Page 137 of Echoes of Us

He snatched my jaw and pressed his lips on mine. He kissed me, and my body reacted to him like it always did. I kissed him back, my heart racing. I rested my forehead on his and tried to get his hands off me again. He let go easily this time but didn’t move away, kissing me again.

“This is what you do, Noah. You know you have this power over me. You know I can’t say no to you, and you keep doing it. This is not different; it’s exactly the same. You don’t listen to me when I say no. I can’t keep falling for this.”

He stopped trying to kiss me, moving a little farther away, but not far enough. “It’s not the same,” he insisted.

“It’s not?”

He pursed his lips together and gave a slight head shake.

“Are you sure about that?” I pressed.

He kept begging with his eyes. “It’s not the same, Atty,” he repeated.

“So what are you going to do now? Are you going to climb on my lap, Noah?” My voice was low and trembling.

His eyes filled with uncertainty.

“Are you going to kiss me until I can’t think straight?”

His lips parted.

“And then you’ll fuck me into submission. That’s usually how it goes, right?”

His hands dropped from mine. He looked hurt, worse than I had ever seen reflected in his eyes. “That’s not fair, Atty.”

“None of this is fair.” My words were filled with bitterness.

“You know that wasn’t it with us. You’re making it sound like it was all horrible, but it wasn’t. We were happy together too. Things got messed up, but I was really happy with you. I didn’t have sex with you to manipulate you into staying with me. That’s not fair.”

“Yes, you did, Noah. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

The corners of his lips pulled downward.

“I can’t do it, Noah. I can’t let it go. Not even for you.”

“So, that’s it?” he said, his voice hollow.

“Yeah, Noah. This is it.”

His tears welled up in his eyes. “You’re mad at me because I brought up the thing with this guy. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.”

“But it did. This is the way this is always going to go. We’re not good together, Noah. Maybe we were once, but we aren’t anymore.”

He kept shaking his head, refusing to accept it. “It’s not fair,” he insisted. “It was just this once, I swear. I’m not like this anymore. I don’t know why I had to say it.” He was getting even more upset.

I grabbed his neck and swept him towards my lips. Hepressed his firmly on mine, kissing me over and over again, his desperation palpable.

“Don’t you feel that? How right it feels?” he asked me, placing his hand on my chest.

I did feel it, I just couldn’t keep listening to it.

“I can’t do this anymore, Noah. It’s over,” I told him.

He shook his head.

“Yes, it’s over. We’re over.”

“Please, just give me one more chance to prove it,” he begged, his hand curling on my shirt.

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