Page 74 of Root

She’s not listening. She’s pulling on her clothes in jerky movements. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to sneak up and make me come like that. You don’t get to make me feel—”

“What?” I pull on my clothes, too. “You came, we had fun.”

“You had fun. You…”

“Why are you mad?”

But she just shakes her head, and takes off out the door, me hot on her heels. I grab her arm and pull her to a stop. “Don’t, Rush.”

“It was just fun,” I say, trying to rein in some of her frustration.

“I don’t—I don’t let people do that, take like that. You took me, made me come like I’m yours, and I don’t belong to anyone.”

“Jess…” Fuck. I don’t understand this. At all. It was fun, there was a connection that went beyond bones, and into something else. I wanted her to come. I wanted her to belong to me, and I realize I did it in a way that might have said I belong to her.

But it’s not a forever belonging, it’s just…

Sex.

Right?

“Jess, if I crossed a line, I’m sorry.”

Her hand twists in my sweater as I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head. “Sex is sex. Don’t do it like it means something. Okay?”

“How about this?” I ask. The word okay dies in my mouth because I’m not okay with that. “I’ll make you dinner?”

“Can you cook?”

“No, but I make a mean box of mac and cheese.”

She laughs, shoves me away. “I need a shower first.”

I keep going over it all as I shower. I want more. I’m going to have more but…I’m not sure why she got so upset. Who the fuck gets upset when they come?

We’re playing and then that’s her breaking point?

I sigh as I dry off and dress. Maybe I should talk about it?

But that’s the thing with Jess, she’s got a stubborn hands-off streak. I look at Dante who’s sitting on my bed acting way too innocent.

“If you brought in a mouse,” I say.

He sticks a leg out and licks it.

“You want mac and cheese?”

He doesn’t look up.

“I bet there’s chicken.”

He chirps and jumps off the bed, padding out.

I head to where Jess’s room is, but she’s not there.

Frowning, I head down, an unsettled feeling churning in my guts. Where the fuck is she? Nikolai’s office is locked, and as I check the kitchen, I weave back through, finally heading to the small library.

I stop.

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