Page 62 of Let the Game Begin (Kiss Me Like You Love Me #1)

I didn’t inquire into his method of revenge; Jennifer didn’t matter right now, just Jared. I should have been able to break the news to him at the right time without anyone else interfering in that decision.

“Why did she go off like that?” he asked me then, as if I also bore some fault for this. I jerked my face away from his hand and sat up straight. I had to remember that Neil wasn’t my hero or my savior. I was just one more trophy in his collection, and I had to keep sight of that.

“Because she said you were hers and I responded in kind,” I explained angrily.

“Do you think verbal provocation justifies her violence or gives her the right to hit me?” I stood up from the bed and immediately experienced a slight dizziness that made me stagger.

Neil grabbed my arm, afraid that I might fall, but I didn’t.

Instead, I looked around for my shoes, because I was barefoot.

Moments later, I spotted my sneakers next to a chair.

“I’m not accusing you of anything, Selene. I’m just trying to figure out how—”

“How it happened? Jennifer is a crazy bitch who is obsessively jealous over you, that’s how.” I cut him off, reaching for my shoes. I slipped them on and then held onto the back of the chair as another wave of dizziness washed over me.

“You should try telling her that ‘you like her and your cock likes her but it’s just sex.’ Maybe then she’ll get that she’s not your girlfriend.

” I rarely expressed myself so crudely, but I repeated his own words to him angrily and then grabbed my coat and bag.

I had no idea who had brought my stuff there, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out.

“Don’t be a child. All I did was tell you the truth.” Neil came over to me and put a hand on the door to prevent me from leaving, but there was no way I was going to stand there and listen to him. Not anymore.

“There are a lot of ways to tell the truth, Neil. And as if I didn’t have enough going on, I’m now the new target of your deranged friends.

Did you talk about me behind my back or what?

” I gave him a false smile. “Did you maybe brag to Jennifer about your amazing performance? Or maybe you just told her I’m a way to let off steam, a little girl, a pity lay?

Did you laugh at me? A naive little virgin who came all the way from Detroit just to get used by you like all the rest?

” I seemed to be getting some of my strength back, though I was still dizzy.

I was slowly starting to process everything that had happened and really react to it.

“I didn’t do any of that. I gave you my word that I wouldn’t talk about us to anyone, and I kept it. I’m not a teenager; I don’t feel the need to brag about how, when, or who I fuck,” he clarified, his voice getting steadily louder.

“And yet they know about it,” I pointed out.

“She guessed it on her own, but I never told her anything,” he said again, and from the look on his face, I could tell he was being sincere. I sighed then and rubbed my temple. All I wanted to do was go home and forget this disaster of a day.

“I would like to go home,” I admitted in a soft voice. Neil slipped his hand over the doorknob and turned it.

“Then let’s go home, Tinkerbell,” he said decisively, smiling just a little bit when he used my nickname. I looked up at him with every intention of refusing his escort, but I immediately gave in. How could I stay away from the person who shook my heart and ignited my body?

So, instead, I followed him to his car and watched him admiringly as he drove.

Neil even held a steering wheel with his own kind of charm: using one hand while, with the other, he ruffled his thick hair. He also gnawed on his lower lip and stared out the windshield, lost in thought.

As I stared at him, I realized how important his presence had become to me. Just having him next to me was enough to make me forget about everything I’d had to deal with in the last few hours.

“Wanna stop somewhere before we head back?” he suggested, startling me. I composed myself quickly, hoping he didn’t catch me looking at him and spacing out.

“Where?” I asked.

“What, don’t you trust me?” he asked, with the kind of sneaky smile that gave me goosebumps and a blush.

“No.” There was no point trying to lie to him. Even though I had given him parts of myself that I had never given to anyone else, I didn’t trust him outside of bed.

“Good. That’s the correct response,” he answered cheerfully, taking a street I didn’t know.

I didn’t say anything else. Despite what I had just told him, I had placed myself completely in the hands of the walking disaster next to me.

From time to time, I caught him sneaking sidelong glances at me, similar to my own.

“Quit looking at me,” I teased him.

“You’ve done nothing but look at me since you got into this car,” he shot back, never taking his eyes off the road. Then he turned up the volume on a song by The Neighborhood, and we didn’t speak again for a while.

I was still feeling unsettled, though. I was still shaken by what had happened with Jennifer, even if I did know that I was safe with him.

“So, where are we going?” I asked after a while and he snorted at me.

“You’re too impatient,” he chided me in that grave tone of his that always got under my skin.

“And you’re too domineering.” I pouted. At the same time, I felt grateful for the painkillers still circulating in my system. I wasn’t feeling any pain, but I didn’t know how long the effect would last. I preferred not to think about what I’d do then.

“Only in bed,” he answered, giving me a meaningful look, and I shook my head at him.

“Disagree. It’s not just in bed.”

Neil was always domineering, overbearing, arrogant, and overly serious. Apparently he wasn’t aware of that—or he pretended he wasn’t.

After about ten minutes, he parked the car in front of a chocolate shop.

I frowned and leaned forward to get a better look.

It was a large space with big windows that allowed me to see the cozy furnishings inside.

I also noticed that the tables inside were all full of people, so I turned to Neil with a sigh.

