I smirked, putting the cigarette between my lips and taking a long haul. “I’m already dead.”
Her gaze went to my lips, and hers parted slightly. “Well, you should still give it up. It’s bad for you.”
“You mean it doesn’t add to the bad boy sex appeal?”
She blushed and looked away quickly.
I bumped her shoulder, smirking at how easy it was to rattle her. “You can admit it. It can be our little secret.”
She turned her fiery gaze on me, lips pursed, hands clenched into fists. “You’re a world-class asshole, you know that? You had me on the ground, forcing me to do whatever you wanted, and this is how you act right after?”
“You can stop pretending you hated it. It’s not like you said no. I think it was the opposite of no. Your legs were like a vice around my neck. I thought you were gonna pop my damn head off.”
She jumped up, facing me with pure fire in her eyes. “You're an asshole. I’m not going to sit around and let you keep being one.”
I grabbed her hand, holding her in place.Rage poured out of me. I deserved every word she’d said, but I would never admit it. “You don’t get to walk away from me.”
Her words were soft, but they landed on me like bullets. “I’m not the one who walked away. You were. I’m not willing to let you come and go from my life because you need a fix or whatever.”
“I…” I cleared my throat. “I just remembered…” I gnawed on my bottom lip, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as my palms began to sting with a thousand needles. “I’ve gotta go.”
I caught the look of sad confusion on her face before I split down the path in the opposite direction. Her disappointed eyes followed me like a cloud until I was obscured in shadow. Right where I belonged.
I eased my steps, my thoughts spinning away as I sucked in cool breaths of air, thankful to be out of her web of complicated emotions.
No one had ever been able to draw me in like Devlynn Price. She was a dangerous road that would eventually ruin me.
Chapter 12
Devlynn
It had been two days since I’d seen Elis. He’d walked away without a word and disappeared from my life once more. I was determined never to see the asshole again.
If I was honest, I’d enjoyed every second of our time together. I didn’t think about my dad or my fucked-up life. All responsibilities and worries melted away, leaving me in orgasmic bliss until Elis threw ice water in my face.
I was due at class in an hour—the one Elis had magically found his way into weeks after the beginning of the semester. I walked out of the registrar’s office after trying to drop that class, the fear of combusting after another minute with Elis Brooks all but oppressing me. But the university told me I needed the credit, and I wasn’t about to mess up my future for him.
“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Price?” His voice startled me from my thoughts.
“Brooks,” I grumped as I clutched my backpack to my chest and walked down the sidewalk. “You smell like paint. If you’re going to tag walls on the way to class, you may want to bring a change of clothes. Your dirty little secret will be blown for sure.”
“I’m not worried.” He grinned, catching my arm and spinning me softly into a limestone wall in a small alleyway crowded between buildings that led to the central courtyard. “I’d like to tag this.”
I focused on his large, tattooed hands framing my face against the wall behind me. His breath on my neck was beyond arousing. I cursed him inwardly for being so…alluring and myself for being pressed so close to his body yet again.
“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I found my voice.
“This wall. You know how hard it’d be for them to cover it? They can't paint it. It’s natural stone. They’d have to clean it. It’d take weeks and an entire crew.”
“Is that what you want to talk to me about? How you’re jonesing to vandalize property?”
He winked, and the right side of his lips turned up to form a lopsided smile. “You offering to let me vandalize you?”
I shove passed him. “Maybe I should report you for harassment so they’ll kick you out.”
He shrugged as he gripped my hand, stealing all the air from my lungs. “Hard to get kicked out when I don’t belong here in the first place.”
My heart ached at his words. Even now, the man had me wanting to make everything better for him. Devlynn Price, the dumb girl who always sacrificed her needs for those she cared about. “Why wouldn’t you belong here? Everyone deserves an education, even you.”