Page 15 of All of My Life

She was biting her lip so hard that it was about to bleed. “You’re supposed to just be a distraction,” she muttered, making my back straighten. “You’re supposed to discard me when you’re done with me.”

I could feel my fingers digging into my palm, the feeling of violence threatening to reach up and choke me. “What?”

Jett ran her hands through her hair again, the dark silk looking a mess after what I’d done to her. “You’re supposed to hate me, Chasin,” she said. “You always have, so I’m confused.”

“So, what?” I bit out. “You thought that me hating you would keep this from becoming more?”

Her hazel eyes looked like she was witnessing a human atrocity. “Yes,” she answered honestly. “I mean…why would I ever think otherwise?”

“I guess you underestimated your charms,” I drawled out bitterly.

“Don’t do that,” she spat. “Don’t act flippant.”

“Then quit trying to dismiss me,” I flung back.

“That’s not what I’m doing,” she argued. “I’m just…you’ve changed the rules, and I’m just trying to figure out what the new ones are.”

I leaned back a bit. “That’s easy,” I told her. “You’re mine.”

Her eyes widened. “You cannot be serious.”

“Oh, I’m very fucking serious,” I informed her. “You’ve been mine since the night at the bridge, Jett. It’s not my fault that you haven’t been paying attention.”

She let out a dark laugh. “You ignored me for four months, Chasin.”

“Because you were still seventeen,” I reminded her. “If you think that I can be around you and not touch you, then you’re wrong.”

Jett started shaking her head again. “That’s not true,” she countered. “You’ve been around me plenty of times without touching me.”

“I’ve seen you plenty of times without touching you,” I corrected. “I’ve never been around you and not taken you, Jett. Never.”

“Look, you just…I need a minute-”

“The fuck you do,” I said, interrupting her.

“You can’t change the game and not give me time to adjust, Chasin,” she argued.

“I didn’t the night at the bridge,” I pointed out.

“That…that night was different,” she said, the sound of her voice reminding me that something was off with her. “That…that night doesn’t count.”

I barked out a hollow laugh. “That night is the only night that counts between us, Jett,” I replied. “That’s the night that changed everything, so it counts a lot more than you’d like to believe.”

“Chasin, I’m not doing this with you,” she stated firmly.

“Doing what?”

“Arguing about what we’re doing in front of my house with my parents inside,” she hissed, almost as if they could hear her.

Not needing to meet her parents this way, I granted her a reprieve. “Fine,” I relented. “We’ll talk more at school.” She opened her mouth to argue some more, but I stopped her. “I’m also done being your dirty, sordid, regretful secret, Jett.”

Her gorgeous orbs flared with resentment. “I will not be made a fool of, Chasin.”

“You’re the only one, Jett,” I said clearly and carefully. “Do not make me repeat myself again.”

“I’m not the one that needs to be set straight about that,” she fired back.

Before I could strangle or kiss her, she was opening the car door, grabbing her purse and backpack off the floorboard. I was reaching for the door handle, but Jett was already racing up the walkway before I could even pull the lever.

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