Page 26 of Dance of Defiance

I swallow, my body trembling, my pulse roaring in my ears as I stare at him with haggard horror.

“I—I’m…” I angrily force the quiver from my voice. “I’m straight!!” I roar.

Val bristles, his nostrils flaring, his chiseled jaw working, and those fucking piercing blue eyes slicing into my soul.

“What thefuckis this,” he hisses through clenched teeth. “Some fucking setup?”

“I'm straight. I’m not?—”

“I know!Jesus!!” he barks back.

My breath comes in short, staccato chokes, my chest rising and falling rapidly. Val whirls, shoving his hands through his hairand swearing into the darkness of the forest around us. He turns suddenly, his eyes stabbing back into me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!”

My jaw clenches. “Who did you think you were meeting?”

“Some chick!” he spits back.

“Who,” I snarl.

“Idon’t know! That was sort of the whole fuckingpoint, dimwit!!”

The screaming DEFCON alarms in my head lower a notch.

“You…didn’t know who you were meeting.”

“Obviouslynot!” he roars.

“I mean, when you thought you were meeting a girl?—”

“The whole point of anonymous stranger sex, in case you’re mystified by the concept,” he hisses, “is that it’s, you know,an anonymous fucking stranger!”

The alarm level lowers another notch in my head.

He didn’t realize he was meeting Evie.

“You know, Iknewyou weren’t straight,” he spits. “But I didnothave ‘roleplay as a girl on my Roman Nikitin bingo card, you catfishing motherfucker!” he grunts.

“Fuck you,” I hurl back. “And for the record, Iamstraight?—”

His harsh laugh rips through the night and shreds me to pieces.

“Holy fuckingdenial.”

My lips purse tight as I glare at him. “Fuck you. I’m leaving.”

“Fine,” Val snaps back. “Hey, on your way out of the woods, see if you can manage to find your way out of the fucking closet while you’re at it.”

I whirl, surging into him and grabbing him by the front of his hoodie with a furious snarl on my lips.

“Let’s try this one last fucking time,” I seethe. “I amNOT GAY.”

Val’s mouth tightens to a line. His chiseled jaw grinds, and his blue eyes glint into mine like icicles.

“Whatever you fucking say, asshole.”

I grip his hoodie a little tighter before I suddenly shove him back and jab a finger at him. “Stay the fuck away from me and mine.”