Page 66 of The Retaliation You Deliver

“Because you’re right. Everything you said on Saturday. You’re right.”

“I don’t trust a word that comes out of your mouth anymore, Leon. You got what you wanted. You stole my first time from me, you’ve got my uncle’s location. What more do you need?”

“You,” he states as his warm fingers wrap around my upper arm and spins me back to him.

He takes a step forward until the heat of his body seeps into me.

I stare up into his dark green eyes. But unlike all the other times they’ve been this color, it’s been with anger. Right now, it’s pure emotion.

He makes it sound so simple. Just pushes aside everything we’ve been through as if it never happened.

“Leon, it’s not that eas—”

“Nothing worth fighting for is easy.”

“You’re not playing fair,” I whisper.

“I thought you already realized that I don’t play by the rules, Red.” He smirks, and part of me wants to smile too. But then I remember just how true those words are.

“You should go,” I say, pulling my bag up higher on my shoulder.

“Not without you. I’ve spent all week planning what I want to say to you. I can’t wait any longer.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

His hand slides down my arm until his fingers tease mine but he never completely captures them.

“I do. I owe you the truth. I owe you all the things I’ve never been brave enough to say.”

I shake my head, refusing to accept his words.

“Everything you went through… it’s almost as much my fault as it was his. You owe me nothing. What you did last week. I understand. It hurts. But I get it. I know why you went after me. If the roles were reversed, maybe I would’ve done the same. I condemned you to that hell. I deserve everything you can throw at me.”

“No,” he states much more firmly than I was expecting. “But I don’t want to do this here. Please, just give me an hour. If after that hour, if how you feel still stands, then I’ll let you walk away as if none of this ever happened.”

I gasp, dragging my bottom lip into my mouth as I gaze up at him.

Does he really mean that?

“I do.”

I startle when I realize that I must have asked that out loud.

“One hour. You have one hour to say what you need to say and then you take me home. No games.”

“No games,” he agrees.

With a slight nod, I pull my fingers away from him and take off across the library following the journey of the others I was here with tonight but knowing that he’s hot on my heels.

Nothing is said as he steps up beside me as we walk toward the parking lot until we approach his car.

He opens the passenger door for me but I hesitate before dropping into the seat, questioning my sanity for agreeing to this.

“I’m not playing you, Macie.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

He reaches out and tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. My entire body tenses at the move but my skin burns as his finger brushes me.