“I’m telling you both to stop.” I tugged on Cassian, which made about as much sense as trying to pull on a semi-truck.
Cassian got off Clint and stood over him.
I reached down and helped Clint up, who grudgingly took my hand and then tried to stand possessively beside me.
I stepped away from him, putting equal distance between both guys before holding my palms up to them. “Clint, I tried to tell you as clear as I could. You’re a great guy, but I don’t have romantic feelings for you.”
“Bullshit. We made out on your couch. You damn well—”
Cassian looked like he was about to tackle Clint and start the beating all over again.
“I gave it a shot. And I was wrong. I still kept thinking about Cassian, and I realized it wasn’t fair to keep stringing you along if I had feelings for someone else. But—” I pointed at Cassian, stopping him before he could speak. “I’ve known liking you was a bad idea. I’ve tried to fight it the whole time. Some dumb part of me probably figured I could fix you. I can’t. I’m not even whole myself, okay? Some people aren’t meant to get put back together.”
“I don’t need to be fixed, Charli.” Cassian took a step toward me. “I just want you. All of you.”
“Correction,” Clint said. “You need to be fixed like a violent dog needs to be fixed. Maybe you’d be able to control—”
“Clint,” I said through grated teeth. “Listen. I’m done having this conversation, because it’s not going to go anywhere. Whatever either of you thought we had, consider it over, okay? We’re all single, and there’s nothing between us.”
“Charli,” Clint tried to grab my hands, but I stepped back. “Please.”
“Don’t be a bitch, Clint. She said she’s over you. Get in your truck and drive home.”
To his credit, even with blood dripping from his chin to his shirt, Clint walked right up to Cassian and didn’t flinch away. “I’d love to see you get what you deserve some day.”
“Yeah? Too bad my stepdad is loaded, then. People like us never get what we deserve, do we?” His eyes shifted to me, and in that moment, I saw that he wasn’t taking this all as indifferently as he was letting on.
Good.
Cassian was right, anyway. People like him got to skirt around consequences for their whole lives. I was tired of people doing shitty things and not paying for it. Tired of people who thought they could keep being assholes and expect forgiveness as soon as they got their tempers under control.
Cassian took a few steps after me once I started walking away. “At least let me give you a ride.”
“I’ll survive. It’s only a couple miles.”
I left both of them behind and had to hope Clint had the sense to get in his truck and leave. All I knew was I couldn’t stay any longer. I needed to get away from Cassian before I wound up doing something stupid, like starting to forgive him.33CassianI knocked on Charli’s door for the twentieth time and sighed, leaning my forehead against the wood.
“I can hear you breathing in there. Let me in.”
“Just leave it alone for once, Cassian.”
“No.”
The door swung open. Charli’s eyes looked red and a little swollen, but the only emotion in her expression was annoyance. “At this rate, I might as well move back in with my dad.”
“Why don’t you?”
She pulled her head back, frowning. “What?”
“Why don’t you? Why are you still here?”
“I’m not even going to justify that with a response. Besides, the last thing I need to be doing with you right now is opening up and talking about personal stuff.”
“I don’t need to be your boyfriend to talk to you. Do I?”
She hesitated. “So you’re just going to accept it, then? We’re done?”
“Why do you sound so disappointed?”
“I’m not. It’s just not exactly the reaction I would expect from you. I thought you were banging down my door because you were going to demand I change my mind.”
“I was.”
She grinned. “But now you’re not? Because?”
“Because I’ve been an asshole. I’m fully aware of that fact. Maybe it’s a fitting punishment that I should have to be a friend for a while before I can fuck you again.”
She laughed. “Unbelievable. For a few seconds there, I actually thought you were starting to show a little maturity.”
I walked into her room and sat in her desk chair, spinning it around. “Is that what you want from me, maturity?”
“What I want is to stop feeling confused all the time.”
“There’s nothing confusing about how wet you get for me.”
She shook her head. “I’m trying to be serious, Cassian. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel with you. You’re confusing. It’s like my insides are constantly getting jumbled up and switched around, and it’s exhausting.”