Page 83 of Don't Make Me Beg
I rip my hands away from her body and press off the counter. “Are you seriously going to look me in the fucking eyes and lie to me? I saw Jimmy stop by, Scout. Want to tell me what the hell you pulled him into the alley to talk about?”
Her jaw falls open, and then her face burns bright red. “You were spying on me? How?”
“That doesn’t fucking matter. You were outside in the middle of public view; it’s not like I’ve got cameras in your fucking bedroom or anything.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? You have no right to spy on me.” She shoves me in the chest before stomping off toward her room.
I shake my head, temporarily stunned that she thinks she has the right to be angry with me. “Hang on a fucking minute. Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you,” I call after her, catching her bedroom door before she can slam it shut.
“Leave me alone, you creep! It’s none of your business who I talk to anyway!” She yells, struggling to close the door, but I step in front of it, easily stepping inside.
I stalk toward her, my vision going red now, half pissed that she lied to me and the other half completely turned on to see her fighting back. “The fuck it isn’t,” I hiss back.
I glare at her, loving the look of fear on her face as her chest pants for air. Her pupils are almost as big as her irises as she stares back at me, anxiously awaiting my next move.
What happens next, I’m not sure, but judging by the way she’s looking at me right now, I think it’s safe to assume this isn’t anywhere close to being over.
“What did he want?”
She shakes her head, wetting her lips. “Nothing… He just said he’d be waiting for me… After the summer was over and I was donefinding myself.”
“Glad to know you’ve already got your backup plan figured out.” I roll my eyes and scoff. “Tell me, Scout, is it a humiliation kink or do you just love the feeling of being used?” I move closer. “Because I’ve been going easy on you, but if it’s a little pain and degradation you’re looking for, all you had to do was ask…”
She backs away, eyes wide, pupils dilated. “Wh—what does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m just trying to understand why you keep running back to the people who hurt you. You’ve given up everything about yourself, watered yourself down, begging for crumbs. You’re a coward. Can’t you see how pathetic that makes you?”
“Oh, and you’re one to talk.” She laughs. “You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you?”
I lift a brow but don’t respond as she barrels on.
“You may have everyone in this town fooled—hell, maybe you’ve even convinced yourself, but I see right through your apathetic, cool guy act.”
“Is that right?” I tilt my head and gesture with a smirk. “By all means. Enlighten me on howI’mthe coward here.”
“You’re a joke to everyone in this town—even your own family, and no matter how hard you try to pretend you don’t care, I see that it is eating you alive. But instead of doing the hard thing by actually trying, or being vulnerable and proving them wrong, you lean into the character they’ve made you out to be.” She straightens her shoulders and looks me in the eye, like she’s speaking straight to my soul. “Because deep down, the only thing scarier than being judged… is the possibility they might be right.” She pushes past me, trying to leave.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I move in front of her, blocking her path. “You really want to do this? All right, let’s talk about it.” I prop my hands against the wall, caging her in as she glares up at me. “I took the fall for you, Scout. I went toprison, just so you could have a shot at following your dreams, and I didn’t hear a word from you for three years.”
“I never asked you to!” Her voice is shaky, but it’s laced with venom. She shoves me in the chest, but I don’t move.
She shakes her head, tears spilling down her cheeks, and I fucking hate how angry I am with her. And yet, in this moment, all I want to do is cradle her to my chest and wipe her tears away.
What the fuck is happening to me?
For a moment, I’m stunned speechless. I’m not sure what I was expecting her to say to me, but as many times as I played this scenario in my head over the years, not once did I anticipate this.
The wheels in my mind are still spinning when she crosses her arms over her chest. Her cheeks are tinted my favorite shade of pink, making her hazel eyes pop with green. I can’t help but notice how fucking cute she is when she’s all worked up like this. My cock’s grown painfully hard at the sight of her standing up for herself.
“If you still hate me so much, then why even offer to help me?” She challenges back as her eyes drop to my mouth. “Why do you care if I go back to Jimmy, or go crawling back to my parents? What difference does it make to you, anyway?”
My nostrils flare as heat shoots through me. “You fucking know why.”
“Do I? Because it seems like all you want is to be able to hold it over my head.” Her eyes dart back over my body and back up to mine, and even though I see she’s clearly nervous, it isn’t fear I see in her eyes… It’s excitement.
“Let’s get something straight, princess,” I growl, stepping in close. The back of her knees bump against the bed, and she falls backward. “I don’t give a fuck what you do after you finish the mural. But while you’re wearing my ring…” I pinch the hem of her shirt, lifting it just enough to expose a sliver of skin. “…walking around my house in my fucking clothes…” My eyes lock on the flutter in her throat, the rise and fall of her chest, watching for any signs she wants me to stop. “You belong to me. No one touches what’s mine. Do I make myself clear?”
She freezes like she’s trying to process what I just said, which makes two of us, because I sure as hell didn’t plan on saying it.
