Passionate Exchange

Chapter Nine

I step back involuntarily, shrinking further into myself.

He shakes his head, giving me a look that says, 'I don't need to waste my time on you' and trudges off.

I stay rooted in my position for a few moments. His words play over and over in my mind. I can't unsee the hurt in his eyes. That wasn't the look of a downright evil boy. That was the look of a boy who is misunderstood. It's the look of a boy who has been neglected for so long that he has started to believe what people say.

I can't lie and say that that look in his eyes doesn't scare me because it does. But I know that this isn't him. The raw emotion that just slipped past his walls was enough to convince me to follow after him.

"No," I return to his side. He looks taken aback to see me standing next to him. "I know enough to see through this act that you have going on."

That night when he was drunk, those words that he said meant something. You don't just say them for no reason. There has to be something he's hiding from me. He's hurting and I'm surprised I didn't see it before.

"You think this is all an act?" He scoffs.

I raise my eyebrows at his attempt to throw me off track. "I know it is." I try to make my voice sound as confident as possible, and he chuckles deeply.

"How could you possibly know that?"

Well, that confirms that he has no memory of what happened when he was drunk. I can't reveal to him what I heard. If he's so reluctant to let people in, then he must not want me to know.

"I just do," I state.

I have no idea what he meant that night and I have no idea what he's trying to hide from me, but I'm determined to find out. "So, don't push me away because we're stuck together. At least for the next hour anyway."

He looks off in the distance. He shakes his head to say, 'I know this is a bad decision but I'm doing it anyway' and returns his gaze to me.

He rolls his eyes before saying with a huff, "I'm asking the questions." He doesn't give me a choice, but I don't mind.

"Deal, shoot."

He pauses for exactly one minute and seventeen seconds, not that I was counting. A grin makes its way onto his face as his eyes fill with amusement. "Why are you so irritating?"

"You're joking, right?" I glare at him. There are so many questions that he could ask me. Literally, an endless number of questions and he chooses that one.

"I wouldn't have asked if I was." He grumbles as he tries to stifle a laugh. I should have known that he isn't capable of joking, it isn't in his programming. "Just answer the question?"

My ponytail sways in the breeze. I'm thankful that I'm wearing a hoodie. He's wearing his signature black t-shirt, but he doesn't seem phased by the cold. I'm sure his ego is large enough to protect him from it.

"Fine, because I'm with you." I raise my chin in triumph. "The feeling is mutual. Why are you such an asshole?"

"That wasn't part of the deal. I'm the one asking the questions."

I hold my hands up in surrender. "As you wish." I sneer with a roll of my eyes.

"Are you enjoying being stuck together?" He wiggles his eyebrows causing my face to heat up. Is it that obvious?

I clear my throat, folding my arms across my chest. "Is that a trick question?" I blow out a breath of air and avoid making eye contact with him. "No."

His grin widens. He knows, he definitely knows. Dammit. "Whatever you say." He copies my previous words and I scoff in irritation. "What would you rather be doing then?"