But mine were fibs. This was huge.
His body went solid and his fingers tightened on my wrists. “Woman, you better fuckin’ explain yourself,” he warned and even though a chill went through me at his tone, I forged ahead.
“I know I’m a challenge, I know how you guys like that. You even told me last night you were enjoying this.” I closed my eyes tight at the memory, opened them again and then went on. “I am such a dork. I should have just given in right off so you could get your fill and get rid of me.” I stopped talking and shook my head in disbelief, at myself, too caught up in my own drama to feel the dangerous, angry electricity emanating from Luke and hitting the room. “You have what you want, Luke. You like to be straight, okay this is straight. We’ll stop playing this game. You win. You and I both know I’m not going anywhere, no matter how much I fight it. Take what you want and then leave me alone when you’re done with me but in the meantime, don’t fucking lie to me.”
When I was done, he spoke and his words came through his teeth. “We got a lot to go over here, babe. We’ll start with when you thought I lied to you.”
I didn’t make him wait for an answer. “You just called me beautiful. We both know that isn’t true. You want me to clue in? You clue in, Luke. Hello? I’ve had a crush on you since I first saw you. I wish it wasn’t true but the fact of the matter is, I’m a sure thing. You don’t have to lie and tell me I’m beautiful.”
“You’ve got to be fuckin’ shittin’ me,” he was still talking through his teeth.
“Oh yeah? And why’s that? Luke, you’ve seen me. You’ve known me since I was eight years old.”
“Yeah, I have, and you’ve been beautiful since you were eight years old.”
My eyes went instantly wide and my mouth dropped open. Then I snapped it shut.
I couldn’t believe he was still playing that game.
“Fuck off!” I yelled and bucked again.
He didn’t go anywhere, he just stared at me.
If it was possible, he sounded even angrier when he said, “Shit, they really did a number on you, didn’t they?”
“Who?”
“That mother and those fuckin’ sisters of yours.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh please,” I said and then made a noise that sounded like “foof”.
“Do I have to drag you in front of a mirror?”
“I know what I look like, Luke,” I snapped.
“Doesn’t sound like it to me, babe.”
I bucked again. “Get off.”
Luke didn’t move. “My Ma said it, your Dad said it. Jesus, even my Dad said it. You were always the prettiest one of that fuckin’ cat’s den. Why do you think they were all so goddamn mean to you?”
“Hardly,” I snapped. “I was fat and ugly, I had bad hair and I wore glasses for God’s sake.”
“You were never more than chubby, babe, not until you grew older and they had plenty of time to get under your skin. And you had beautiful hair, fantastic eyes and the best fuckin’ smile I’d ever seen in my life. You still do.”
I stopped struggling and stared at him mainly because he sounded like he meant it and I couldn’t believe that. Even though I couldn’t believe it, nothing about him was suggesting he was feeding me a line.
He went on. “Worse for them, you were smarter, funnier and nicer. People liked to be around you.”
Ho-ly crap.
He sounded like he meant that too.
“My Dad used to say that the man who got you would be the luckiest and unluckiest man alive because he’d have you for a lifetime but he’d also have to put up with them.”
All of a sudden, I was finding it hard to breathe, like I’d been kicked in the gut.
“Your Dad said that about… about… me?” I asked breathlessly.
“It was the only thing he and I ever agreed about.”
Okay, it was then I totally forgot how to breathe.
“Now let’s talk about the rest of the shit that came out of your mouth,” Luke continued.
Uh-oh.
I wasn’t even finished dealing with all he’d just said. I didn’t want to get into me blurting out that I’d had a crush on him since forever, I was a sure thing and that he’d won.
I was such a fucking dork!
Immediately, I said, “I need to brush my teeth.”
His eyes narrowed.
“No fuckin’ way,” he clipped.
“I need quiet space,” I tried.
He shook his head.
“Luke, you told me any time I needed something –”
“Quiet, Ava.”
I decided, from his deathly tone, it was prudent that I be quiet.
Luke stared at me while I mentally zipped my lips and then he started talking. “I’ve been straight with you since the beginning, something, I might add, you haven’t been with me. But I’ll be even straighter ‘cause it’s obvious you are just not fuckin’ gettin’ it.”
Oh no, not this again. Luke being “straighter”.