“Let me go,” I whimpered. “Please. I need to go.”
He stroked the side of my hair, pushing it back off my face. My cheeks were flaming with half embarrassment, half fury. I couldn’t let him see me like this. Iwouldn’t, so I pressed my face into the bed. But that was a mistake. I was instantly engulfed in Amir’s warm spice, and it went straight to my head, making me dizzy.
“The fuck, Zadie?” he murmured. “You gotta calm down. I’m not letting you go, so you need to relax and tell me what the fuck is the matter.”
“No, get off me!” There was no strength behind my demand. He had me here, trapped in his room. My captor. If he wanted to shove my face in his conquests, he could and would, and I would just have to bear it. It was my own damn fault for falling for the villain. I knew better, but here I was anyway.
“I’m not getting off you. Not until you talk, and even then, I might not. I like it here.” He rocked his hips forward, and there was no mistaking the bulge rubbing my butt. “Talk, mama. Right the fuck now.”
“I can’t,” I mumbled miserably.
He brought his face close to mine, rubbing his cheek against my ear. “Zadie…give me something to go on here.”
“Get off me.”
“No.” His weight lifted, and for half a blissful second, I thought he was letting me go. Then he grabbed my shoulders and rolled me to my back. His hands came down on either side of my head, caging me in. I squeezed my eyes shut. He growled. “Fuck, Zadie, you’re killing me. I thought we were friends.”
I shook my head. “We’re not.”
“Did Vanessa say shit?”
My breath hitched of its own volition. Amir stilled. Neither of us spoke, but we didn’t need to. He heard me, and I felt his understanding.
“Please,” I pleaded.
“No.” He skimmed his nose along mine. “I need your words. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
I shook my head. “You can’t fix it. It’s my head that’s the problem. I just need to go. Then it’ll be better. Please, Amir.”
He cupped my cheeks, keeping me still. “Open your eyes.”
I squeezed them tighter.
“Open, Zadie. Right the fuck now or I will redden your pretty ass.”
My eyes flew open. He didn’t laugh at me like I thought he would. He stared at me hard enough to see straight through me. But still, he wasn’t getting it, and that made me mad. How could he not see how I felt? How could he not understand what it was like for me to stand in a room with him and the girl he fucked last night?
“I don’t want to be here,” I whispered.
“Too bad.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Talk. Tell me why you were liking me yesterday and now you can’t even look at me.”
“Because…” He wouldn’t let me turn my head. His eyes burned into me. He was all I could see, smell, feel. It was too much. I wanted out and away, and since he wasn’t allowing that, I snapped. “Because I hate changing your slutty sheets and seeing that girl in your shirt. I hate everything about it, and I need to go. Please, please let me go.”
Amir reared back, giving me breathing room. I would have been relieved if he hadn’t laughed at me. Full and hearty, his shoulders shook.
“My slutty sheets?” He peered down at me, grinning wide. “What the fuck does that mean, mama?”
I dug my heels into the bed, pushing myself up the mattress. I got maybe a foot before Amir followed, pouncing on me again. Frustrated, I slapped my hand down on the blanket and balled it in my fist, yanking hard.
“These slutty sheets. I hate them. I hate that you want me to change them after you’ve had another girl in them. I know you don’t care, I know I’m your pet, but I hate them, and if I have to smell that perfume again, I’ll throw up all over your expensive, slutty sheets.”
Amir caught my wrists, cuffing them together over my head with one hand and holding my face with the other.
“What is this?” His eyes searched mine until light shone through his midnight. “Is this jealousy? Are you jealous, Zadie? You think...what? I had Vanessa in this bed last night?”
My nose scrunched at her name on his lips. “She’s wearing your shirt. I know you had her in your bed. It’s none of my business, but I—”
“What shirt?”