Because of You (Because of You 1)

Confused, I pushed myself up on my elbow and frowned at him.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my confusion evident in my voice.

"Leaving," he said simply.

My eyes widened. "What? Why?"

He glanced back at the bed, pulling his jeans up and zipping them. "We're done here."

"But..." I started to protest, wanting to demand my rightful cuddling since the sex was done and over with.

"But what?" he asked, looking distinctly amused as he seemed to read my thoughts. "You didn't think cuddling was part of our arrangement, did you?"

My lips tightened, any pleasant feelings I might have been starting to have about him evaporating instantly.

"Get out," I spat.

He merely smirked, picking his shirt up from off the ground.

I felt so pissed off that I realized if he didn't hurry up, I was going to grab my alarm clock off the end table and whip it right at his smug head.

"I want to see the tape you made," I stated as I watched him put his shirt on.

"Why?" he asked, his tone idle, almost bored.

"Because if you don't show it to me, I'm never going to let you anywhere near me again, and if you want to broadcast the video on the school website, you can be my guest," I replied icily.

He watched me for a couple seconds before nodding. "Fine."

I had gotten my way, but I still felt so angry that I wanted to hit him, so I couldn't bring myself to feel any satisfaction over my small victory.

"I like you better when you're drunk," he remarked. "You're nicer."

"I like you better when I'm drunk, too," I shot back. "I can imagine you're someone else."

"Someone you don't hate as much?" he replied, not looking at all wounded.

"There's no one that I hate more, so that could be just about anyone," I replied sweetly.

He shook his head, a smile still on that smug face of his and he said, "See you tomorrow, Nikki. Oh," he added as an afterthought, "and thanks for the notes."

I merely glared, not responding, and waited until he was out of the room before I released a growl of anger and frustration.

That bastard!

Ooh, I hated him so much! He was frustrating and mean and... confusing, and I hated him with a passion! Never had I hated someone as much as I hated Derek in that moment as he walked out of my room.

I finally rolled out of bed and went in to take a nice hot shower, hoping to clean my body everywhere that he had soiled it with his awful touch.

Even after my shower, I felt so dirty and so angry, and I imagined myself as one of those Elmer Fudd cartoons, my face red and smoke coming out of my ears.

As if blackmailing me and making me admit to liking his touch –even though I loathed him—wasn't enough, he just had to outdo himself. Heaven forbid he leave me feeling like a human being. Oh no. A Noble would absolutely have to leave me feeling like dirt on the bottom of his shoe.

They were so much alike that it made me sick, I thought angrily as I yanked the blankets and the sheets off my bed, hauling them out of my room and toward the washing machine.

I stewed angrily until my boiling blood cooled to a steady simmer, then I sat on my bare bed and pulled out my journal, deciding to get my feelings out on paper before my head exploded.

The next day I decided to walk to school to get some of my leftover negative energy out. I wasn't as enraged as I had been the night before, but I was still pretty pissed off.