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Emmett shrugs and continues eating. His cavalier attitude about it all is maddening. I would have expected his possessiveness to make him act a little more protective over me than this, but I guess that doesn’t apply to ex-girlfriends. The growing uneasiness inside gets larger by the second. I’m not so sure I can carry on ignoring them if he’s not going to lift a single finger to try and stop it.

“Couldn’t you try some of the things you used to do to me?” I ask in frustration. “Blacklist her? Have everyone ignore her or make her life hell until she backs off?”

His eyes widen, and I cringe at the hint of disappointment in them. “For as much as you’ve shamed me for how I acted towards you, now you want me to do the exact same thing to someone else? That’s rich,” he answers harshly, throwing a crumpled napkin down on his empty tray. “You know I only went along with all of that because I had to. Those are Vivian’s kind of tricks, not mine. Also…it’s unnerving that you’d look down on all of those things until they serve whatever purpose you have in mind. Whatever benefits you.”

I want to cry as he gets up and walks away without saying another word. For one thing, Vivian and Lily saw him looking tense and angry before storming off, and they’re currently delighting in the whole scene. Second, he’s right. And that makes Lily right, too. One day by his side in this school, and I am no better than Vivian.

“Emmett, wait!” I call out, getting up to chase after him. Vivian and Lily erupt in mocking laughter as I go, but I do my best to ignore them.

He’s already back in the hall by the time I catch up with him. I pull at his arm, but he barely stops for me. “What the hell!” I snap, taken aback by his behavior. “I know what slipped out from me was fucked up, but why are you acting this way? You humiliated me in there in front of them when you knew I was already on edge!”

He's fuming as he stares back at me, unable to respond.

“It’s not fair,” my voice cracks. “You two treated me like shit. Am I still bitter? Hell yes, I’m bitter. This whole thing is fucked up. But why are you acting like I’m the bad guy for being upset over all of this?”

“How long can you punish me for all of that?” He throws his arms up in exasperation. “I’ve told you…I can’t change the past.”

“I’m not asking you to change the past.” I swallow hard. “I’m asking you to fix things right now! And you’re too busy placating Vivian to even listen to me!”

“Look, you knew Vivian would probably be back at school eventually,” he snaps back. “This is only day one. If you can’t handle it now…how’s this going to work? I thought you were ready to deal with things like this when you…”

“When I what!?” I thunder, slamming my fists to his chest. “When I got myself into this with you? Right, but I didn’t exactly get myself into it, did I? You’re the one who came to me and roped me back in.”

“You knew what you were doing,” he smirks coldly.

“Obviously not,” I fume before turning on my heels and storming off.

He quickly runs up behind me and grabs me, spinning me back around to face him. He shakes me with both hands firmly gripping my shoulders. “You didn’t know what you were getting into?” he questions. “Is that what you think? You didn’t realize this was going to be hard? Fuck, Ophelia. I’m trying my best…but you know who I am. You know what comes with me.”

“Vivian?” I raise my brow sharply.

“We have a history. Yes. But that doesn’t have anything to do with you,” he argues.

“It does when she’s marching up to us in the halls and putting her hands all over you while you do nothing!” I

scream.

He quickly puts his hand over my mouth to muffle my voice and jerks me over to a corner. “Stop acting this way,” he demands. “Everyone is going to be talking about this.”

“I thought you didn’t care about what everyone thought anymore!” I shoot back, still defiantly loud. “You’re right…this is just day one of her being back. Day one of you being back. And things are already like this. This obviously isn’t going to work!”

“What do you need?” he softens and pleads with me. “Tell me what to do, Ophelia. I can’t lose you. I just want you to be happy.”

I look away, shaking my head. I don’t even know what I want now. He was right. I knew what came with him and I knew what I was getting myself into. And I am just as stuck as he is. I don’t want to lose him either.

“I just want her to know you’re with me,” I answer quietly. “That you don’t want her anymore.”

He leans in and pushes his lips to mine. I respond urgently, pushing my tongue in between his lips. He pins me against the wall as he’s sucked into the kiss, and we both lose ourselves there for a minute before he finally pulls back.

“She knows,” he pants, looking down on me intensely. “That’s why she’s acting this way. She knows what happened between her and me doesn’t hold a flame to what you and I have.”

“How do I know for sure?” I push. “How do I know what you had doesn’t hold a flame to this?”

“How do you not know?” he gapes, looking disappointed. “You really think this is all just some game to me? That I’m just jerking you around?”

I shrug, looking down to my feet. I know he needs to hear me say I believe in him, that I believe in us. But everything’s happening so fast with all of them coming back here on the same day. It’s too much to take in all at once, and I’m terrified of things going back to the way they were before.

“I know you think it’s terrible,” I mutter. “But if you could just put her in her place somehow. Make her back off…”


Tags: Rebel Hart The Elites of Weis-Jameson Prep Academy Romance