Page 22 of Crimson Desires

I closed my eyes. “Believe it or not, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Not on the couch, you aren’t. Come to the bed.”

“Jack, don’t make this difficult,” I said. “I’m not sleeping on the bed. You can’t make me.”

“You sure about that?” Jack asked.

Without warning, he slipped one arm beneath my shoulders and one arm beneath the bend in my legs. He lifted me with ease.

“What the fuck? Jack, put me down!” I yelped, trying to wriggle out of his grip.

Jack squeezed me closer to him. His warm, bare chest pressing against my body was almost too much for me to handle. He carried me over to the hotel bed.

“How long has it been since you’ve slept in a real bed? Come on. You know you want to.”

“I don’t need a bed. The couch is fine,” I protested flippantly. “You just want me in the bed because you’re a creep.”

“You’ve got me. I’m a total creep,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “What’s creepier than a rock star offering you a space on his extremely large luxury hotel bed?”

“Jack-,”

“Aster. It’s a fucking king-sized mattress. You sleep on one side, and I’ll sleep on the other. I can even put up a barricade of pillows between us if that makes you feel better. But I’m not letting you sleep on the goddamned couch. And like hell I’m sleeping on the couch. Which means that we’re both sleeping on this bed tonight, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

With that, Jack unceremoniously dropped me onto the mattress.

I wanted to put up more of a fight. I really did. But the mattress was unbelievably comfortable. Like, could-probably-cure-a-mild-case-of-scoliosis comfortable. The mattress was soft enough to hug my body, but firm enough to support it. It was what I imagined sleeping on a cloud must feel like.

Despite my best efforts, I surrendered.

Jack walked around to the other side of the bed, settling down on the mattress. He threw two pillows between us to act as a divider.

Drowsiness possessed me quickly. My eyelids slipped shut. The tension in my shoulders unraveled. My jaw unclenched.

"See? Isn’t this nice?” Jack asked. Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could see that stupid smile on his face in my mind’s eye.

“Shut up,” I grumbled. Exhaustion slurred my words.

“You’re really cute when you’re sleepy,” Jack said.

“Fuck off. Why are you in Kane’s hotel room anyways?” I asked.

“I might’ve arranged a room switch after Ava told us about the bus’s AC breaking down. I might’ve also asked the other crew members assigned to sleep in this room to sleep elsewhere.”

That woke me. I turned around, facing Jack. “You did all of that? Why?”

Jack swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. He pressed a button on his nightstand and the lights in the room flickered off. Then, as if the darkness made it somehow easier to speak, he said, “Because I want to know why you’re avoiding me. And don’t say it’s because you don’t like me.”

“Why not?”

“Because if you say that, I’ll know you’re lying. And I can’t fall for a liar.”

I sighed. “If I tell you the truth, will you let me go to sleep?”

“Yes.”

Squeezing my hands into fists, I spoke. “I’m avoiding you because I don’t want to be let down.”

Because I know that this won’t end happily ever after. Because I know that outside of fairy tales, love isn’t real. Because there’s no way in hell a rock star like you could ever love a broken girl like me.

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