He jerked back as his face blanched with a hurtful expression.
“How could you do that? How could you kiss me in front of everyone?”
“What’s the big deal? It’s just a game.”
“It’s not just a game, Tristian! None of this is a game to me! If my family finds out you kissed me, I’ll be lucky if they ever let me leave the house again.”
The realization hit him, and he reached for me. “Fuck, kitten, I wasn’t thinking. Or maybe I was, and I just don’t care what they want anymore.”
“You don’t care that they’ll pull me right out of school?”
“Of course, I do, but I’m over hiding. What’s the worst that could happen if they find out about us?”
“Tristian, you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Actually, I do.”
“Is it worth risking me not being in your life? Maybe nothing will happen to you. You’ll get a slap on the hand, and that’ll be the end of it. However, for me… I know that they’ll do whatever they can in their power to keep me away from you.”
“Why am I so bad?”
“You’re a Hawkins. That’s all that matters to them.”
“So what, Belle? What’s your solution? Continue pretending that I’m not sleeping in your bed almost every night?”
“I don’t know what the right or wrong answer is, but what I do know is I don’t want to lose you to them. And what you just did in there jeopardized everything between us, Tristian.”
“You know what I want.”
“Tristi—”
“You, kitten. I want you! In public. In private.” He gripped the sides of my face, staring deep into my eyes. “Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. That’s what I want.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know if we can ever have that.”
“The fuck we can’t! How do we know if we don’t try?”
“What if we come clean and that’s the end of it? That’s the end of us?”
“I don’t give a shit anymore. I’ll claim you in front of our school, in front of this whole damn town if I have to! You’re mine! Our families are just going to have to accept that. I don’t give a flying fuck about their bullshit rivalry that has nothing to do with us.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. What about your grandfather? Rumor has it you’re already on thin ice with him.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Who told you that?”
“My grandfather. After he told me to stay away from you because you’re nothing but trouble. What did you do? What aren’t you telling me?”
“Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t concern you.”
“Why does everyone keep treating me like a little girl?”
His determination held me captive.
He was holding me captive.
“Are you in trouble? Does he know you’re riding your dad’s bikes?”
He didn’t say a word, but his silence was deafening, to say the least. I so desperately wanted to give in to him. I craved all the things he craved. I’d love nothing more than to hold his hand and kiss him whenever I felt like it. Though, that future might not be in the cards for us, and it was the hardest pill to swallow.