Page 85 of Sugar Rush
“Okay, I’ll be super quick,” she promised apologetically, and the smug little smirk on her face let me know she was happy for me. “I just want to know what time you want me to swing by later to pick you up for the charity date auction thing. It starts at 4:00, right?”
“Oh, Christ,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I completely forgot about that.”
“The…what?” Kieran asked, tilting his head, but his eyes and voice had darkened dangerously.
Fuck.
Looking at him over the top of my phone, I tried to look innocent. “Um, it’s just this silly thing they’re doing at the center. It’s, like, um, you just bid on a date with someone and the money goes to charity. It’s no big deal.”
“And you’re attending because…?”
Wincing slightly, I tried not to grimace at his expression. “Because I… maybe agreed to be bid on. A month ago!” I added quickly.
“You agreed to go on a date,” he determined, blinking slowly at me, his ultra serious expression not even slightly budging. He was pissed. I knew he was pissed. “With whatever stranger happens to have a few bucks to throw at a charity.”
“I… Uh…”
“Jordy, I’m gonna go,” Dani said quickly. I didn’t blame her. She could probably feel the heavy tension radiating off Kieran’s form through the back of my phone. “Just text me when you want me to come, okay?”
“Okay,” I said weakly, and the call ended with a click. Letting it drop onto the mattress, I returned my eyes to him. “Listen, Kieran, don’t be mad. It’s totally not a big deal. Dave is going to vet all the participants, so there’s not going to be any dangerous creeps or anything, and it’s all for charity, and-”
“So you’re going on a date. With someone that isn’t me.”
“I agreed to this before we started, um, you know, seeing each other or whatever. I had no idea we were going to be like this!”
He exhaled, a soft growl rumbling up his throat and sending shivers down my spine. “You’re mine,” he said, ignoring my statement completely as he knelt down on the bed, hovering over me. “Mine,” he repeated, reaching out to grip my chin so I was forced to keep staring up at him.
“I am,” I assured him, feeling my stomach drop at the look in his eyes. “You know I am.”
“So you’re going to tell them you can’t make it tonight.”
“Kieran, I can’t! I already promised, and it’s literally the last minute. And it’s for charity,” I repeated, though I was starting torealize that part meant nothing to him. And he definitely wasn’t looking particularly charitable at the moment.
“I don’t give a fuck what it’s for.” He bit out the words between his teeth. “You’re not going out with someone else.”
“It’s not like a real date or anything, everyone knows it’s just for fun.”
“You’re going to have fun on a date with someone else?” He asked, raising his eyebrows like my statement had shocked him.
“N-no!” I said quickly, backpedaling. “Of course I won’t!” Realizing my nonexistent strategy wasn’t getting me anywhere near digging me out of this hole I was in, I switched gears. Reaching up to stroke my hands over his arm where he was still holding my chin, I blinked my lashes at him. “You know I’d rather be with you than anyone else.”
He scoffed a little, raising his eyes up to the ceiling for a moment as his tongue slid around his teeth.
“So let me get this straight, to be sure I’m fully grasping the situation,” he said. “You love me.”
“Yes,” I said, before he put a finger over my lips.
“Don’t interrupt me,” he ordered flatly. I could only nod wordlessly. “You love me. You want to be with me. Only me,” he added, and I nodded again, trying desperately to radiate that concept to him through my eyes. “And yet you’re going to get all dressed up and prance around a stage and try to look cute for a bunch of strangers, in hopes that they’ll be willing to give the most money to some fucking charity, so they can take you out on a date.”
Feeling like I was backed into a corner, I waited for him to lift his finger off my lips. “Not exactly.”
“Not exactly,” he repeated, giving a single caustic little laugh. “Oh, my pretty, clueless little angel. And you won’t cancel.”
“I can’t,” I repeated weakly. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re going to be sorry,” he promised me. “I’m going to make sure that you never, ever pull some shit like this on me ever again.”
“I won’t.”
