Page 44 of Foolish Games

“Fine,” Chaz says, pushing off our table and jabbing a finger at us. “But for the record, you did the exact same thing I did. In fact, you did worse. You broke up with me to be with this troglodyte. All I did was move on after you dumped me. What was I supposed to do? Chase after you and beg you to take me back?”

He spins on his heel and marches off like the self-righteous little prick he is.

I squeeze Viv against me, pressing a hard kiss to her head. “Damn, that was hot,” I murmur into her hair. “I’m so fucking proud of you. Watching you take down that little dweeb has me so hard I could bend you over this table fuck you right now.”

“Stop it,” she says, shoving me away and glaring.

“What did I do?”

“Why you have to make everything about sex?” she hisses.

“We’re in high school,” I point out. “Everything is about sex.”

“Maybe for you,” she says flatly, turning to open her book.

“You’re pissed at me for wanting to fuck you?”

“You make it sound like our relationship is entirely based on the physical. We’re not going to convince my friends it’s real if you act like that. That’s why they don’t believe it.”

“Act like what?” I ask. “Myself?”

“Yes,” she grits out. “You make everything vulgar.”

“Look, I told you, I’m not going to pretend to be someone else. If you want some dream guy who doesn’t exist, then let’s just cut the bullshit and come clean.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“But it’s what you implied,” I say. “Anyone who’s had good sex is going to want to have sex. If you don’t believe me, try it sometime.”

“I’ve had good sex,” she grits out.

“If you say so. But we’re not going to convince anyone it’s real if I go from being a guy who loves pussy to one who’s not even interested in fucking his own girlfriend. Especially when his girlfriend looks like you.”

She purses her lips. “Excuse me?”

“Come on, Viv. You’re a fucking knock-out. I get hard just watching you do homework, and trust me, that is not a turn on of mine.”

She ducks her head, turning to the correct page in her textbook. “I thought I was just ‘decent’ looking. But for the sake of our arrangement, it would be nice if you could at least pretend you were interested in more than just one thing.”

I groan and drop my head back.

“What?” she whispers, casting a furtive glance around to see if my frustration drew anyone else’s attention.

I gather myself and turn to her, taking her chin between my thumb and finger and forcing her to face me. “I can’t only be interested in one thing if I’m with you despite being told I’d never get that one thing, now can I?”

“But you’re not with me,” she whispers, her dark eyes searching mine.

“Right,” I say, dropping my hand from her face and pulling my book in front of me.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” I say. “You’re supposed to be the smart one, right? Why is it so hard for you to figure this out?”

“Figure what out?”

“You’re arguing your point on a technicality that doesn’t make my point any less true. Just because we’re not really dating, that doesn’t change the fact that if I was after just one thing, I’d be getting it. If not from you, then from someone else, and I wouldn’t be doing this with you at all.”

“Wow,” she says. “Maybe you should apply to Harvard Law with me and Chaz.”

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