He paused and turned back to face me, confused. "When you said you..." My voice threatened to dry up, so I swallowed heavily. Goddamn nerves. "When you said you haven't given up on us?"
You mean too much to me now. Those were his words, and they were echoing in my mind like a song stuck on repeat.
"Every damn word," Steele replied without hesitation. "I know that I fucked up, and I know that I hurt you, but I can't change the past. All I can do is change the choices I make in the future and hope that maybe one day it'll be enough to earn forgiveness." He quirked a smile. "I figure torturing a guy for seventeen hours is a good place to start."
I rolled my eyes and bit back a grin. "Yeah, I guess it is."
Steele came back to where I stood, reached out, and gently tucked a stray curl of pink hair behind my ear. "You're one of the best things in my life right now, MK. I'm not risking losing you again, okay?"
Stupid, love-sick butterflies took flight in my stomach, and I cursed every moronic one of them. Fucking butterflies never thought with their heads.
"Okay," I replied after a pause, "but on one condition." I bit my lip, already kicking my own ass for being such a goddamn pushover.
Steele cocked his head to the side, silently questioning, and his fingers slid into the hair at the nape of my neck.
"Stop calling me, MK," I whispered, my eyes locked on his pretty gray ones. There was a flicker of confusion in his gaze, then understanding and satisfaction.
His lips pulled up in a grin as he dipped his face to mine. "Anything you want, Hellcat."
Steele's kiss was the final nail in the coffin of my anger. Every press of his lips and swipe of his pierced tongue stripped my defenses away and touched my soul. I moaned as my body melted under his hands, and I probably would have dragged him right back into my apartment had we not been interrupted.
As it was, a pointed throat clearing made us reluctantly part.
"Maddie," Scott hissed, standing there in front of the elevator with a bag of ice cream tubs in his hand, his nose a painful shade of purple, and his cheeks flushed red with outrage. "What the fuck? I thought I was your boyfriend?" He gave Steele a deliberate look, like I was meant to still be keeping up the charade.
Yeah, that wasn't happening.
Steele just gave a smug laugh and pressed a very deliberate kiss to my lips before letting me go.
"Keep dreaming, champ," he told Scott, clapping him on the shoulder as he passed. "She was never yours."
The wink Steele shot me as he stepped into the elevator was pure sex, and I almost forgot Scott was standing there as I held Steele's gaze until the doors slid shut.
"Maddie," Scott snapped, looking all kinds of pissed off—something I seriously didn't have the patience for after the weekend I'd had so far.
I blew out an irritated sigh. "Scott, I thought you were coming over to make up for that creepy-ass shit you pulled this morning. But if you're just here to act like a spurned lover—which you're not—then you can turn around and fuck right off. I'm not in the mood."
Whoops, there went my whole plan to make more friends.
Scott's face flashed with intense anger, but it was gone as soon as it’d come. Instead, he smoothed his features out to a calmer, more placating expression.
"I'm sorry," he replied in a careful tone. "I'm sorry. Really. I just... I know they really hurt you, and I'm worried. That's all." He took a couple of steps closer, but I blocked the doorway with my body, my hand still braced on the frame.
"Maybe it's not a good idea to hang out tonight," I told him with a frown. "I think I just need some time to myself."
Scott shook his head. "What? No, don't be silly. I brought ice cream." He held up the bag in his hand like that was somehow an access card to my apartment. Yeah, not today, buddy. Besides, I could see the label through the clear plastic bag... Mint choc chip. Gross.
"Thank you, that was sweet." No pun intended. "But I really would prefer to just call it a night. We can hang out on Monday at school, okay?"
Scott tried to protest again, but I was already closing the door in his face. Not the politest I'd