Page 56 of Playing with Fire

Even though there was loud noise behind the door I noticed a snapping sound. It was my hair tie.

I noticed Jaxon playing with my hair tie on his wrist while he sat up against the wall.

I stared at him and demanded "Give it back."

His brief chuckle revealed his deliberate actions to me. "No."

Immediately, I could feel myself getting agitated. He can reach me through this method quickly, which might be his objective.

Forget that—it's exactly what he wants. At that moment I managed to maintain some self-control and ended up doing something I hadn't done in several years.

I stay quiet.

I straighten my posture without uttering a single word. Frustration and habit cause my eyes to narrow toward him. He appeared puzzled by my actions yet chose to handle the situation.

He does the same as I do. He sits up and watches me. I'm convinced he's trying to determine what I'm doing because his stare is intense.

The longer we remained seated like this, his wrist band snapped more often, and my self-control declined. Without knowing how much time we had left I had to maintain this effort for as long as possible.

My endurance proved superior to his when we both continued our efforts. He huffed as he pushed himself up the wall while maintaining his gaze on me.

His eyes showed clear signs of irritation which made me smile. "Oh, what's got you annoyed now?" The question left my lips as though I was unaware of what he would answer.

He states with crossed arms that I am boring him.

My voice sounds flat as I state, "I need my hair tied back."

"Why don't you come and get it?" he asks, pulling the band again.

"Give it back," I repeat myself. "I'm not asking." If you don't want to ask politely then you can grab it yourself. He taunts the hair tie again.

"Dumbass." I hear him mumble to himself. Okay, that's it. The last bit of self-control within me disappeared. I used every atom of my being to stay seated, but my patience finally gave in.

Using the wall for support I moved towards him. "God, you're annoying."

"And you've told me how many times?" he presses me. Your annoying behavior keeps increasing every time I say this. I roll my eyes. "I want it back."

"Want what?" he asks dumbly.

"My hair tie, you fuck."

"Why?" he asked me again.

"Because it's my favourite one!" I raise my voice.

My frustration about this stupid hair tie reached its peak because all I wanted was to take it back. I confronted him directly as I stretched out to grasp his wrist.

Because he couldn't move anywhere, I took hold of his hand and pulled it toward me until I managed to slide a finger underneath the band.

I nearly won the battle, but he managed to reverse our positions. Demonstrating his real power, he moved his arm back and managed to place the hair tie onto his wrist once again.

I couldn't help but frown at how effortlessly he escaped my grasp. I almost got it back.

"Oh, c'mon now, Em. "Expect no easy path from me," he taunted me.

Oh my god, I'm gonna lose it.

And I did.

---