Savage Love (Ash and Innocence 2)

I narrowed my eyes. There was a comment about getting inside her on the tip of my tongue, but I decided to show a little restraint for once. “Maybe your problem is you think there’s a right way to feel. You want simple and predictable? Go find Clint. The biggest fights you’d probably have would be about the time he does your laundry and shrinks your favorite shirt.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“You broke up with him. You tell me.”

She groaned. “We were never together in the first place. And I only broke up with him because I felt like a scumbag for leading him along when I was trying to process my feelings for you.”

“Want me to make it simple for you? Clint would be easy. You didn’t feel a connection to him, and you wouldn’t feel one to other guys like him because they’d be too damn easy. They’d act how they thought you wanted them to act. They’d be like wet clay for you to mold. But that’s not what you want. Strong people—truly strong people—don’t want easy things. They want sharp edges to test themselves against.”

“Let me guess, you’re that sharp edge?”

I spread my arms and shrugged. “Sharp enough that you threw him away on the suspicion that there might be something brewing between us.”

“Well, that ship sailed. So I guess it was my mistake, huh?”

I got up. “I never understood that expression. The ship sailed, but who says you can’t hop on a fucking boat, row your ass off, and go catch it?”

She laughed through her nose. “I’d actually like to see you try that.”

“Okay. Then let’s talk like normal people instead of adversaries. Tell me why you’re still living with the enemy instead of moving back home?”

Charli shook her head, sitting down against the headboard of her bed and stretching her legs out. “No. I’m not going to do this with you. You just tried to kill Clint. Again. I bet your hands are still aching from hitting him in the face so many times. And now you want me to pretend it didn’t happen?”

“No. If we were pretending nothing happened, I’d be doing what I was waiting all day through school and practice to do.”

Her eyebrows twitched together. For the first time since I’d come in the room, she looked less strong. Less impenetrable. “And what was that?”

“Spreading you out on this bed. Tasting you again. Feeling you.” I roamed her long legs with my eyes, imagining it all over. “I was going to fuck you so hard you’d need to skip practice tomorrow. Then I was thinking I could take you in the shower and clean you off. Once we got out, I’d get you all dirty again. And, for the record, I wasn’t going to kill Clint. I just wanted to send a message.”

Charli’s neck clicked with a loud swallow. There was a pause as she processed what I’d said, but she chose to skim past it. “A message?”

“Yeah. To tell him he needs to stop being a fucking creep.”

She looked down, laughing lightly. “It was pretty creepy."

“I thought you two were heading off together to fuck behind my back.”

“What? Seriously?”

“What was I supposed to think? I saw him talking to you after track. I saw you walk to the locker rooms together. Then you were getting in his car.”

“I was trying to make it clear to him that it was over. He obviously hadn’t gotten the memo, and I thought he would only get it through his head if you weren’t looming behind me for once.”

“Ah, right. I guess I set that plan back a little when I showed up, huh?”

“What a shocker.”

I laughed, then moved to the doorway. “Well, if your ship really has sailed, get used to seeing me rowing after it. See you soon, Charli.”

She bit back a smile, then waved as I closed the door.34CharliCassian tried to talk to me several more times over the course of the week. Each time, he attempted a different tactic. Sometimes, he’d come strong with filthy dirty promises of what he’d do if he ever “caught my ship.” I had developed a relatively convincing poker face, but my body hadn’t forgotten how good he felt. Each syllable from his mouth was like honey that made my panties damp and my heart pound. But I’d given my body a chance to call the shots. That led me to sex with Cassian and more questions than answers.

Other times, he’d bring me some sort of gift, like sweets or takeout food. He even tried cornering me in the hallways of his house a few times, pinning me to a wall with his arms on either side of me to force me to be stuck with him while he tried to talk, but through it all, I’d managed to avoid falling into his trap.