Page 116 of Only in Your Dreams

“Kiss for the camera!”

I can’t do this. I can’t watch another second of this. I push back my chair as much as I can without smashing into Summer.

“I’m gonna get us another round,” I announce. The last thing I see is Melody’s anxious look pointed at me before I disappear into the crowd.

I don’t go to the bar. I push through the mob until I break into the deserted hallway leading to the washrooms and lean against the wall, trying to get my head right.

It isn’t real. It’s not real, it’s an act for Parker and Summer.

She cares about me. That was me she was with last night. Me.

She has feelings for me.

Does she, though? She never said so.

“Zac.” I turn to find Melody hurrying down the hall.

She stops just short of me, tipping back her head to get a good look at me. Her hair slides off her shoulder, dangles down her back, ends swishing by her waist.

“How did you get away?” I ask. She gestures down her front where I find a dark patch over the lower part of her dress. “You spilled a drink on yourself?”

“It’s the first thing I could think of,” she says with a chuckle.

But my brain is still wrapped in a thick, jealous fog and I don’t manage to match her enthusiasm.

“Did you kiss him?”

Her eyebrows shoot all the way up. “Zac, it isn’t real. You know that.”

“Yeah, well.” I plant my hands on her hips and walk her back until she hits the swinging door to the women’s washroom. I push again, and we’re inside. “I’m not feeling very rational right now.”

Chapter 29

Melody

He’s snapped.

Completely lost it. All semblance of control, restraint. Gone.

“Zac, what are you—”

The washroom is big, dimly lit, smells like lavender and a touch of eucalyptus. I gasp when Zac turns me around to face the mirror, cornering me into the counter, a smooth, sparkling white surface away from the sinks. I plant my hands on the counter to steady myself, bending at the waist in the process. My dress is so skin tight it rides up right away.

“Don’t move.” In the mirror, I see Zac’s eyes linger on my body, the way I’m bent over. I feel enough cool air to know my dress is barely covering my ass anymore.

Zac walks the length of the room, checking to make sure the stalls are empty before locking the washroom door. By the time he makes it back to me, my chest is heaving. I’m breathing so hard my vision goes a little fuzzy.

He looks even more fired up than he did last night, and I really,reallyhope it means what I think it does.

“Are you—are we—” I swallow hard. “Tell me you have whatever you’ve been waiting for. I need you.”

He doesn’t even spare me a glance. His eyes rake down my body with the same pent-up frustration that had us rolling around in the mud just over a month ago. “I’m not fucking you for the first time in a public bathroom.”

“Then what—”

“Seeing him touch you, hearing you talked about like you’re a fuckingcouple, like he’s the one who has you in bed every night,” he grits out, jaw pulsing hard, and I’ve never known Zac to be a possessive man. Then again, I’ve never witnessed him show other women affection, not even the girls hanging off him in school. “I’myours.I’mthe one who has you, and I’m getting some goddamn answers tonight, however I need to get them.”

If I wasn’t aching for him before, his words shove me over the edge.

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