It’s wrong and it shouldn’t happen but it is happening and I want it to stop.
A second later, it does when a sound travels from down the hallway. I hear footsteps bounding, approaching. Someone is climbing the stairs.
The weird paralysis of my body breaks and my palms slip on the wall. Zach looks up at me, at his hand that’s still wrapped around my jaw.
“Let me go.” I look toward the stairs at the end of the hallway.
His reaction, however, is completely opposite to mine.
Amused, he says, “I don’t like your tone.”
My heart’s in my throat, my legs are shaking. “You’re joking, right?”
“Are you laughing?”
I grit my teeth. “Whoever it is, I don’t want them to see me like this. With you, okay? I can’t have anyone think that we have something going on.”
Zach frowns as if he’s genuinely bemused. “But we do have something going on.”
I throw another glance toward the stairs, wanting to push him off, physically. But I don’t want to touch him. Especially when he’s not wearing a shirt. I’m afraid to touch his skin.
“What?”
His eyes bore into mine. The blackness of them reaches out and almost consumes me. “You think about me all the time. I’m the only thought in your head. I make your heart beat faster, don’t I? I make your chest feel tight. You shiver when I’m close. Your pulse is fluttering on your neck. Tell me, did it flutter when he asked you out?”
I gasp; the bastard overheard everything.
Damn it.
And he’s right. He’s so fucking right but I don’t have the time to argue with him.
Zach chuckles humorlessly. “No secrets, remember?” He shakes his head once, slowly. “You wanna fall in love, huh? Let me tell you something about love, Blue. It hurts. Remember when you cut your palm and it was bleeding? It’s like that. Only the cut is in your heart and the blood never stops. In love, you bleed forever. Do you wanna bleed forever, Blue? I bet your heart is real fragile. I bet it cuts easily.”
Every part of my body is attuned to his words, especially my heart. The thing that bleeds in love, according to him. It’s beating like crazy.
Crazy, crazy, crazy. Like me. Why am I not pushing him away?
The sounds and laughter are growing closer and finally I get enough sense to say something. “Let me go.”
He smirks. “Say please.”
I fist my hands. “Please.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Getting serious, he continues, “And Blue? A town can handle only one bully and this town’s already got one.”
Something flashes on his face quick like lightning. “Don’t be a bully, Blue. Don’t be like me.”
He tightens his grip on my jaw once more before letting me go and moving away.
Just then, a couple of maintenance guys come into view. They barely pay Zach and me any attention as they walk in another direction.
Deflating, I grab hold of the cart and get out of there.