Page 59 of Stone Cold Touch

“Once at the restaurant, which you were there for,” he said, his voice close. When I looked over my shoulder, he was standing behind me. I hadn’t even heard him move. “And then Saturday night. We ran into each other.”

“I know.” I turned back to the floor, ignoring the shiver of awareness that came from how close he was.

“Oh, so he told you?” Roth scooped up a handful of my hair, gently tugging my head back. I narrowed my gaze as I snatched my hair free. He grinned at me. “Did he tell you what he said to me?”

“I really don’t want to know.”

Roth knelt beside me, so close his thigh pressed into mine. “He said that I needed to stay away from you.”

“Really,” I murmured.

“Yes.” His breath danced over my cheek, and I stiffened. “And he also told me that you don’t belong to me.”

My chin jerked toward him, and I found that we were face-to-face. “Well, the last time I checked, I don’t.”

The smile kicked up a notch. “And do you know what else he said?”

“If you tell me, will you drop the subject?”

He dipped his chin. “Sure.”

I didn’t believe it for one second. Leaning back, I forced myself to hold his gaze. “What, Roth?”

“He said that you—” he tapped the edge of my nose “—belong to him.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at him. “I don’t believe you.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Something like that would never come out of his mouth.” Frustration spread across me like a heat rash. “Ever.”

Roth’s lips pursed. “You can believe me or not, but I notice you’re not denying it.”

My first inclination had been to deny it, but as we continued to stare at each other, anger took hold. “Why are we even talking about this?”

“Just curious.” He rose fluidly, rubbing a hand across his Pink Floyd shirt. “I just think it’s...greathow quickly you’ve moved on.”

I blinked once and then twice, thinking I hadn’t heard him right, and when I realized I had, I wanted to slam my fist between his legs. “Are you serious?”

Roth’s brows knitted. “Do I look like I’m not serious?”

“You think it’s great that I moved on so fast. Right? From what?” I came to my feet. “What exactly am I moving on from? According to you, whatever we had didn’t matter and never would. All I was good for was easing your boredom, remember?”

“I apologized for saying that,” he countered, eyes flashing a bright yellow. “Do you want me to apologize again?”

“No!” I stepped forward, breathing heavily. “Let me ask you a question. Do you want to be with me, Roth?”

His pupils dilated as he took a step back. “What?”

“Answer the question.”

He backed up again, away from me, his chest rising deeply. “It’s not about what I want.”

“Whatever, Roth.” Stalking forward, I shoved my finger into his chest. “I liked you—really liked you and when you were gone and I thought you were being tortured in a fiery pit, ithurtme.”

“Layla—”

“I know we were never really together, but I hardly ate or slept after you left, and the only person who kept me from going crazy was Zayne and you knew that! You even said that was why you took his place. Then you come back andyoutell me that everything between us never meant a damn thing to you. You even threw Zayne in my face, basically telling me to get with him and now you’re saying it’sgreatI moved on so fast. Well, you can go fu—”

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