Ruthless Kings (Windsor Academy 2)

“You didn’t stop it either. You know, I’m curious, what would’ve happened if I hadn’t arrived at that very moment? Bentley looked about ready to drag you into a dark corner. Would you have let him? Hell, would you have let him stick his hand up your dress even farther, fingering your pussy right there in the middle of a crowded room?”

“I don’t know.” Jazz looks away. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have actually slept with him.”

My teeth grind together. “Not the answer I was looking for, Jazz.”

She throws her hands up. “Do you want me to lie? I thought we were done hiding shit from each other.”

“Okay, since we’re being so honest, why don’t you tell me what this is, then?” I flick my finger between the two of us. “Do. You. Want. Me? Do you want to be with me?”

“You seriously want to have the define our relationship talk right now?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Why not now? It seems to be necessary after what I saw down there.”

She mimics my pose. “For one, you just knocked a guy unconscious. Maybe even hospitalized him. Shouldn’t the police be showing up any minute now to arrest you?”

I scoff. “Bentley will take care of it. Did you see all those phones trained on the fight? We have Lawson’s confession. If anyone needs to lawyer up, it’d be him.”

Jazz rubs her temples. “I can’t do this right now.”

"It's a simple yes or no question, Jazz." I pull her hands away from her face and tilt her chin up. "I think I've already made my position clear, but just in case, let me spell it out for you. I haven't fucked anyone else since before we met. Besides a few kisses with that c

hick in the hot tub—which was all for show—I haven't touched anyone else. I don’t want to. You are the only woman I want. In my bed, by my side, it’s all you.”

“Kingston—”

“I’m not done.” I take her face in my hands and press our foreheads together. “When I found you that night, when I thought I was going to lose you forever, it was like a giant wake up call. I don’t want to push you away anymore, Jazz. I don’t want to pretend like you’re not my goddamned world—not when it’s just us, Ainsley, or the guys.

“I’m sick of being surrounded by all these secrets and lies. I’m fed up with the uncertainty. I know we need to keep playing the game for the greater good, but I need something real, too, and you’re the realest fucking thing I’ve ever known. You want the same thing, Jazz. You can’t deny it. Not to me.”

“This is crazy,” she whispers. “We just met a couple of months ago.”

“Technically speaking, we met when we were babies.” Jazz’s lips are so close, I can’t help myself. I press my mouth against hers, tugging on her full bottom lip with my teeth.

“Kingston.”

“Jasmine.”

Her warm breath tickles my face as she sighs. “I don’t want to keep pushing you away either. It’s exhausting. But...”

I pull back a little to look her in the eyes. “But what?”

Jazz averts her eyes and chews on the corner of her lip. “But...I can’t pretend this thing with Bentley doesn’t exist. I like him—purely as a friend—but...not a platonic friend. We have this crazy chemistry. I don’t know how to make that go away, and I don’t think it’s fair for me to tell you I’m all in when there’s this big, unresolved issue.”

Her attraction to my best friend isn’t breaking news, but it still takes me a moment to formulate a reply. What I really want to do, is go apeshit on someone’s face again, but instead, I say, “I can’t share, Jazz. Not with you.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m not that kind of—” She shakes her head. “You and me...we’re complicated enough. I have no desire to add to that.” She laughs sardonically. “Besides, the thought of you in a poly relationship, with another guy no less, is a joke. It doesn’t mesh with that whole caveman thing you’ve got going on.”

Fuck no, it doesn’t.

“Let me ask you this. Do you like being with me?”

She tilts her head to the side. “Like, like you, like you?”

I give her a wry look. “What are we? Twelve? Do you have any feelings for me that go beyond friendship or physical attraction? Could you see yourself being in a relationship with me exclusively?”

Christ, whoever thought I’d be on this end of a conversation like this?

“Yes, but—”