37. Break Me

Dom

“I want you to break me,” she said. “I want you in any way I can have you. I’ve always wanted you.”

“Are these just drunk words?” I couldn’t help but ask as I cupped her elbows and pulled her closer.

“These are drunk words I’ll regret but that doesn’t mean they’re not true,” she said, her nose skimming mine. “Just because I want you doesn’t mean I want to have you.”

I laughed, my lips ghosting over hers. “That makes no sense.”

“We wouldn’t be good together,” she whispered. “You said you would hurt me.”

“Never intentionally,” I begged as I could see the lift door open through the glass panes of the lobby.

Out stepped Jack.

“Leo, I’d be good to you,” I said, finding myself talking faster because I should step away before Jack came out. “It would only ever be you—no one else. And I know I’m not good. I know it and I know I don’t deserve you but—but let me try and be better for you. Please let me try.”

“Try then,” she murmured against my lips.

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her softly. Slowly.

In all the times we had kissed since Friday, this needed to be loving. Like when she had sneaked into her room Sunday night. Like the hunger wasn’t just lust.

Because it wasn’t just lust. It never had been.

And when I slipped my tongue between her lips, it wasn’t a competition as to who could win. It was a caress.

Over all too quickly.

By a throat clearing.

Leonie jerked back so hard, my interlocked fingers around her waist unhooked. But I grabbed her to stop her from falling.

“God, Jack, I—” she started, flustered as she reached out to him and away from me.

The throat clearing had been my friend, her date, standing right beside us with a pair of slightly raised brows, eyes darting between us.

“Knew it,” Jack said with a little laugh and patted my shoulder. “About time, mate. See you around, Leonie.”

He didn’t wait for us to say anything, he just walked off.

That was Jack all over.

When he was out of sight, Leonie punched my chest and shouted, “Oh my god, you are a prick! You knew he was there!” Her hits were feeble when she was anything but. “You didn’t mean a word you just said, did you?”

I caught her fists. “I did.”

“No, you just didn’t want to see me with him. Get your girlfriend out of my flat,” she ordered, fighting against my grip. “Then don’t come back.”

“You don’t mean that,” I told her, holding her prisoner.

She seethed, wrists relaxing in my shackles. “Don’t come back.”

“Do you want me to go home with her?” I asked, trying to catch her gaze. “You couldn’t even handle me kissing her, Leo. Imagine what I would do—”

“No!” she shouted and fought again, pushing me off. “I lied, I do hate you. I hate you.”

She picked up her shoes and dashed back into the building.

I groaned and followed after her. Inside, I stopped the lift door with my fist and joined her. She huddled in the corner, arms folded, trying to get as far away from me as possible. “You did that on purpose. I deserve better,” she grumbled, her hair falling before her face.

“You do,” I said, pushing the strands back behind her ear and holding her jaw. “But you don’t want better.”

Through blinks, she glanced up at me, not answering. Those big blue eyes. As much as I loved their focus on me, the only thing I wanted to do was force them to roll back into her head.

Against this fucking mirror in this fucking lift.

Behind me, the door dinged, opening on Leo’s floor. She shoved past and into her flat.

“The food—” Ivy started, smiling on the sofa before seeing whatever expression Leonie held and looking at me, startled.

Leo locked herself in her room and Ivy’s mouth remained open.

“I’ll take you home, Ivy,” I said and gestured to her shoes. “If you still want food, we can go through a driveway on the way.”

“Oh, okay,” Ivy said, scrambling to get them on. She whispered, looking up as she clasped them blind, “Is she okay?”

I shook my head once. “Leo, I’m going to drop Ivy home now. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll pick you up at 11 am.”

Leonie only grunted.