Page 122 of Fight or Flight
Shane: yes
Jace: liar
Shane: maybe
Shane: I don’t know
Shane: I’m just…
Jace: just what?
I refresh my screen twice as I wait to see if he’ll answer, then toss my phone onto my bed and head over to my dresser when no new messages come through.
I still have no idea what that ugly feeling still curling around inside me is as I strip off my sweats and pull out a change of clothes. Or why I have the overwhelming need to see Shane right now and make sure that no one gets to share even a tiny piece of him.
Not while he’s mine.
I freeze as that thought bounces around in my head a few times, along with snippets of my conversation with Jax.
“I knew things were different with Myles because I didn’t have to wear my mask around him. I’ve never once had topretend with him,and he’s the only person I’ve actually enjoyed being with. The only person I’ve ever craved.”
I want Shane, and even though he pretends otherwise, he wants me too. I’ve dropped my mask with him for the last two and a half years, and as much as I hate to admit that Jax was right, that means something.
I don’t understand any of what’s going on between us, but I’m done fighting it.
Shane is mine until I decide he isn’t.
And I always protect what’s mine.
21
SHANE
“Hey, babe,”a sultry and familiar voice says a moment before a warm hand slides down my back and slips into the pocket in my jeans.
“Hey, yourself,” I say as Lianna tucks herself up against my side.
“Are you having a good time?” She gives my ass a little squeeze.
I resist the urge to step away from her. Just like when Courtney was flirting with me at the party, her touch feels wrong. It’s too soft and gentle, and her delicate fingers and long nails are more irritating than they are seductive right now.
“You could say that.” I lift my glass and shoot back the rest of my drink.
I have no idea how many I’ve had, and the world is getting blissfully dull around me, so whatever the number is, it’s a good one.
“Why are you out here all by yourself?” she asks in that sultry purr I’m all too familiar with.
“Just getting some air.”
The truth is, I escaped to the backyard to get away from everyone while I wait for the pills I took to kick in.
The party is a chill one compared to some of the ragers I’ve been to here, but there are still too many people around, and too much noise. I knew I needed to get the fuck out of there before I lost my shit because someone stepped on my foot or did something equally innocuous, and the backyard seemed like the best place to hide.
Not a lot of people come out here because, unlike the rest of the well-kept grounds around the house, the back is a mess of overgrown grass and rotting garden beds that’s surrounded by the woods on two sides. The only light sources back here are the moon and whatever glow can be seen from the windows, so the entire area looks like something out of a horror movie, but it’s blissfully quiet.
Or at least it was.
“I’m glad you came,” she says, pulling her hand out of my pocket and slipping it under the back of my shirt. The feather-light scratch of her nails on my skin sends a shiver up my spine, and not in a good way.
