Page 26 of Ares' Shield
It’s like we’re talking in circles here and getting absolutely nowhere.
I shake my head and turn to walk away, completely done with all this bullshit. A warm palm grips my arm, spinning me around to Jayden’s full lips pressing into mine.
He breaks the kiss too soon with a growl. “I have no intention of breaking my promise. I just needed some time.”
“Time for what? To wallow and let everything that jackass said fester?” I glare up into crystal blue eyes.
“Beth…” he trails off.
“No, Jayden. No more excuses.” I push at his chest.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” he yells.
“Yes, you do. I have made it pretty fucking clear.” I poke him in his rock-hard chest.
“And what about the gods? Huh? What do you think they will do if we defy them?” His hands tighten on my hips.
“The gods need us to help them find their items of power. No one else in this school can do it.”
“And what about after this is all over? What’s to stop Zeus from decreeing that I’m not good enough for you and getting rid of me?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“You’re borrowing trouble from a future we may not have,” I say and sigh.
“Don’t. Don’t talk like that.” He pushes a lock of hair behind my ear.
“Like what, Jayden? I’m being realistic here. There’s a war coming and an enemy that we don’t know. We may not survive it. I don’t want to die regretting anything.”
“You’re not fucking dying in this war, Beth. I’ll go to the underworld and drag your ass back if I have to,” Jayden says fiercely and with so much conviction I almost believe him.
“Why?” I ask, my voice small.
He doesn’t want to fight for me against the others or against my father, so why would he fight death for me?
“Because I don’t want to live in a world without you in it.” His hands flex on my hips.
“But you won’t fight for us to be together.” I shake my head, disappointed.
He would literally fight death for me but won’t stand up to my father. Pain lances through my chest as my heart cracks in two.
Fuck that. I refuse to let him treat me like this again. I shove him away with two hands on his chest but don’t move my hands as they connect with his warm body.
His heart beats wildly below my fingers as I walk him back against the wall. My fingers flex in the material of his black uniform shirt.
I meant to push him away, but my hands are still on his hard chest as he bumps into the wall.
“What are you doing?” he groans.
What am I doing? I don’t even know.
Stepping forward, I grip his shirt tighter as I crowd him, shoving him against the wall. “This is it, Jayden. You need to decide what you want because I’m not doing this over and over with you.”
“You know it’s not that simple, Beth.” He cups my cheek and tilts my face up to his.
“It is that simple. You just need to stop listening to everyone else. What we want is the only thing that matters.” I lean up on my tiptoes and brush a chaste kiss across his lips.
Will he listen? I don’t know. His eyes close as he lets out a soft breath across my lips. Tingles erupt over my skin.
His fingers tighten on my hip as he pulls my body flush with his. “This is all probably going to blow up in our faces, but I’m in.”
