Page 66 of The Consequence of Loving Me

“You’re one to talk. How long have you been in love with Aspen? Because I’m guessing it’s been a long time and isn’t some new event.”

Lily’s eyes defiantly narrow at me. I know I’ve pissed her off—it’s what I do. I’d rather lash out at someone than maybe show them how I really feel.

“Don’t try and pin this on me,” she says. “I confronted my feelings. I’m not the one parading around pretending they’re doing the world a favor by just messing around with guys instead of accepting the fact they’ve been hurt.”

We stare at each other for another long moment before she grabs her purse and scoots out of the booth, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

My eyes follow her as she says goodbye to Maverick. He holds her elbow as she whispers something in his ear. Whatever it is, his eyes snap to me. She continues to tell him something while he leans a hip on the old pool table. His eyes stay on me the whole time. When Lily’s done, she gives her brother a hug, Aspen the middle finger, and me one more piercing look before she leaves.

35

Maverick

“What did you and Lily talk about tonight?” I ask Veronica as we lie in bed after our second round of sex.

We both came home from Lenny’s ready to taste each other. As soon as we ditched Aspen in the living room and made it to the basement, we were all over each other. We didn’t even have time to make it into her room before I was inside of her.

We fucked against the basement wall. We were clawing at each other’s clothes, unable to strip them off fast enough. I had to keep my lips on hers to keep her from making too much noise so Aspen wouldn’t hear us.

Now we’re in bed, cuddling and talking.

I haven’t been able to get Lily’s words out of my head. When my sister was leaving Lenny’s, she told me to confront Veronica about my feelings. It caught me off guard. I hadn’t realized I had such strong feelings for her until Lily pointed it out to me. I was probably in denial because I knew they wouldn’t be accepted well by her.

As my mind races, I hold her head to my chest, letting my fingers run through the long strands of her hair. My clothes are somewhere between her bed and the basement stairs. She’s wearing a T-shirt of mine that she’s worn to bed every night for the last week.

“Oh nothing,” she mumbles against my chest nonchalantly.

As I’ve gotten to know Veronica more, I’ve seen different sides to her. Where she’s bitter and blunt with others, she’s quiet and timid behind closed doors. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s jaded and that attitude of hers will never go away, but she doesn’t try as hard to seem so bitchy when it’s just us. She’s just her—the her I’ve come to know I like maybe a little too much.

“It didn’t appear that way. When I looked over at the two of you, it seemed like you were talking about something that had you both heated.” My fingers are still playing with her hair. I wish I could see her face right now, but it’s tucked into the crook of my neck.

“You might’ve misread things. Aspen was being weird next to you. Maybe his gyrating hips had you excited.”

“Veronica, can we have a serious conversation for two seconds without you changing the subject?”

She begins to trace along my stomach. Her bright pink nail inches down my abs. Another contradiction of hers. I envisioned her as a woman who would wear black nail polish, maybe something duller, but I’ve only seen her wear girly colors.

“It was nothing. I don’t want to talk about it, Maverick.” The resignation in her voice is very clear to me, but I decide to ignore it.

Now that Lily has planted this seed in my head, I can’t get it to go away. I need to tell her how I feel, even if it will start the fight I know is bound to happen.

“Well, I do,” I say softly.

“We had a conversation about you. Happy?” She sighs against my neck. Her breath is warm on my skin and I want to bury myself inside her, but I know I’ll feel even worse if I don’t have the balls to confront her about us.

“What kind of conversation?” Her finger stills on my bare chest.

I’m confident she can feel the thrumming of my heart underneath it.

She lifts her head, looking at me with those big blue eyes that convey innocence even though I know she is anything but. “She doesn’t want me to break your heart. Lily is protective of you. I get it. I told her there’s no possible way you and I will ever be in the position where I could break your heart.”

A pit forms in my stomach. I don’t know if she’s just oblivious to how I feel about her or if she’s still in that much denial. I’m betting it’s the latter, which pisses me off.

“Would it be that bad if I did have feelings for you?” I couldn’t keep the question from leaving my mouth for another moment longer. The more I try to put her pieces together, the more I realize I’m falling for all the individual pieces that make her. And now that she’s let me in to see the whole picture, I can’t look away.

“I told you, Maverick. You can’t have feelings for me.” Veronica sits up, her blonde hair creating a blanket around her face as she looks down at me.

The fear is clear as day in her eyes. She wants to flee, I know it. But I will stand my ground until she decides to run for the hills, all while hoping she won’t.

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