Page 51 of Don't Let Me Go (Don't Let Me 2)

“Blake, I can explain,” Burrows starts.

She looks up at him, her upper lip curling and her messy red hair covering half her face, though she doesn’t bother to push it away. The combination makes her look even more wild, more unpredictable, than ever.

“Get out of this room,” she orders. “Now.”

“Blake––”

“I’m not kidding, Burrows. Leave.”

He holds her stare for another second, his expression twisting with shame. Then, he walks out the bedroom door and slams it behind him. Her shoulders flinch slightly at the sound, but other than that, you’d think we were discussing the weather instead of a bet involving her virginity.

Guilt builds inside of me. Whether it’s from me barging in and breaking them up, my slipup during Strip Pong, or maybe it’s from my involvement in the first place, I’m not sure. But I feel like a piece of shit, and I hate how she was caught in the crosshairs.

It doesn’t matter that the bass is still thumping throughout the house, we’re in the eye of the storm in this room, and the silence is so tense, so charged, I’m surprised I’m still left standing. Her eyes are hazy as she looks straight ahead, almost disoriented. Numb.

I wish she’d yell. Wish she’d throw something. Wish she’d storm out of here and call everyone out for being assholes, vowing to never speak to any of us again. That Blake I can handle. The one in front of me, though? Silent and in control? She’s a wild card, leaving me helpless and feeling more on edge than I’ve ever felt in my entire life.

“Blake…”

“Are you in on it?” she whispers.

Convinced I heard her wrong, my brows lift, and I ask, “What?”

“Are you in on the bet?” She blinks and looks up at me.

“You think I’d bet on your virginity?”

“It’s the only plausible reason why you’d come in here and stop me from hooking up with Burrows.”

With a bark of laughter, I argue, “You’re shitting me, right?”

“If that’s not the case, you should probably tell me why you felt like you had any right to come in here and stop me from having sex with Shawn.”

Shawn.

The name sounds more intimate as it slips past her lips, twisting the dagger in my chest.

I open my mouth, but she crosses her arms and glares at me. The sight only makes my heart beat faster and leaves my hands itching to tug at her fiery hair so I can bring her closer and kiss the shit out of her. So I can make her feel better. So I can fix this.

Give me your fire, Blake. Give me everything. Just don’t be numb.

“Tell me something, Teddy,” she spits. “How’d the team know about my virginity in the first place?”

My expression falls, and I take a step closer to her, but she backs away.

“Blake,” I start.

“You told them. Didn’t you?”

My chest feels tight. Like I can’t breathe as my gaze takes in the most stubborn woman in the entire world standing in front of me who’s going head-to-head with her brother’s best friend.

She’s beautiful like this. Angry. Pissed, actually. And wound up with nowhere to go.

Well, that’s a lie. I can think of a few places I could take her anger, especially when she’s looking at me like this. Where I could wield it. Teach her how to channel it into the best sex of our lives. But I won’t. Because she’s Colt’s little sister. And I might be lusting over the woman, but I won't cross that line.

Ever.

Teasing her, though? To snap her out of whatever’s swirling in her pretty little head? That, I can do.

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