Page 74 of Entangled

I cock a brow at him. “Are there any other big secrets you’re keeping from me?”

“None.” He flashes those dimples, lifting a finger to his heart and making a cross. “Promise.”

Chapter 19

One Year Ago

It’s been four days since we met Alec, or as I like to refer to him in my head, the fucker, and his words have plagued me since. The constant buzz of them pressing against me like ants running under my skin. I lie in bed, staring out at Coop’s bookshelves as I’ve been doing for the past hour since my eyes first opened. The sky outside is dark and downcast, promising a storm and doing nothing to improve my mood.

My eyes scan the titles lining the shelves, picking them out at random. His collection is littered with autobiographies, classics, bestsellers, poetry, and everything in between. Yet if you search long enough, in the midst of all those titles is a sprinkling of the great romances.Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, Antony and Cleopatra. All the great and tragic tales of love.

Fucking doomed, all of them, and Coop would throw our lot in with theirs if he had it his way. I know he would, deep down in my gut, I know it. Doomed or not.

He’s a lover of the tragedies and I’m the greatest tragedy of all. The girl who thought she was too mighty to fall. I knew he would be dangerous to me, and I still dove headlong into it, into him, thinking I could control all the variables. Arrogantly assuming that I was stronger than the pull. I was as much of a fool as all the characters in those fucking tragedies. I should have left Costa Rica the day I met him and never looked back.

I feel him lift the arm hooked around my waist and start to trace those damned words against my back. “What’s going through that head of yours this morning?”

“Nothing,” I murmur.

“Really? Because you’ve been stiff as a board since you woke up.”

“Just leave it alone, Coop.”

He pauses, finger halting midword on my back. “What did Alec say to you?”

“I told you. Nothing.” I flip the covers back, popping out of bed and walking to the kitchen, feeling as if I’m going to combust on the spot if I don’t get some space.

“Bullshit.”

I hear him get out of bed and walk up behind me as I pour myself a glass of water.

“You’ve been off since then. Tell me what he said.”

“It’s not important.”

“Obviously it is if you’re—” He goes to put his hand on my shoulder and I jerk away, spinning around to face him.

“Can’t you just fucking leave it alone for once?”

My voice whips out at him, chest heaving as if I just ran a mile and he takes a step back in surprise. His eyes narrow on my face, searching every corner of it for answers and his shoulders tighten up in preparation for the fight we can both feel coming. I cross my arms and lean back against the kitchen counter, not giving an inch as we wage our silent war.

“I’m cashing in my questions.” His voice is deep and filled with frustration when he speaks and takes a step toward me. “All of them.” I tilt my head back to keep his eyes in my sight, seeing the way the little flecks of night in them are sparking with anger. “Tell me what made you this way.”

I snort a laugh of derision. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“I don’t care.” He braces his arms on the counter, boxing me in. “Tell me.”

His words of demand settle like a weight on my chest and I just can’t. I can’t take any more pressure. “Take a step back,” I tell him with quiet anger.

“No.”

I see the determination in his eyes and feel the panic inside start to take over, bucking against his demand for more of me. Deadening my eyes, I tilt my head closer to his, voice coming out soft and vicious.

“I didn’t come here to play house and talk about our feelings, Cooper. If you wanted someone to get all deep with then you should’ve picked a different girl.” I drop my eyes purposefully to his black boxer briefs and cock a brow. “There’s only one kind of deep I’m interested in and it involves your cock inside of me.” I throw the words out to inflict damage, to push him away, trying desperately to hold on to some part of myself still. To keep something from his grasp.

I see my words hit their mark as the hurt flashes through his eyes before it quickly turns hot and he drops his hands, fists clenching at his sides.

“What the fuck did he say to you?”

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