Page 38 of Seren

“I hate the way you look at me.”

My brain fought to catch up with his words. “I’m just giving you back what you give to me.”

Indecision mixed with regret clouded his eyes. I couldn’t fathom why the truth would affect him.“You would’ve seen I wasn’t such an asshole if I was the one driving you to school. You’d get to know the real me. But then Sawyer offered you the Jeep, and that just made me hate you more because you clearly didn’t need me.”

My mind spun. He hated me. Then he didn’t hate me. Then he did? I could barely keep up with the craziness. “I came to your room that morning,” I reminded him. “You could’ve offered me a ride then.”

“I don’t like being accused of something.”

“Accused of somethingyoudid!” I closed my eyes and shook my head, feeling completely exasperated. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Jesus Christ, Grace. Do you need me to fucking spell it out for you?”

Was he seriously getting annoyed withme? “No. I don’t need anything spelled out for me. Because I don’t need anything from you.”

He growled deep in his throat as he stalked toward me, causing me to backpedal until I bumped into the wall behind me. He pressed his hands to the wall on either side of my head, caging me in.

My eyes widened as my heart nearly jumped out of my freaking rib cage. Did I call for help? Scream bloody murder?

“I cannot stop thinking about you, Grace.”

It was as if his words sucked all the air right out of the treehouse.

“You’re on my mind from the second I wake up until the second I fall asleep.”

What. The. Hell?

“I’ve tried hating you for it. I’ve tried avoiding you. I’ve tried making you hate me. But none of it makes it go away.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “But you hate me,” I repeated because what he was saying, and the way he was currently gazing down at me, did not align with the cold, heartless way he’d treated me up to this point.

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t hate you, Grace. I hate everything you’re making me feel, and I wish I could just snap my fingers and make it all disappear.”

“Do you want it to disappear?” I asked, my voice a mere whisper.

“Doyou?” His eyes riveted between mine as if trying to read my reaction.

Good luck with that because my mind was reeling like a loose kite string. Our heaving chests mirrored one another as thick tension closed in around us. His proximity caused me to inhale his expensive cologne. It smelled the way every hot guy should smell—heavenly. “I’m definitely confused right now.”

His eyes didn’t waver from mine.

“You do realize you just dropped a whole lot on me, right?”

“So?”

“So? You don’t even know me.”

“I know after I was a complete asshole to you, you charged into my room to call me out on my shit. I know you wouldn’t let some stupid pranks stop you from walking into school every day with your head held high like a badass. I know when girls are bitches you put them in their places. Iknowyou, Grace. And, I like what I know.”

“Well, I don’t know you,” I countered, feeling overwhelmed, confused, and at a loss for how I should feel.

“What do you want to know?” he asked as if he was willing to lay it all out on the table for me.

“I’m gonna need more than that.”

He inched closer to my face, taking that as an invitation.

I sucked in a sharp breath, knowing it wasn’t an invitation. On the contrary, it was the truth. I didn’t know him. And, what I did know, I didn’t like. I needed to get out of the treehouse. I needed time to process what he’d said and try to wrap my head around how I felt about it.

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