Page 58 of Savage

“All those things only add to your appeal. What originally annoyed me became endearing. You’ve got under my skin but it needs to stop. It has too.” His confession was strangely calming as it confirmed that I wasn’t going mad.

We danced for a while longer, not speaking, his body rubbing against mine, touching me in places it probably shouldn’t with a room full of guests there. I had a vision of him peeling my dress off me.

“So, where do we go from here?” I questioned, forcing a weak smile. His long fingers now rested safely back on my waist and I placed my hands against his chest.

“Nowhere. I’m not the man for you. I don’t date, I fuck. End of.” That original spicy tone of his turned sour. A long sigh left my body. I had always delegated this boy to the back of my mind but now I’d allowed him forward, there was no chance I could push him back there.

“If anything were to happen between us Wynter, it would mean more to you than me. I’m not into relationships, I don’t do flowers and romance and all that crap and you should have that. With someone who can give you everything you want.” His remarks hit me hard and a ball landed in my throat. My thoughts flickered toward Dominic, it's not like I had any of that from him either.

My eyebrows bunched in confusion. “What if I don’t care about that stuff?”

I watched as Jaxon’s face tightened and a vein fluttered in his temple. “You do. It’s stamped all over you.” There was a challenge in his voice.

I felt like yelling up into his face. How dare he think he knew what I wanted.

“So, we are just going to ignore this thing between us? Like cowards?”

He held my gaze. “It’s for the best.” I heard the sadness in his voice as his eyes dropped fleetingly to my mouth.

“Then why does it make me feel so shit?” The words fell from me without conscious thought and I felt like crying.

Over the last two years, I had been so strong and yet in a matter of weeks I had allowed this boy to worm his way under my skin. And now nothing would come of it anyway; how fucked up was that? I felt like a child who had just lost her favourite toy only to be offered a shitter one. I had been fooling myself.

Jaxon Savage knew the effect he had on the female of the species, so why was I different to anyone else? He wanted to screw me but didn’t want my heart. Fact.

“You feel shit because you are mistaking your feelings of lust for something else. Something that doesn’t exist.”

My temper flared that he dared tell me how I was feeling. That we were the same, just after a shag. Well, what I felt was deeper than that, I knew that then.

“You’re—you’re wrong,” I stuttered, looking up into his face. I could feel his heart thundering against his chest. He was lying. I raised my hand and ran my knuckles down one of his cheeks but he caught my wrist. His strong fingers wrapped around that fine-boned area. The contrast of our skin screamed our differences.

The moment stretched between us.

Jaxon lowered my hand to my side, his thumb sliding over my pulse which caused my heart rate to increase. I flushed and then scowled, instantly regretting how weak I was against him. My entire being wanted to melt into him.

Gently he set me away, taking my arm and leading us back to our table. The others had attacked the buffet and were all tucking into heaped plates. Someone must have bought a round of drinks as there was a full glass of white wine next to my champagne glass.

Their stares morphed into smiles as we joined them. Random I know, but I noticed Boyd ate with his mouth open. Gross. The table was now full with some other guests I didn’t recognise. Nixon had gone back to Jenna and the baby but I couldn’t see my Auntie and Uncle.

Jaxon pulled out a chair for me. “Do you want something to eat?” he questioned.

I didn’t look up at him, I just shook my head. “No thank you. I’ve lost my appetite,” I muttered under my breath. I felt like a kicked puppy.

He then walked away without another word, commanding the entire room. The power and magnetism which radiated from his body followed him, and it felt like my heart was splitting in two.

The rest of the evening was fine. I wasn’t alive with pleasure or anything. I didn’t have any more offers to dance; no doubt the other single guys there thought I was with Jaxon. Something which would put anyone off trying it on.

We all chatted at our table and the level of awkwardness between Jaxon and me was only just bearable. The others purposefully made sure they included us both in the thread of their chat.

I managed to congratulate Alex and chatted with my Auntie and Uncle and said hi to Jenna and the baby.

Amy was the person I spoke to the most. I also texted Dominic a few times and got nothing back.

As you can imagine, that also didn’t help my mood. He was supposed to be my boyfriend and so where the fuck was he?

Yes, I was in the middle of falling for my stepbrother, but I decided at that point that Dominic wasn’t worth my feelings of guilt.

Nine

---