Page 204 of Only With You

My pulse ticks, red flooding my vision, but I do my best to keep my voice nonchalant. “Accident? What happened?”

I feel his eyes burn on the side of my face, probably debating what he should and shouldn’t say. He chuckles and drags his fingers through his blond hair.

“It’s really nothing. She’s just a fucking bitch who likes to be dramatic…” he trails off, pauses, but continues. “She wasn’t”—heair quotes sarcastically—“feeling well. So me, trying to be a good person, I took her to my room to help her out.”

My body vibrates with fury. “Not feeling good?”

“Yeah, you know…”

“I don’t. It’s just us.”

“We’re cool, right?”

“I wouldn’t be letting you drive my car if we weren’t.”

“Right, right.” He laughs. “Nothing happened, I swear, but she likes to act like I raped her. I swear I thought she wanted it. If you had seen the way she was dressed, you would’ve understood. She was also throwing these signs, so I thought hernot feeling wellwas her way of saying she wanted me. Otherwise, why would she come upstairs with me? I’m not in the wrong here, right?”

My breaths became shallow, body cold because I’m past angry. I’m fucking livid. I could really kill him right now. I could easily end it all. Right here and no one would know.

“I swear she wanted me. I swear she did because girls don’t look and dress like her if they don’t. I mean, she was practically begging for it. You get it, right? You’d fuck her too if you got the chance, right?”

“If she verbally agreed. Did Julianna tell you she wanted you?”

That stumps him. “Well—no—but she gave me her consent by coming to my room.”

I blink once, my body going deathly still. “So why does she think that you…raped her, Cole?”

He scoffs agitatedly, then yawns like remembering what happened is a burden. “Because I touched and kissed her, but it’s not like I forced my dick inside of her. And even if I had, so what? Do you know how many girls want to be with me? She should feel lucky I wanted her.”

The Devil is screaming loud in my ear to end his pathetic excuse of a life.

“But then the stupid bitch goes and stabs me in the fucking thigh and causes a scene.” He groans, rubbing his thigh like he’s remembering it. “We were just having fun. Shit just happens. I was drunk and stupid, but I swear we were just having fun. You get it, right?”

I quickly and roughly shift the gear stick, bringing my car to a stop. My vision goes black now from the anger brimming inside.

“Right, shit just happens.”

He looks at me with an easy smile, sighing in relief. “You get it.”

“Actually, I don’t. I don’t know how the fuck you think that would ever be okay, but you’re right, shit just…” I push the button to release my seat belt. His brows draw together, a deep crease settles between them, and he stares, puzzled, searching my face. But as he finally registers what I said, his eyes go wide. I firmly grab the back of his neck and forcefully slam his face against the console. “Happens.”

A sharp cry pierces the car, and he clutches his nose. He groans, squeezing his eyes shut, probably disoriented from the impact.

I take the chance that he’s out of it to take his belt and step out of the car. I round the hood and pull his door open, but he scoots back, shaking his head aggressively while holding his nose.

“Landon, stop! What the fuck are you doing? I think you broke my nose!” he yells and uses his legs to kick and keep me away, but I’m too fucking mad to feel anything. He may be about six feet, but I’ve guarded players taller than me, bigger than me. This is nothing. “Stop! What the hell are you doing? Stop!” He continues to kick me, but I manage to grab his ankles and yank him out of the car.

His back slams hard against the gravel, head bouncing against the concrete. He groans, letting go of his nose, and grabs the back of his head.

“Don’t make this hard,” I grit, dragging his body into the barren field. He tries to kick, tries to grab onto the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt, tries to pry himself from me, but I hold his ankles firmly. “She cried, right? She told you to stop, right? You knew she wasn’t feeling well. You weren’t drunk. You just saw an opportunity to take advantage of her. And then you proceed to taunt her about it.” I seethe, my voice stone ice.

“No, no, that’s not how it happened. Please, you have to understand. It’s not like that. Please listen.” He shakes his head, pleading frantically, blood running out of his nose.

“Listen? But I thought we were having fun? I thought you wanted this? You were giving me the signs.” I mimic his voice from just a few minutes ago, the laid-back, easygoing one. Dropping his legs to the ground, I stand over him, bring one foot to his heaving chest, and drag it down to his neck, and he tenses.

“Please, Landon,” he sputters a cry as I add pressure and his eyes bulge out.

I blankly stare at him. “Did you drug her, too?”

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