Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I felt my jaw clench. My nostrils flared as I pulled in a breath. “You know how I feel about you,” I began, voice vibrating low in my throat. “I’ve told you. I’ve always told you. Never kept nothin’ from you, even when the only fuckin’ thing you admitted to likin’ about me was my cock, babe. And still, even gettin’ that was like pullin’ teeth. I’ve been claimin’ you since the fuckin’ beginning, and now you’re gettin’ pissy over some stupid interview I did when practically every motherfucker in Dogwood Beach knows I’m in love with you? What the fuck? Are you on your period or somethin’?”
She had to be. Getting on my case over nothing? This was bullshit.
Tori inhaled sharply through her nose. She straightened up. “No, I’m not on my period,” she hissed.
“You about to get it?”
Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t answer.
“Take that as a yes,” I murmured.
“Okay.” She shook her head, looking exacerbated. “You know what? Maybe I could have seen your point, but now you’re just being really rude.”
“Get over it. You’re bein’ emotional over shit that means absolutely nothin’.”
“It means something to me, you dick.”
“Easy, Legs,” I warned. “You wanna stand there and run your mouth at me, you better have a damn good reason for it, and right now, you don’t.”
“Oh, is that right?” Her brows shot up. “I don’t have a damn good reason right now?”
“Nope.”
“I was excited to read that interview. I couldn’t wait to read it. And yes, I was hoping and maybe expecting you to mention something about us in there because I thought for sure you would, and you didn’t. And it hurt my feelings. Okay? I was hurt, Jamie. And you don’t seem to care at all. You’re just being an asshole about it.”
“You’re hurt over somethin’ stupid,” I affirmed. “And I’m not bein’ an asshole. I’m just givin’ it to you straight.”
She blinked, mouth falling open. “Wow. Thanks.” She shook her head. “Thanks a lot. I’m glad how I feel matters to you.” Sarcasm dripped from her tongue. Legs glared at me, lips curling in disgust but also trembling, like she was on the verge of either clawing my eyes out if I got any closer or bursting into tears.
Christ. She drove me fucking crazy.
“Blowin’ up over nothin’. Puttin’ somethin’ this stupid between us. That’s fucked up,” I shared, needing to make sure Tori knew she was wrong. “I don’t got nothin’ to apologize for. I told you how it is.”
“Yeah, you did. And you know what?”
“What?”
“Fuck you,” she hissed.
“Fuck me?” My brows shot up. “Fuck me? What the fuck? Fuck you!” I roared.
“You should care about how I feel, and you don’t!” she yelled. “You should care that I’m upset about this. So fuck you. For that stupid interview, and for not knowing this is a damn good reason. I’m going home.” Tori turned on her heel and made for the door, leaving her shirts behind.
My jaw was clenched so tight it fucking ached. She was going home. I knew what that meant—her home. Not mine.
This was complete bullshit.
“Legs, swear to Christ, woman, if you don’t get your ass back over here and get over this shit, I’m lettin’ you leave. And babe …” I met her eyes when she craned her neck around to glare at me. “You walk out that door and I ain’t followin’ you.”
Tori paused, hand flat on the glass, looking back at me with rage burning in her eyes. She wasn’t wearing that hurt anymore. She was pissed. And I knew what that meant, too.
Hurt might’ve kept her here. But that anger was driving her out.
I watched Tori push through that door and walk. And I didn’t follow. Said I wouldn’t, and I didn’t.
Chest heaving, teeth clenched, and muscles locking up, I dropped my arms and turned toward the counter, bracing my hands there. I looked from the stack of shirts piled next to the register to the open copy of Rail.
Then I stared. Until I couldn’t fucking take it anymore.
“Fuck!” I roared, sweeping my arms across the counter and clearing it. Shirts. Her dad’s hat. Even the fucking register. Everything went flying. I didn’t give a shit.
She walked. And I let her.
Chapter Twenty-five
TORI
Groaning, I closed the kitchen cabinet and dropped my head on the door with a thump. I shut my eyes.
No. I wouldn’t do it. I refused to eat another Pop-Tart for lunch. I had one for breakfast. Two, actually. That was all the pathetic I could handle for one day. I still had my limits.
Padding into the living room, I collapsed onto the couch and fell sideways, tucking my knees against my chest.
For showing purposes, my house was still fully furnished. Thank God. I had taken most of my personal items to Jamie’s—clothes, bathroom items, some favorite things I didn’t want to leave behind, such as my Christmas quilt. And when I left, I brought all of those things back with me.