
Without warning, the wind was knocked out of me, bringing me to my knees on the hardwood floor. My hands landing in front of me were the only thing stopping me from crumpling to the floor. From the corner of my eye, I saw Alina, a smirk on her face and my old wooden baseball bat in her hands.
Her eyes widened when I attempted to draw myself up, sucking in the air like it was my last breath. I had given her the same bat for protection after her mother was committed, never considering she’d end up using it on me.
Alina attempted to move past me, moving as far to the opposite side of the room as possible. She flattened herself on tippy-toes against the doorway, trying to make her escape as if perched on a cliff edge.
Capturing her easily with my arm around her waist when she moved too slow to get by me, I asked, “Are you trying to kill me, darlin’?”
“Let go of me.” She whacked her fists against me to force my release on her.
Instead, I took two steps forward, landing us both on her old bed. I caged her in, kneeling on either side of her, pinning her to the mattress.
Although the pounding continued, it was about as damaging as a kitten in a wet paper bag.
“I will, but first, you and I have some things we need to get straight.” Pulling myself up, I kept her captured by her undivided attention. Then, extracting her envelope from my back pocket, I waved it at her. “I’ll give you one chance to explain this bullshit to me, Alina, so make sure it’s the truth.”
The defiance in her eyes was turning me on, making me feel like a sick bastard getting off on the pretense of the fragility of this woman, albeit a goddamn enticingly sexy and pouty woman with the flare and fight of a jungle animal. I outweighed Alina, without a doubt, but she held other powers over me.
“I don’t know what that is.” She writhed to free herself again.
“Your reply to my quote. Your blatant ‘fuck you’ to getting any type of help. Or maybe it’s just me you’re trying to stick it to?”
She sighed heavily, finally accepting she was losing the battle by struggling against me. “I don’t want any help, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
“You’re acting insane!”
“I guess I take after my mother in that way, huh? With the apple not falling too far from the crazy tree,” she spat out at me.
“Alina, I didn’t say you were insane or crazy. I said you were acting it. Stop putting words in my mouth, and let me just fucking help you.”
“You’ve already helped enough, Callum. You taught me I can only rely on myself.” She squared her shoulders, trapping me with her eyes when she glared at me. “Now, get off me, you big brute.”
“No. Because as soon as I do, this conversation will be over, and I have so much still to explain to you.”
“I will scream. And I will kick.” Her face relaxed, but the flash of determination in her eyes was like a warning sign.
