Page 34 of The Chemistry of Us

I accepted it.

I accepted him.

I pulled him close and clung to him. He shook so hard that I almost panicked until he flung himself onto his back and pulled me on top of him, holding me close.

“Okay, okay.” I pressed my forehead to his. “Okay.”

“It’s not okay,” he rasped.

“But it will be,” I argued. “One day, it’ll be okay, and you’ll be mad you bit me.”

“I bit you?” He shook his head in confusion, his eyes never leaving mine.

I laughed. “No, but you looked angry enough to bite me. The whole point is…one day, it’ll be fine. Maybe not now, and perhaps not tomorrow, but I’m here, existing at this moment for you even though I hate you half the time.”

“You’ve always hated me half the time.”

“Yet you’re still using me to make you feel better.”

“I never used you.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious.”

“Which is exactly what I just said to you.”

“I didn’t see you putting up a fight.”

“I never do, do I?”

“You’re not playing fair.”

“I’m not playing at all. I was stupid to let you use me then, and I’m even dumber now to allow you to continue.”

“Again, I never used you.”

“Whatever.”

“Can we just pretend that the past doesn’t exist?” He clung to my waist, his fingers digging into my skin. “And that this isreal, and you aren’t just a tutor who hates me, but my friend who wants to be there for me?”

“We’ve never been friends.”

“You’re right. We were so much more than that, and you know it.”

“I don’t know anything. Especially when it comes to the paradox of contradictions that is Vaughan Aires.”

“You know you’re sitting on my cock, right? You don’t have to refer to me in the third person.”

I smacked him on his chest.

“So violent.”

“Were you looking for comfort instead?”

“What kind of comfort are you thinking?”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

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