for the door, I watch her chew out a slow, stilted, “So… the ride. Thanks. I guess.”
“No problem.” I stare out the window, hands gripping the steering wheel, and I can’t. I can’t just leave it alone. Pick pick pick. “Wait. I need to fucking—I mean, I want to…”
She pauses, looking at me with those big round eyes, doubt and wariness lurking in every corner. “Yeah?”
Taking a breath, I start, “Look, Sugar. I’m sorry about that night in the Briar Cliffs. The truth is, just being at that place sets me on edge, and I saw that asshole messing with you and it lit the fuse. That punch was meant for him, not you. Swear.”
“Yeah, I know,” she says tonelessly, unlatching the door. It opens with a heavy creak.
I tap the steering wheel, feeling jittery. “So, uh, apology accepted?” God knows why, but this is suddenly very important to me.
“Sure,” she says, but it doesn’t sound like she means it. She gets out of the car and slams the door.
Sure.
Sure?
Fucking ‘sure’?
I scramble out of the driver’s seat and run to catch up with her short, choppy strides across the lot.
“That’s it?” I call after her. “I mean, not trying to be a d-bag here, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve apologized to someone. I think that deserves a little more than some vague-ass ‘sure’. It was an accident, you know it was an accident, and here you’ve turned it into this crazy fucking thing, so I think I’m entitled to a little more than ‘sure’.”
She comes to a stop, whipping around. Oh, fuck. There’s the wrath. I see it vibrating across her compact little body, fists all clenching. And because I actually am a d-bag, when she crosses her arms over her chest, I check out her tits. For science. Gotta know if this attraction thing is legit, don’t I?
“Are you fucking serious right now? You get into my business, start a fight, hit me, fracturing my jaw, and are banking on that half-assed apology to make you entitled to something?” She laughs, but it’s not the fun kind. It’s pure ice. “Here’s the thing, Wilcox. You think you’re special, but you aren’t. I know guys like you. All you do is roll over everything and everyone in your path. Grabbing, jabbing, punching, kicking, driving. You hurt, and then you blame it on something else. A bad day. A misunderstanding. Being set on edge.” She presses a fingertip to her temple like it’s a gun, eyes alight. “You think being reckless like that is actually charming. I see it in that smug-ass smile of yours, which you get away with because you’re so fucking pretty, people let it slide.” She scoffs, eyes dragging up and down my body like she’s looking at pond scum. “Well, I call bullshit on that. I’m not letting it slide, and I’m not swayed by your sharp jawline and soft-looking hair. I’m not swayed by you at all, because there’s one rule in my life—keep your goddamn hands to yourself—which is something that’s clearly beyond your capabilities.”
Her words land like a blow—harder than the one that gave me this concussion—not because she’s wrong. Of course she’s right, and I have absolutely no idea how to react to that. I can’t chase after her. I can’t smile or grin, or flirt my way out of it, or do any of the things that I’d normally do to win someone over, because now I’m starting to get it. Something about this girl is broken, and whatever that thing is, I can’t fix it. Not the way I normally would—not the way I’d own a fight, or win another girl over, or repair a car—with my hands.
Or can I?
“And if I don’t want to?” I ask.
She glares at me, flustered. “What?”
“Play by your rules?” I take a step forward, holding my hands up and wiggling my fingers. “These hands do a lot more than hurt, Sugar. They can make a girl feel really good, too. Hell, they can make me feel pretty damn good if I’m in a jam.”
Her cheeks turn an incredible shade of red and the spark reignites in her eyes. “You’re disgusting.”
“Am I? Because I think I just heard you call me pretty.” I lick my bottom lip, thinking yeah. Yeah, I’m so fucking into this. “You’re not so repulsed by me after all.”
“You’re wrong. I hate guys like you.”
“Yeah? Then why are your cheeks all flushed?” I look