Page 75 of Scattered Glitter

“Why are you still here?” I ask tiredly and maybe a little blunter than I intended.

He hesitates, then holds up the bag of aforementioned croissants like it’s a peace offering. “I thought we could… I don’t know, eat breakfast. Spend some time together. Maybe talk a bit? I’d like to get to know you more.”

“Why?”

He blinks, looking genuinely confused. “Because… you said we’re friends?”

He says it like a question, and I scoff in answer as I cross my arms. “I never said that.”

Did I?

“You said I’m the closest you have to one. Well, besides Belle.” I open my mouth to argue, but the words stall in my throat, and before I can think of something to say, he steps closer, his brow furrowing as his gaze drops to my shoulder. When he reaches out to touch the burn scar there, his fingers are gentle as they graze over the rough skin. “What happened here?”

I flick my gaze to his fingers on the scar, the reminder of the night that destroyed everything, and the weight of the past crashes down on me so intensely that I can almost smell burned skin.

The utter helplessness as everything I loved was ripped away from me.

I snap my gaze back to his before jerking away from his touch, my chest overwhelmed with grief.

“Don’t touch me,” I almost growl.

He steps back instantly, his eyes wide, his hands up in surrender. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think—”

“Leave!”

“Baby—” His eyes search mine, clearly at a loss.

“I said leave!” Turning on my heel, I storm into my bedroom. When I grab the doorknob, ready to slam it in his face, he’s already shoving his way in before I can shut him out. “What don’t you understand about the wordleave?” I hiss.

I need him gone.

Likenow.

“Nope, uh-uh,” he says with a head shake. “We’re not doing this again. I stumbled on another trigger, and I’m sorry. Me fucking up, you going off and kicking me out, only for me to overthink everything and come back for you two days later? That won’t happen again.” I glare at him, but he continues, “I would do it. I absolutely would. But let’s cut the time of us being apart and overthinking this and talk it out.”

I don’t say anything, and with every moment of silence that passes, the room feels smaller, and his presence becomes more overwhelming. My gaze eventually drops to his feet, bare on my bedroom floor. He has a fucking smiley face tattoo on top of his left one, grinning at me as stupidly as he always does, and there’s something so real about him standing there, unguarded, so open to being hurt by me.

It makes me want to scream.

Why can’t he just leave when I tell him to?

Why can’t he make this easy?

“I’m not here to hurt you, Sparkle.” I watch as his smiling foot takes a hesitant step toward me. “I’m sorry that I seem to always stumble over stuff. I’m here because I like you. Because I want to be here. I know you don’t want anything serious, and that’s fine. I’m not asking for a promise or a commitment. I… I want to be here. With you.”

I swallow against my tightening throat. “Why?”

It’s not as though I’ve given him anything that would make him want to stick around besides good sex. But everything about this moment feels more than about sex. That thought alone makes my skin itch.

I finally glance up at him just as his brows draw together, and I see something in his eyes—a flicker of pain as he answers. “Why wouldn’t I?”

I hate this. I hate the way he’s looking at me like I’m something worth staying for.

I’m not.

Ace thought I was. He wanted to be with me. He said it’d be forever, and then forever ended in an instant.

Beingwith mekilled him.

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