Page 10 of Don't Let Me Go (Don't Let Me 2)

I turn and face him fully, crossing my arms over my chest. “She won’t need to clean up my puke. I already hurled everything out.”

He scoffs. “For now. Who’s to say you won’t throw up again? It’s not her job––”

“So, what? It’s yours?” I challenge.

With another scoff, he takes his beat-up baseball hat off and scrubs his hand over his face like he doesn’t know what to say, then he mutters, “Apparently.”

I step to the side, leaving some space between us. Some much needed space. “I’m not a little girl––”

“Then stop acting like one,” he growls, closing the distance and covering his wavy hair with his hat again. It shields the bathroom light from hitting his eyes, making them darker and more intense than usual. They’re almost animalistic, lacking any humanity or softness at all. Only bitterness. And it’s all directed at me.

I shake off the realization and argue, “You shouldn’t have embarrassed me when I was playing Beer Pong.”

“You shouldn't have been playing in the first place.”

“Why? Because I don't belong here?” The question slips out of me before I can stop it, laced with vulnerability and a sharp accusation I’ve been too scared to voice aloud until this moment. But it’s out in the open now, and I want to know if I’m right. If it was a mistake to come here. If he’ll always look at me like I’m a burden––like I’m a little kid––or if he’ll ever view me as the adult I want him to see. I’ve been asking myself if it was a mistake to come to LAU since the moment he moved me in with Ash and the girls. And apparently, buzzed Blake wants to know too.

Theo pulls back, confused. “You don’t belong where? At my place?”

“Why stop there?” I demand, my frustration finally boiling over. “Not only the Taylor House but LAU too. You don’t want me here at all,” I tell him. “Am I right?”

“It’s not my fault any of those guys would love to chew you up and spit you back out.”

I frown. “Burrows is nice.”

“He’s a hockey player, Blake. None of us are nice. Not to girls like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demand, reaching onto my tiptoes to close a bit more of the distance between us. Because I don’t like this. Feeling small. Weak. Inconsequential.

“It means you're too innocent to be here,” he growls.

“Who says I’m innocent?”

His gaze slides down my body, and for the first time ever, there’s a glint of heat in it. Not much. Hell, it’s barely a spark. But it’s there. Tempting me. Testing me. My resolve. My self-preservation. My restraint.

I lift my chin and meet his gaze with my own. “Maybe I’m not so innocent anymore.” I let out a shuddered breath, our lips so close I can practically taste him. “You haven’t seen me for over a year, Teddy. You don’t know where I’ve been. Who I’ve kissed. Who I’ve fucked.”

His upper lip curls. “If Colt heard you say––”

“Colt isn’t here,” I remind him with a dry laugh. “It’s just me and you. And I’m tired. Tired of this…responsibility you’ve decided to put on yourself. To be my surrogate brother when all I ever wanted was a friend. You’ve decided it’s your responsibility to boss me around. To make sure no one touches me, when guess what, Teddy? No one asked you to take on those responsibilities. And here’s the real doozy, my friend.” I pat his chest, ignoring the feel of his tense muscles beneath my palm. “I want to be touched. I want to be kissed. To be fu––”

He slams his mouth against mine. I gasp, and he shoves his tongue between my lips. It isn’t soft or sweet. It isn’t innocent. It’s freaking dirty. And selfish. Like I’m being used. Like he’s proving exactly what it’s like to wind up with a hockey player instead of the sweet and caring gentleman he thinks I want.

Oh, how wrong you are, Teddy.

I like the way he takes what he wants without giving a shit about me or how I feel. It’s like he’s trying to prove a point, though he’s far from successful. Because this is what I’ve been craving. I don’t want to be treated like a child. Like a breakable doll.

Fucking break me, Theo, I want to beg. But I don’t. I let him kiss me. Let him take what he wants. Let him try to prove it isn’t what I want, when it’s the opposite.

I’ve craved him for years.

And now…here he is.

Kissing me.

3

BLAKELY

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