But I don’t care.
I also don’t care who it belongs to. Or that I could recognize it, the roughness of it, the heat, without anyone having to tell me. Well, given the fact that we were going to meet here, it’s only logical who it would be, but still.
It’shim.
It’s his hands.
And for once, I’m so thankful for them.
For once, I’m so thankful that he’s touching me. He’s got me.
He’s got me…
Just as the thought floats through my head, I’m being put on the ground and spun around. And I’m so dizzy from my near fall and his fast movements that I grip him back.
I clutch onto his biceps, my fingers digging into his hard muscles. “I didn’t… I didn’t need you to do that. I didn’t —”
“Yeah, you did.”
His whole body vibrates with the growl.
And I flinch.
He’s right. I did.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to accept that. That I need help from him.
Especially after how he rejected me two years ago.
Especiallywhen despite that I’m still taking his help with getting Lucas back.
“I-I was fine,” I insist stupidly. “It was just my heel. It —”
“Fuck your heel.”
I flinch again.
At the venom in his voice. At the violence in his fingers that are flexing and gripping my waist.
I bet his face looks violent as well.
But since the night is dark and the trees around us cover the moon in the sky, I can’t really see, and thank God for that.
Swallowing jerkily, I dig my nails into his smooth skin. “A-and my dress. It —”
He digs his fingers into my waist. “Well, fuck your dress too.”
I suck in my belly at this. “It was only like a six-foot drop. You don’t have to growl at me like a bear.”
His nostrils flare I think as he bites out, “It’splentyto break your reckless little dress-wearing ass. When you don’t know shit about climbing over things.”
I can’t help but scratch him at this as my voice drips with sarcasm, “Oh, I’m sorry that I’m not an expert at climbing over things. Like you are. I’ve only recently started doing this, you see. Ever since I got sent to this reform school. But if you teach classes or something, I’d be happy to take one. So you don’t yell in my face the next time.” Then, “And just for the record, we’re working together now. Colleagues, if you will. It would be really nice if you didn’t make me want to kill you every two minutes.”
His jaw moves.
This, I notice clearly.
And then I notice something else.