Page 60 of I Hate You More

I felt like I needed to scrub my ears out. Surely, I was hearing her incorrectly. “You’re complimenting me?”

Ally shrugged, a fake smile still plastered across her face. “It’s just an observation.”

I shook my head and turned back to the game, deciding that perhaps ignoring her might be the best approach. First, she came and sat with me, then she offered me her food, and, now, she was complimenting me. It was weird and not like her at all. It was like she’d decided her pleasant behavior this week hadn’t been enough to fulfill her end of the truce. Didn’t she understand that I missed the way she used to be?

“Gosh, it sure is cold tonight,” Ally said, moving a little closer to me so our bodies were sat flush against one another.

I froze to the spot, wondering what the hell she was doing. Ally’s voice had taken on a sultry, seductive tone that sounded all wrong coming from her lips. I glanced down at her, and her wide blue eyes blinked up at me. Her gaze dipped to my lips, and she ever so slowly started inching toward me.

We were so close it would have been simple to reach down and brush my lips against hers, but something about her expression was off. The electricity that had radiated between us last weekend at the house party had dulled to a mere flicker, and her eyes betrayed a hint of worry.

I jumped up from my seat and lifted Ally to stand with me.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked as her box of popcorn fell off her lap, sending its contents flying across the floor.

“We need to talk,” I growled, as I took her by the hand and began to pull her toward the exit. I didn’t stop until we’d left the stands completely and were out in the car park behind them. It felt dark after sitting under the bright lights of the field, but at least we were alone.

“What are you doing?” she asked, as I turned to her. Her eyes were sparking with irritation, and it was the first evidence I’d seen all week that there was actually a person inside her body and an alien hadn’t abducted her. I still wasn’t wholly convinced that her bodyhadn’tbeen snatched. Or that perhaps she was a robot and, somehow, she’d short-circuited her fuse.

“What amIdoing? What areyoudoing?” I replied. “What was that back there?”

“What was what?”

“The way you were acting on the bleachers. I swear I was just sitting next to Jenna Fox not Ally Lockwood.”

Ally’s cheeks warmed at my accusation. “I was being nice. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“No, you were being fake.” I shook my head, knowing there was only one way to solve this. “The truce is over.”

“What? Why?” Her words were sharp and filled with frustration. Pleasant Ally was definitely gone right now, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.

“Because Ally the zombie is worse than Ally the harpy.”

“I’m not a zombie,” she replied. “And I was never a harpy.”

“Could have fooled me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared me down. “And you can’t just decide to call an end to the truce.”

“I can and I just did.”

She let out a grunt as she flung her hands in the air. “You were the one who wanted it in the first place.”

“I changed my mind,” I replied.

“Why?”

“I already told you: this Ally, all polite and friendly. It’s worse than the one who goes out of her way to irritate me.”

Her eyes narrowed on me, but then she let out an exasperated breath. “I can’t win,” she grumbled, he shoulders slouching. “No matter what I do, you hate me.”

She looked so fragile as she spoke that I wanted to kick myself for dragging her from the bleachers. I was such an idiot. All I’d wanted was to see a little more fire in her eyes again. Instead, I’d upset her.

I slowly approached her and stopped when I was only inches away. “I don’t hate you, Ally.”

Her eyes lifted to mine. For what felt like a minute, all we did was look at each other. At first, her gaze was filled with uncertainty and hurt. But as the seconds drew out, something changed in her eyes, and every nerve in my body started to tingle with desire.

This moment was so different to the one we’d shared earlier tonight. There was none of the nervousness I’d seen in her eyes and the connection between us blazed with heat once again. It took every ounce of self-control not to close the distance between us. I was trying to make things better, not mess them up even more.

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