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He takes a sip of his coffee, composing himself. When he finally does, his tone is still casual, though his body language is anythingbut. “What kind?”

“What?”

“Birth control. What kind are you on?”

He seems really fixated on this, doesnt he?

“An IUD. The one I’m on is a five-year device. This is my third year.”

“Good. That’ll work just fine.”

What? “Excuse me?”

“I waited ten years to make you mine. We’re young, Loni. We can have kids later. For now, I want my wife to myself. And maybe that makes me a selfish bastard, but fuck it. Unless you’re ready to start trying now?”

Trying… of course. Like always with Adrian, it comes down to sex. He can ‘try’ all he wants, but my birth control will keep his swimmers from knocking me up… but the look of lust he can’t quite hide tells me that he’ll enjoy the process.

Mimicking his pose from before, I cross my arms over my chest. “I have to sleep in your bed. I don’t have to fuck you.”

Adrian shifts his position. Leaning forward, he perches his elbow on one hand, resting his chin on his other palm. “You think you can sleep next to me and you won’t be begging me to climb on top of you?”

My cheeks flame, but I refuse to look away from the dare written all over his face. Jutting my chin at him, I tell Adrian, “I know it.”

“Like I said. It’s been ten years, princess. Don’t you want to know if we were as good together as you remember?”

Yes.

“Pass.”

He raises his eyebrows.

Remember… I think back, latching onto a memory that doesn’t involve Adrian’s body pressing against mine, making my toe curls as he pinned me in place, fucking me the same time as he kissed me until I was breathless…

Got one.

“Do you remember the history class we had together? Senior year? How you turned the entire class against me after Mr. Banks sprung that pop quiz on us and you blamed me? How I had to get switched out to Mrs. Andersen’s class instead, screwing up my whole schedule so that I didn’t get early release for half the year?”

It’s one of a hundred little ways that Adrian messed with me when we were younger. Back then, he apologized during one of our stolen moments a couple of days later, but the damage was done. One flippant, off-handed comment from the most popular kid in class had Loni Dougherty an outcast again.

Just like always.

“I remember that perv was looking down your shirt every time he came by your desk to ‘help’ you,” is Adrian’s response. His voice is easy. The sudden hard look twisting his features is anything but. “I remember his casual offers to help you afterschool… you, Loni, no one else… and how he got caught fucking a junior the year after we graduated.”

What? I…what?

“I needed you out of that class. And if it didn’t happen the way it did, I would’ve had to involve the Order. He wasn’t a member. He paid the price anyway when he targeted a different girl, but at least he didn’t get his hands on you first.”

I blink. “You did that for me?”

“You don’t know half the things I did for you.”

“But… you bullied me.”

“I did,” Adrian agrees. “Because I didn’t understand what to make of my feelings for you back then. I tried to protect you. I tried to make you untouchable.”

“You tried to make it so that no one else wanted me… because you did?”

“Teenage boys aren’t known for thinking with the head on top of their shoulders.” Straightening up again, he leans toward the table. Adrian picks up his cold cup of coffee, taking another swig though his eyes never leave my face as he does. “Same for little boys who throw rocks at the girls they like.”