Page 99 of Forbidden Romeo

I snatch the glass out of his hand and return once I’ve filled it. “Drink.”

He obeys. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what, exactly?” I say, taking a seat opposite him. “Forcing me into an engagement to piss off my brother? Ignoring me after the fight? Abandoning me when everyone I meet here hates me? Or are you just apologizing for showing up at four-thirty AM, drunk out of your mind?”

“Yeah, those.”

I have to laugh because if I don’t, I think I’ll cry. “You’ve betrayed me in so many ways, I don’t know where to even start.”

Jack stares at me with a little more clarity in his eyes. “I never… wanted it to be like this.”

“That’s great, but this is how it is. This is happening.” I can’t laugh anymore. The tears well up and pour out before I have a second to gather myself. But fuck it, he needs to know. “You can’t just get drunk every time something goes wrong. You have to be here; you have to hold up your end of the bargain.”

Alarm spreads across his face. “Aimee… I’m so sorry.”

“Stop it. Stop apologizing!” I close my eyes and swallow hard. “I don’t accept it.”

“I shouldn’t have left,” Jack says, and I can hear him get up from the couch. “I should have been with you, protecting you. I was just–”

“I don’t care,” I manage to hiss at him, shooting him a glare as he attempts to move closer.

He pauses, suddenly looking so unsure of himself that it’s almost laughable. “Aimee, please. Please don’t cry. I can’t stand that I’ve done this to you.”

“Must be so horrible for you,” I bite back sarcastically.

“Fuck!” Jack shouts suddenly and beelines for the bathroom. I dry my tears as I listen to him running the tap and splashing his face over and over.

When he comes out again, he seems to have sobered up at least a little bit more because he comes to kneel at my feet.

“Listen to me,” he says desperately. “You don’t deserve anything that happened tonight, none of it. I hate myself for it; please believe me.”

“Then why did you?” I whisper.

He studies my face as if it somewhere holds the right answer. But he doesn’t respond. Can’t, it seems.

I nod, accepting this bitterly. “Right.”

“Aimee…”

“No, this is good; at least I know where I stand with you now. For real, this time,” I try to stand, but his hands are suddenly there, pinning me down.

“Please,” he whispers. “You have to understand–”

“I understand perfectly. Let me go!”

His lips crash into mine, and for a moment, nothing else matters. Jack clings to me, and I hold on to him just as hard as he deepens the kiss, exploring my mouth. Begging me to submit.

I pull away aggressively. “That’s not going to work on me again.”

“Please.”

“Let me go!” I push against his firm chest, hoping to make any kind of space for me to slip through.

“You said that you loved me!” he blurts out desperately.

“I-” The words get caught in my throat, and it takes me a second to wrench them out. “I only said that in front ofPadraic! You havehurtme, Jack. How could you possibly think that was real?”

Something cracks inside me to say it, but my words have the desired effect. Jack’s eyes flash with wild emotion, but he takes a step away. Then another.

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