Page 104 of Dirty Rock

“Imade you what you are? Oh, no. That’s all on you. It’s how you’re made up. It’s who you are.”

“And who am I, Jules?” I bent at the knee, forcing her eyes to latch onto mine. “Tell me. Who am I? Because you know me better than I know myself, right? That’s what you’ve always said. What am I to you? Or are you too scared you’re not going to like it when you realise that I’m actually fucking something and someonewho matters. Someone you can’t live withoutnow.”

She froze, blinking wildly, only to look away like seeing me caused her physical pain. She tried to tear herself away, but I grabbed her other elbow and pulled her closer.

“JuliagoddamnSpeed, will you look at me?”

Lifting her chin with a single finger, I forced her attention back to me. When I saw unshed tears in her eyes, a weird stabbing sensation hit me straight in the gut. It felt like I’d been kicked in the balls.

Or worse.

I’d fucked this whole thing up.

“Are you crying?”

“Should I be?”

“Fuckno,” I exhaled heavily.

“Really? Because you seem intent on forcing these tears out.” She pushed my finger away from her chin with force. “I don’t want you.”

“Don’t do that.”

“I don’t need you, Rhett.”

“Don’t.”

A single tear fell down her cheek, breaking my heart and making her pretty brown eyes sparkle under the subtle lighting of the corridor. Her fight was weak, and eventually, her shoulders relaxed.

“I hate you,” she whispered

“Stop it, baby.”

“Don’tcallme yourbaby. I’m nobody’s. Especially not someone who insists on hurting me.” She fought back, slamming a balled-up fist against my chest. It made me flinch just a fraction before I held firm again. “I’m not your baby.”

That fire I adored so much was rising, and it made me smirk as I held her gaze. Thank fuck it mattered to her. Thank fuck she cared enough to get angry. I could work with that. I could do something with that anger.

“What should I call you, Jules? My girlfriend?” I ran a finger across her jaw. Taking a step forward made her take one back, so I took another, and another, and another until her spine hit the wall and forced a rush of breath to fall from her lips. “My lover?” I raised a brow. “My fuck buddy? My friend with benefits? Tell me what you want me to be for you, and I’ll be it… so long as I can be something. Anything. I’ll take whatever you’ve got to give because I’m desperate for you, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m not scared to be real now.”

“Rhett, don’t.”

“You can stop me whenever you like,” I whispered before my lips fell to hers tenderly, no force or anger or desperation there. I was oddly calm, despite my racing heart, and I kissed her with all the respect she deserved. She didn’t respond. Her mouth was frozen, but I could tell from her breathing she was enjoying the feel of us being together again.

There was some kind of destiny in our kisses.

Like we were always supposed to come to this.

I trailed my lips from hers and began to move my attention to her jaw, the apple of a cheek, across to the sensitive spot below her ear, before I planted a delicate kiss in the curve of her neck. “Tell me what you want,” I begged against her skin.

“I want to hate you,” she whispered.

I pulled back to take her in, missing her taste already, my heart full and ready to break wide open. “But you can’t anymore.”

“I can. I just don’t like the way it feels inside.”

“Trying to hate me hurts you, Jules, because you fucking love me.”

Her eyes widened. “Whatdid you just say?” she whispered.

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