The words and casual dismissal stung. His cool delivery chipped away at her. “I know a lot more about you than you give me credit for,” she said.
“Really?” Snideness filled the word, and a wicked twist flickered on his face before vanishing. “Like what, Ms. Observant? If you say there’s the sex stuff, you fail.”
“This is a test? Fine. Regardless of the fact you give everyone a nickname, you never forget a face or a real name.”
“A lot of people know that.”
“But you do it to keep from getting attached. You hated growing up the poor kid in a rich school, so you learned the fast quip and quick jokes were the best way to shrug off cruelty and prove to people you didn’t care.”
“Mercy could have told you that.” His wince defied his casual tone.
“She didn’t. But this isn’t a question of how I know, but what I know. Which includes the fact that you’re a lot kinder and more compassionate than you want anyone to think, and it’s not for some pseudo-macho reason. You’d surrender nearly everything, rather than hurt the people you care about.” She swallowed, not sure she should say the next bit. But she was going to lay this all on the line if it was going to hurt either way. “And I know you care about me as much as I care about you.”
“You’re right.”
Her heart leapt into her throat.
“Which is why I’ll surrender you to keep from hurting you,” he said.
Anger shoved her hope aside. All this discussion, so he could pull the this is what’s best for you card? No. She wasn’t having that. “That’s an asshole move. You don’t get to decide what is and isn’t good for me. That’s not your call.”
“Consent goes both ways.”
She hated the way he abused and tossed that line around. “Because you know what I need better than I do? You fucking hypocrite. Where the hell do you get off, pulling a line like that? Especially after last night’s monologue, about how you regret pushing your will on Lucas’s life.”
“I was exhausted and strung out. Not thinking straight. I needed an outlet after a stressful day. What do you want me to say?”
The excuses burrowed under her skin, raising her ire to new levels. “So, like that— bam—this is over?”
“This never started. You got to slum it for a while. I had some fun. Time to move on.”
“That’s how you sum up our time together.”
He nodded at the phone in her hand. “Call your sister. Tell her to come get you. You can leave that on the coffee table when you’re done.”
She itched to chase after him when he walked out of the room, but her pride didn’t need another blow. If he was going to be a stubborn asshole, she’d let him. Tears stung her eyelids, and she wiped them away angrily. If this was how he approached romance, he was right. She was better off without him.