Page 25 of Ruining Him

“Following me again, little menace?”

She laughs, a wide smile taking over her face. “Nope. For once, this was just a happy accident.”

I believe her. If she followed me here, she’d have been upfront about it. I smirk at her, because she’s just given away so much more than she meant too.

“Aww. Were you so amped up from our little tryst in the bathroom earlier that you had to come here to let off some steam?” I say with a laugh, and she scowls at me.

I mean, I’m here doing the exact same thing, but whatever.

“Get on with it,” someone in the crowd shouts, and I heave a breath.

“You sure you wanna do this?” I taunt, even though I’m the one having doubts.

I hate her, yes. But do I want to physically hurt her? Not really, no.

She tilts her head from side to side, staring at me with those observant eyes of her. “What’s wrong, Cole? You scared of little old me?”

“Never.”

“Then fucking fight me.”

This girl.

Thisfuckinggirl.

She has the ability to turn me inside out, push all of my buttons and drive me crazy all in one breath.

I’m so damn sick of her shit, and maybe this is one way I can get her back for everything she’s been doing to my head lately.

I don’t bother with theatrics; I just pounce.

I rush her, grabbing her around the waist and throwing us both to the floor. We land with an umph, and I don’t even have time to catch my bearings before she’s swinging for me, hitting me in the side of the temple and throwing me off of her. She straddles my waist and I glare up at her, trying to fight my body’s reaction to having her so close while also trying not to just fling her away from me, wanting her nowhere near me.

But I don’t do that. I’m too interested in seeing what she’ll do now that she has me here.

She’s a fighter, I know that already.

But will she react differently when it’s me, someone she openly hates, compared to Tyger, the guy who is a complete stranger to her? Someone she has no connection to?

She stares down at me with an impassive expression, but she can’t hide the fire burning behind her eyes. She can’t hide the slight tic in her jaw or the way her chest heaves as she takes a breath, and I know in that moment that she’s not going to take it easy on me.

Of course, she isn’t. She’s Lana fucking James.

SIXTEEN

LANA

My heartbeat is a rhythmic thud in my ears as I gaze down at the asshole who’s done nothing but piss me off for the last few weeks.

He took pissing me off to an entirely different level today when he decided to press his lips to mine.

And he’s about to pay for that with his blood.

“You giving in, little menace?” He sneers, and everything else around me seems to dull into the background.

My voice is cold and detached when I reply with, “Not on your fucking life.”

He goes to open his mouth, no doubt to give me another cocky rebuttal, but I don’t give him the chance. I pin his arms above him and smash my head down onto his. I feel the cracking of his nose more than I hear it, and he lets out a pained grunt before lifting his body up from the floor as though he’s trying to shift me off of him.