Page 69 of Pretend You Love Me

“Ginger.” I whip my head up. Kip’s yelling at me. He’s down on the floor beside me. I’ve curled myself into a ball. My head tucked down onto my knees.

“You have to talk to me,” he says. I just shake my head.

“Whatever that was - you’ve got to stay away. It’s dangerous.”

I’m still shaking my head. I can’t answer, and I just realized I’m sobbing. I wipe my eyes with the sleeves of my shirt. His hand is on my back.

“Please just talk to me.”

I take a shaky breath, stand up, and shuffle a few steps back. I need space. I feel like I can’t breathe.

“Why won’t you just tell me what’s going on?” He’s on his feet now too.

I wipe my face one more time. I can’t explain this to him. Not yet. Not now. “Why won’t you just drop it? We aren’t friends. We don’t really know each other. I’m just a stranger. Why do you even care?”I say.

He flinches. I’ve hit a nerve. He doesn’t respond immediately, and then he takes two steps toward me. Every fiber of my body lights up as he nears.

“We’re strangers, are we?” he says. His gaze is too intense. I have to cast my eyes away. “Look at me, Ginger.”

I can’t.

“Fucking look at me.”

I flick my eyes up to his, and he says, “Tell me we are strangers again.”

He steps forward again. I’m holding my breath.

“Tell me.”

He closes the distance between us.

“We didn’t seem like strangers this morning.” He’s slowly running his fingers down my neck until he reaches my shirt.

“That was just sex,” I whisper. I watch his hands unbutton my shirt.

“Was it?” he pulls my shirt open. He’s just watching my chest rise and fall.

“I hate you.” I pull his shirt over his head and then place my hands flat against his chest.

He snorts.

“Ireallyhate you,” I spit out. I might hate him, but my body sure doesn’t. It’s that damn magnetic pull bringing me closer and closer to him.

“You hate me, huh?” He’s smirking.

“You’re a bully.” I dig my nails lightly into his skin, and I feel him tremble.

“Am I? It seems to me I keep saving your ass.”

“I don’t want you to save me. I can manage on my own.”

He laughs, and I want to slap him across the face. Instead I dig my nails a little deeper. He sucks in a quick breath.

“I’ve hated you since the moment I laid eyes on you,” I say.

“Likewise.”

“You’re a smug, arrogant jerk,” I say.