I shove him, but he grabs me and pins my wrists down. I growl.
“You are so frustrating,” he says, his blue eyes looking down at me, a smirk on his face. He’s enjoying this.
Bastard!
“Fight me,” he orders.
“Cole,” I snap. Not in the mood for his shit.
“I dare you to fight me.” My eyes narrow up at him, and he arches a brow. “Show me what you got, Austin.”
I buck my hips, kick my feet, and try to yank my hands free of his iron grip, but nothing works. I arch my back and scream.
He lowers his head to my neck, and I can feel his heart racing against my chest. “Let it out, sweetheart,” he whispers. “Just like you did that night I had you pinned. The night I decided you were going to be mine.”
“Stop.” I hate how he says mine. As if he really wants me to be his. No one has ever wanted me like he does, and that thought makes me a little nervous and excited.
He pulls away and looks down at me. “I’m gonna hold you here. Pinned to the ground. Helpless.” My eyes narrow on him. “And you’re gonna fight me until you have nothing left. Until you’re weak. Worn out. Until you realize I’m stronger.”
“Please,” I growl the word. Unable to say it otherwise.
“No,” he says simply.
“I hate you,” I snap.
He frowns as if that hurt his feelings. “You hate yourself, Austin.”
“No …”
“You hate that you’re powerless. You hate that you have nowhere to go.” He looks up at the cemetery and sighs. “I was once like this.” He looks back at me. “I once had no control too, Austin. But I picked myself up and fought. Now fucking fight me,” he orders.
I try once again, kicking my feet and digging my heels into the ground to throw him off. Jerking on my hands but nothing works.
He lowers his head to my neck and laughs. He fucking laughs at how weak I am. “I can do this all day, sweetheart …”
I turn my head and sink my teeth into his neck.
His left hand releases mine, and he lets out a growl from the pain. I ball my fists, swinging. I hit him in the side of the head, and his body jerks back. I dig my heels into the ground and lift my hips, throwing him forward over my head. I roll out from underneath him. He recovers quickly and lunges for me. I stick out my leg, kicking him in the chest and knocking him back. I crawl on top of him and straddle his hips. I wrap my hands around his wrists, pinning them above his head. I’m panting. Heart racing.
He has a cut on the right cheek. His bottom lip is bleeding, and he’s got a big smile on his face as he looks up at me. It’s the first real smile I’ve ever seen from him. And even though I know how evil he can be, he looks absolutely gorgeous.
“You think you’ve got me?” The amusement in his voice lets me know he’s indulging me.
I lick my lips. “I’m the one on top.”
He chuckles softly. He pushes his arms out wide, and it forces me to release his wrists. Before I can plant them by his head and catch myself from falling, his hands are on my face, and he flips us over and pins me down.
“We need to work on your speed.”
“We need to work on your attitude,” I tell him.
“Oh, yeah?” he asks, arching a dark brow. That smile still on his face. It’s so bright it’s blinding. It almost makes me forget all the shit he’s done to me. “Why do you say that?”
“’Cause I’ve known you for three weeks, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen you really smile.”
It drops off his face like he didn’t know it was there. And just like all the other times, he places that mask on that hides him from the world. I knew he’d do that. But I wanted him to know that I noticed it.
I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips. Letting him know his fuck you look doesn’t intimidate me anymore.
I’ve got you, Cole Reynolds.
His hands are on the grass on either side of my head, holding himself up. “I’ll fight you, Cole. I’ll play this game even though I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. But I dare you to smile for me. I dare you to show me something that nobody else sees.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
COLE
I stand at the clubhouse with my arms crossed over my chest and wearing a scowl on my face. Her words from earlier in the cemetery gnaw at me. She fought. She showed me she has a little more in her. But then she had to go and ruin it by pointing out that I was smiling. That I, for once, was genuinely happy for a second. Nothing else mattered. It instantly pissed me off.