Page 12 of Death Match

“Jade…”

“What, Eli?” I snapped, pulling my jeans back on. “What do you want me to say to that?”

His frown deepened as he rose to his feet. His pants reappeared to hide his nakedness. “I…I don’t know… That you…”

“I can’t say it, okay?” I said. Tugging my tank top back down, I moved across the room to find my boots. “I can’t.”

We were having such a good time. Why did he have to go and fuck it up by bringing the “L” word into it?

“Is it because you don’t feel the same?” he asked.

I paused, his question stunning me for a second. Could I even answer that truthfully?

No, I couldn’t. Not in the way he wanted me to.

“Dammit, Eli.” Now fully clothed, I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand. Why was my head throbbing all of a sudden? “I really can’t handle this right now. It’s too much.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, defeated. “Forget I said it.”

But I couldn’t just do that, could I? The worst part was I couldn’t even blame it on a slip of the tongue after some really good sex. There had been a few times over our last two weeks together I’d thought I’d seen the words hovering in his thoughts. I just didn’t think he had the balls to say them aloud.

Not sure what else to do, I strode to the front door. Eli leapt over the back of the couch to stop me from reaching it.

“Can we talk about this?” he pleaded. “Please, Jade. Stay.”

“I told you I needed time for us,” I bit out between clenched teeth.

So much for him being able to wait for me, huh?

“I know. I know.” He sighed, frustrated. “I made a mistake. I just thought—”

“Well, you were wrong.” I tried to step around him, but he met my movements and blocked me. My lungs squeezed, and even though I didn’t need to breathe anymore, it somehow felt like I was suffocating. “I need to go.”

He blocked me from reaching the door again. “You don’t have to reciprocate anything, yet. That’s not what I’m asking, and that’s not why I said it.” He kept talking as we continued this annoying dance. “It’s how I feel. It’s how I’ve always felt about you. I’ve just been too much of a coward to say it until now.”

He had shitty timing because now wasn’t when I wanted to hear it. Not with so much mess happening in my afterlife.

I stopped, making him do the same. Then, for the first time since the sex, I met his gaze.

“I-I need some time to think,” I settled with. My voice shook with emotion. “I need more time.”

After reaching around him, I grabbed the door’s handle and pulled it open. To my surprise, he let me by, but his sorrow and regret radiated off him as I walked past him and stepped outside.

When he tried to follow me, I threw him a hard glare.

“Alone,” I said, making sure to emphasize the word. He paused in the doorway. “I need to bealone.”

He nodded once in understanding.

I turned and started down the road. Every time I would peek over my shoulder, I’d see him standing there where I’d left him at the door, watching me go. I wondered how long it’d be before he came after me again in typical Eli fashion.

When I rounded the corner and the house and Eli disappeared from view, I hurried my pace some, jogging along the sidewalk and past the other identical houses in the Holdings. Glancing back again, I was shocked to see the street empty.

Huh. Had he finally gotten the hint?

I hoped so.

I continued my light run until I was out of the Holdings and approached the oasis. In front of the magical water pool, I stopped and examined the paths that branched out to other corners of Heaven.

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