Page 15 of Fight or Flight
“Fine,” he says in that same flat voice. “I don’t go out of my way to piss you off. I do it because it’s fun and makes my day a little brighter. But that’s it. I don’t think about you when I’m living my life, and I don’t wonder about the next time I’ll be in your vicinity or whatever else you might be thinking. I see an opportunity, and I take it.”
“Yeah, right.” I raise myself up to my full height, which is almost the same as his, to try and cover up the weird pang of hurt that hits out of nowhere and tightens my chest. The fact that Jace is half an inch taller than me pisses me the fuck off. “You expect me to believe that?”
He shrugs like someone who’s completely checked out of the conversation. “Believe what you want. If it makes you feel better to think that you’re more than just a random I occasionally mess with for shits and giggles, then whatever. I can’t stop you.”
“A random you hunted down in the gym to piss off for no other reason than you were looking for some fun?” I arch one eyebrow at him.
“Oh, you sweet summer child.” He says with a chuckle. “You being in the gym at the same time I want to use it isn’t me hunting you down. And this”—he waves between us—“stopped being fun about ten seconds after you started talking.”
“I should shut you up for good,” I mutter.
“And how would you do that?”
“Remember what happened during hazing? And again during Christmas break?”
Something dark flashes in his eyes, breaking up the weird blank look, but it’s gone a moment later.
“Maybe we should see what happens when you don’t have half your family around to break things up and save your ass,” I say pointedly.
“Oh, honey.” He laughs, but it sounds and looks bizarre with that damn blank face and toneless voice he keeps using. It sort of makes my brain glitch out for a second. “I didn’t have any of my family around over Christmas, and they didn’t break things up during hazing to savemyass, they did it to saveyours.”
“Sure they did,” I toss him a smirk of my own. “And that’s why they pulled me off you when I had you on the ground? Because they were trying to save me from you?”
“Yup.” There’s a little bit of humor in his voice now, and that’s even more infuriating than the robot impersonation he was doing before.
“Whatever,” I say dismissively. “Name the time and place, and we can settle this for good.”
“You’re seriously challenging me to a fight?” His tone is still devoid of emotion, but I see a flicker of life in his eyes that sends a pulse of energy through me, like a sudden surge of dopamine.
“Careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.” His neutral tone can’t cover the edge in his words.
“Are you saying you’re too chicken shit to fight me for real?” I ask, unable to keep the triumph out of my tone. “No rules, no witnesses and no one to step in to save your ass when I give you the beatdown you’ve obviously needed for years?”
“Nope.” He pops thePsound in a way that’s beyond irritating. “I’m just saying that you should think carefully about the consequences before challenging me.”
“Consequences like beating the hell out of you and making you my bitch?”
The grin that spreads over his lips is full of heat and challenge, making him look as dangerous as it does deranged. “It’s cute that you think that. But trust me when I say that ifanyone ends up being the other’s bitch, you’ll be the one on your knees like a dog.”
I smirk to cover up the shiver of unease that moves up my spine. “You think so?”
He nods.
“I don’t know,” I say casually. “I think you’d be the one who ends up on his knees.” I give him a quick once-over. “You’d look good like that, on your knees and begging for mercy.”
He laughs, and the sound is deep and throaty and sounds more genuine than any laugh I’ve ever heard from him. “Almost as good as you’d look on your knees for me.” He rakes his eyes up and down my body elevator-style, giving me the same treatment I just gave him. “But I wouldn’tjusthave you begging for mercy.”
A weird heat fills my chest at the salacious grin tilting his full lips, but I shake it off and toss him what I hope is a flat look. “Yeah, you’re barking up the wrong tree if that’s what you’re looking for. I’m not into guys, so that shit doesn’t work on me.”
“What shit?” He asks with an innocent smile.
“That suggestive shit. You can try all you want, but it won’t work. I’m straight.”
He huffs out a low chuckle. “Never been an issue for me before. Do you have any idea how manystraightguys have eagerly gotten on their knees or bent over for me? How many have begged for my mouth or my dick, then begged me not to tell anyone because they’restraight?”
“Nope, and I don’t really care because I’ll never submit to you.”
“Who said anything about submitting?” He gives me a heated look that sends a tickle of awareness through me. “You don’t have to submit to someone to suck their dick or take it up the ass. It’s way more fun if you do, but it’s not a requirement to catch a ride on the D train.”
