Page 19 of My Brutal Alpha

I glared at him. "Then how come one of our situations is a lot more dire than the other, hm? Do you really think I wouldn't have survived Rory's flirting—or anyone else?"

Even if I was right, Ezra's anger and refusal to accept it grew. I knew he'd never admit it.

"God, you're being impossible."

My anger flared. "And so are you!"

Everything about it was absurd: senseless fighting, unable to see the other's point of view, and falling into our old ways—the exact behavior everyone expected of us.

Still, we were both stubborn, and there was no way either of us would back down.

Chapter 9 - Ezra

It was hard to miss how easily we slipped into old habits—despite seeming like we were on a new page with one another because of the arrangement, Sebastian had been right about us being at each other's throats.

Ever since I broke things off between us, we have fallen into a constant state of bitterness and bickering. Between Zoe icing me out and us finding any excuse to express our frustrations, we are in an endless loop.

The arrangement had felt like a sort of truce—the opportunity to put all that behind us to help each other out. But apparently, I was wrong.

It was irritating how easy it was for us to argue about something so stupid, yet we were both too stubborn to back down from it. In that sense, we were so similar, which was almost painful.

The fight started because I tried to ease any pressure she might have felt to cook or provide in any way while staying at my place. As nice of a gesture as it was, I didn't want Zoe to assume she owed me anything. In fact, it was the other way around.

But, I had a knack for saying the wrong thing and just not getting my point across as intended. Of course, I managed to do it once again, causing a problem that didn't need to exist.

After a moment of silence, we both took a breath, looking away as we tried to regain our bearings.

Zoe eventually sighed, tone still tinged with irritation. "Maybe this whole thing was a mistake...we can't even agree on simple things without fighting. We're hopeless."

I hated how that statement seemed to pierce my heart. How it felt like she was prepared to give up on us and thearrangement, even if I had no right to feel that way in the first place.

"What are you saying?"

Zoe huffed, arms crossed. "How the hell will we convince anyone we're in love if we can't even have a conversation without arguing?"

I scoffed at that, irritated by the implication that there was no chance we could even fake it, despite how there had been real feelings between us once. How I threw it all away, and it made Zoe lose all faith in me.

Of course, I should've anticipated that. I should've known that bringing either of us back into that situation would be the farthest thing from easy.

But I had formed every idea and plan from sheer instinct and desperation alone. I didn't stop to think. I simply acted. And because of it, we were now in an impossible situation, left to try and get along without addressing anything from our past.

Frustrated by her sudden change of heart over one argument, I stepped forward and leaned against the counter. "You want to call it quits already?"

"Is that a surprise?" She questioned, irritation flaring all over again. "Why would I stay here and have you argue with me over the most ridiculous things just to convince your parents to leave you alone?"

I gritted my teeth and looked at her firmly. "I know we can be convincing. We just need to try."

"You have a lot more to lose from this than I do," Zoe muttered, arms crossed. "Your parents trying to force you into some arranged situation is none of my business, and I have the feeling I never should've agreed to this in the first place."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear at all.

We had already been on thin ice before, but with every word she said, I couldn't help but feel like she was slipping away from me more and more.

I hated how it felt like rejection, even if it was supposed to be based on faking a relationship rather than actually being in one.

Even if that was the case, it was almost like the tables had turned, and Zoe was discarding me. I didn't like how I found myself in her position, realizing how she must've felt that day I turned her away.

There were many reasons why I felt like an asshole, but knowing I hurt Zoe to the point of her not trusting me at all was at the top of that list.

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