How About No (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 3)

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You were always waiting for the other shoe to drop,” he explained. “You were waiting for me to find something to hate you for, so instead of waiting for me to find it, you found something that was big enough—a good enough reason—to leave me for.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, to tell him that he was so full of crap it was coming out of his ears, and promptly shut my mouth.

Because…he was right.

And I had absolutely nothing to say to it.

The next few minutes I sat completely stock still in my chair, my heart racing, as I tried to come up with something to say that would refute what he’d just said…but nothing ever came to my lips.

“I think you wait for me to treat you like your parents treat you,” he rumbled quietly. “And honey, I’m not your parents.”

I reached into the bag that was now between my feet, and took out the Snickers, opening it and shoving a large bite in my mouth before chewing it quickly. Then another. And another.

When I was done with the entire bar, I reached for the other Snickers.

That was gone in less than two miles, too.

“I love…” he started, and I screamed.

“Don’t!”

He continued speaking. “…you.”

I shook my head fast and hard. “No!”

“I love you,” he repeated again.

I shook my head against my headrest. “Please stop.”

“I have loved you from the moment I first saw you,” he continued.

I shook my head and closed my eyes. “Please stop. Please.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you,” he repeated.

I started to hyperventilate.

“Nothing you can do or say can change how I feel.” He pushed, “I’ve been yours from the moment you walked into my classroom and gave me your eyes.”

I swallowed hard.

“Wade, please,” I whispered. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”

He snorted. “I know exactly what I’m getting into.”

I shook my head, frantically trying to come up with something that would stop this.

“No, you don’t,” I argued. “You don’t know anything.”

That’s when he laughed.

Wade? He had a great laugh. It’d always made me weak in the knees, and I hadn’t heard it for so long that I wasn’t prepared for it.

I wasn’t prepared for the way he threw his head back and let his amusement loose.

Because, maybe if I had been, I wouldn’t have been watching him at the time. I wouldn’t have been so caught up in the wonder that I couldn’t look away.

Hell, even the fact that he’d taken his eyes off the road didn’t affect me—even though it should have.

He started laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes.

And when he finally stopped, returning his eyes to the road, I still stared.

“I know you,” he said on a small laugh. “I know you better than I know anyone.”

I shook my head in denial.

Then I tried the last thing I ever wanted to try—but I needed him to stop. He had to move on with his life – without me.

Because I wasn’t capable of leaving Wade a second time.

And I had a feeling if I didn’t dissuade him soon, then he’d be back in my life, and I wouldn’t have anything to stop him with.

“I’m sleeping with Kourt,” I lied. “I’ve been sleeping with Kourt since before you even came in the picture.”

And, out of all the things I expected him to do, I didn’t expect him to take my hand and tell me what he told me next.

“You’re so full of shit it’s coming out of your ears. You’re not sleeping with anyone, and you haven’t since we split. You can keep Kourt in your life, honey,” he told me. “You can keep your best friend while I’m with you. But, just sayin’, you and I are going to happen. You don’t have to lie about sleeping with your best friend, because you don’t get a choice in the matter anymore. I’m going to make it work between us, and you’re going to let me do it because you don’t have a choice.”

“I’ve had suicidal thoughts.”

All amusement fled his face.

“I know,” he murmured, his voice soft. “And it hurts my heart that it got to that point for you and that it was a defining moment in your life. If you hadn’t done that, you might’ve never become such good friends with Kourt. In turn, you might’ve never moved here, and I might not have met you.”

I swallowed hard.

I’d just told him my most painful, personal secret, and he’d…accepted it.

“How do you know?” I whispered.

I was almost afraid to ask.

But, I had to know.

Was it my parents? My sister?

Though, I wouldn’t think that either of them would care enough to tell on me. They were selfish beings. They didn’t care about my life, as long as I was there to be used when they needed to use me.