Page 63 of Never His Girl
I close the distance between us and fight the urge to grab her, fight the urge to toss her to the bed and fuck her like I know she needs me to. So good she’ll never question my feelings again. So good it’ll obliterate all this other shit into a pile of nonfactors that amount to nothing. But I refrain. Stopping where I am.
“Why were you at Parker’s?”
There’s an air of vulnerability in her voice I don’t miss.
“Because she basically has me by the balls right now, which means I couldn’t afford to tell her no,” I admit. “And because she doesn’t know how to let go.”
Telling the truth for a change feels like digging myself out from underneath a pile of rubble. Each lie, each secret rolling off me like a boulder as I crawl to the surface.
“No, I need to know what she said,” Southside demands. “Verbatim.”
She swallows deeply, holding her composure when I sigh and take a couple steps back. I lean against her bedroom door before meeting her gaze again.
“She wanted to know why I look at you the way I do. In a way I’ve never looked at her,” I admit. “For whatever reason—to torture herself, I guess—she says she’s re-watched the video of you and me about a dozen times. Not the… sex part. The part where we argued, before any of that other stuff happened.”
I pause, thinking back to that night myself, envisioning it.
“She said she was willing to‘unknow what she knows’if I agree to give her another chance. Arealchance. It was an opportunity to buy myself at least a little time to figure something else out, a chance to regain a bit of leverage, but—”
“But you didn’t take it.”
I stare at Southside through the dim light, shaking my head. “No.”
Her eyes are softer now, but still not trusting.
“I’m supposed to believe that? I’m supposed to believe you wouldn’t jump at the chance to save your own ass in exchange for being Parker’s pretend boyfriend?”
There’s a hint of something I hadn’t heard in her voice before now and I nearly call it out.
Jealousy.
“Shit, Southside! How many times do I have to tell you I won’t have anyone else?” I say coldly, needing her to really hear me for once.
She’s rolling her eyes. “Right. Because you only wantme.”
Her tone is mocking, but I know she’s at least considering my sincerity.
“I need to know what this secret is she has on you. This thing that’s kept you from clearing your name.”
My head lowers. “That’s literally the one thing I cannot say to you tonight. I’m begging you to ask me anything but that.”
She’s holding my gaze and I hold hers, not wavering.
“Fine. You want immunity?” she asks. “I’ll give you immunity on that one thing, but you have to do something for me.”
I already feel the weight of what she’s preparing to say. Even before she actually says it.
“I’m listening.”
Her chest rises and falls when she breathes deep. “In exchange for me letting you hold on to that one secret, you have to tell me everything else.Everythingelse.”
My heart skips a beat when her brow quirks.
“Can you handle that?” she asks.
I’ve held so much in I don’t think she really realizes what she’s asking me to do, but I also know I’m desperate to make things right between us. So, after deliberating for several seconds, and then scolding myself for not coming up with an alternate option, I cave.
“Deal.”