I looked bad. I’d just taken a beating, and I had the evidence of it all over me.

Neil must have sensed the direction of my thoughts, because he looked between me and the chocolate shop in a considering sort of way.

“Wait here for me,” he said, getting out of the car.

He didn’t even wait for my response; he just walked in the entrance with his usual proud bearing.

My eyes dipped down to ogle his firm backside that contracted with every step until he vanished from my field of vision.

I made myself comfortable in the passenger seat and waited a few minutes until he reappeared with a small box in hand.

He got back into the car and handed it to me.

“Can you hold that for me?” he asked, and I accepted it, noting the blue paper it was wrapped in.

“Aw, did you buy me chocolates? I didn’t think you were romantic like that,” I said, giving him a little bit of hard time. He started the engine but not before giving me one of his usual severe expressions.

“Do I strike you as cliché?” He rejoined traffic and proceeded along another street that I didn’t know; it was taking us farther and farther away from our neighborhood.

“I never thought you were, no,” I admitted, holding the box tightly to keep it from sliding around, especially when Neil took hard turns or passed someone recklessly.

He drove terribly, or rather, he always drove like he was in the middle of an illegal street race, but I didn’t point that out to him because I didn’t need another argument.

I didn’t even ask him any more questions, because I could tell that he wasn’t in the mood for talking.

Eventually, we stopped at a park. Neil turned off the car and sat comfortably, looking out at the scene in front of him.

“We can stay in the car, if you’d like. It’s a bit cold to sit outside,” he said, not even looking at me.

I turned to him in amazement. Neil always had the uncanny ability to understand me even when I didn’t explain myself.

I smiled at him, grateful for the choice, and when our gazes met, I found myself getting lost in his eyes again.

They were even more spectacular when they caught the rays of sun filtering in through the car’s windshield.

“Open it,” he said, jerking his chin at the box still sitting on my lap. I had completely forgotten about it.

But I didn’t need to be told twice.

Inside, there were four magnificent rectangular cookies, each one with a smiley face inscribed into it.

“Are you trying to fatten me up?” I grinned, my eyes fixed on the treats. They looked tempting, and I couldn’t wait to try them.

“These are the best cookies in New York. The chips are made of artisanal chocolate. Close your eyes and pick one, then read the sentence on the back.”

Neil never ceased to astound me. I shut my eyes, perceiving nothing but the sound of our breathing, and grabbed a cookie.

“You can open your eyes now,” he ordered, giving me goosebumps.

I did as he instructed and turned my cookie over, reading aloud, “I may be all grown up now, but if I see you without a smile, I’ll grab a pencil and draw it in for you like a little kid.”

Neil gave me a serious look, almost shocked by what I’d just read. He looked down at the cookie in my hand and then back up at my face in disbelief.

“Are you messing with me?” he asked in confusion, leaning over to make sure that I was being honest.

“Of course not,” I said, quickly biting into one cookie and giving him a one-shoulder shrug. They were delightful!

Neil frowned, then let his head fall back against the seat, thoughtful.

“Mmm… These are delicious,” I moaned with my mouth full, a few crumbs tumbling out as I did.

Neil tracked the path of the falling particles and cocked an eyebrow at me.

I stopped chewing and prepared myself for another one of his sharp, insulting comments.

But instead he just bit his lip and sighed.

“No one has ever eaten in my car. I don’t even fuck in here,” he explained, looking me right in the eye. He wanted me to understand that this was a special privilege he was granting me, something he didn’t allow any of his other lovers to do.

I took another bite and didn’t respond. I was sometimes afraid that I was going to say the wrong thing to him and change his whole mood; he was so terribly erratic. Even now, I wasn’t sure whether he was warning me, criticizing me, or just making an observation.

“So…” I decided to change the subject. “Is this some bizarre way of declaring your love for me?” I asked sarcastically.

I don’t know why I even said something like that.

Maybe I was just trying to hide my own real feelings.

If I was being honest, I felt shattered, and I was still trying to find the strength to deal with the humiliation I’d suffered at Jennifer’s hands.

Neil smiled again in that seductive way he had, and suddenly my stomach clenched.

“These are called ‘Good Mood Cookies,’” he explained.

“I just wanted you to smile again. Neither Jennifer nor anyone else should have the power to make you miserable. Understand?” He reached a hand up to my face and daubed a few crumbs from my lower lip with his thumb.

In that moment, I ceased to think, speak, or even breathe.

“That’s not something I can control,” I murmured, looking into his eyes.

“We can’t control when we get hurt, but we can control who we suffer over, and Jennifer is not worth feeling bad about.” As Neil continued to hold my stare, I tried to read his golden eyes like were the most beautiful book I’d ever encountered.

“And what about you? Would you be worth suffering for?” I asked, because everything I had endured from his lover I had endured for him.

Everything I did was for him now.

“No. You should just stay away from me.”

He turned his face away and looked back out the windshield. Then, he started the engine and put both his hands on the steering wheel. He was ready to flee that place, our conversation, and most of all, me.

It was always the same story with him: he told me not to believe in love, or silver linings, or fairy tales or the existence of Prince Charmings, and despite all that, I still preferred him and his disenchantment to any happy ending.