Page 42 of Brutal Little Secrets

“Babe!” Chase sits down next to me and I scoot a little to give him room, flipping my phone over. “I’ve been waiting to talk to you all day.”

Setting my fork down, I turn to meet his winsome smile. No more playing games. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore, Chase. I thought I could trust you, but I was wrong.”

His smile falls. “Give me a chance to prove it to you, EvanAnn. I can be the guy you need. I swear. I’ll do anything.”

When I search his eyes, he seems sincere. But why? Maybe he really thinks that. It doesn’t matter because I’ll never trust him again. Maybe he could pretend to be the guy I thought he was, but that isn’t the guy I want. I don’t think it ever was. But for now, I have to pretend it is.

I clear my throat. “If you want to prove it to me, I need to go slow.”

I blow out a breath and he reaches for my hand, setting his on top.

“Anything.” He seems so fucking sincere. Let’s see how he feels about my demands.

I lift my gaze to his. “You can’t have sex with anyone else. But I don’t think I can even kiss you right now. You hurt me too deeply.”

Forget hurt. I’m fucking enraged. He left me stranded in the middle of nowhere. At night. He’s not someone I would ever trust again. He deserves a swift kick to his junk, not forgiveness. But for now, I’ll let him believe what he wants to believe. That I‘d be naive enough to take him back.

He bobs his head. “That’s fair. I never should have fucked other girls. I just didn’t want to make you feel like you had to fuck me, so I took care of the need.”

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I arch an eyebrow. “If you need release, you can masturbate.”

He smirks. “It’s not the same. I know you haven’t had sex, but it feels different with someone else.”

I cross my legs. If he only knew. Clearing my thoughts of Damon, Cam, and Hawk, I breathe out.

“I’ll only meet you on dates. I can’t trust you to drive me anywhere.” I glance at him like I’m afraid.

“That’s on me, babe. I never should have left you. I was coming back when the police took me in.”

More lies. Damon told me Chase was coming back to the party without me. He would have gotten fucked and then maybe came back to find me. Part of me is curious what his excuse would have been if he hadn’t gotten taken to the police station.

I raise my gaze to his. “I have to know, Chase. Do you think maybe you have a sexual addiction? If so, there’s help for that.”

He laughs. “No, I’m just a healthy teenage guy who likes to have sex.”

“Did you use condoms?” I ask.

He rubs the back of his neck and looks away from me. Obviously not.

“I can’t even think of being with you until you have an exam and your tests come back STI free. It’s a few months after your last sexual partner. So...” Is he going to be honest with me or will he say it’s been a month, so he won’t have to wait as long? Not that I’d be willing to go shorter.

“I can do that. We can schedule it from today so you can be confident in the results.” He reaches out to try to tuck my hair behind my ear, but I draw away from him. He frowns at his hand as he lowers it.

Good. He needs to feel this.

“I don’t know if this will work.” I exhale, pretending to be a girl who wants this man more than her own self-respect. Fuck, if he believes me, maybe I’m a better actress than I thought. “Maybe this is too difficult.”

“I’m willing to try if you’ll let me.” He rests his hand over mine again since I didn’t pull away last time. “I’m serious about making this work. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

My brow furrows as I look down at my food. We’ve only been dating a few months. How can I be the best thing that’s happened to him? What exactly is he getting from this relationship? There has to be something.

He clears his throat as he takes a bite of his sandwich. “Are we good to have lunch together?”

I look toward the outside where I know Damon, Hawk, and Cam are. I wish I could eat with them, but that’s not part of this. They’re the kings of the popular students. I’m nowhere near their level. I don’t know if I would ever be welcomed out there.

Hawk walks into view of the windows talking with some girl I don’t recognize. She’s in a Deimos uniform. Maybe she’s in one of his afternoon classes. I blow out a breath.

“Yeah, we can have lunch together,” I say, playing my part.