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“I hate you,” I whisper.
His hand cradles my neck, thumb running down the front of my throat. He strokes it up and down, tilting my head so I have no choice but to look into his eyes.
“No, you don’t.” His tone holds so much conviction that my eyebrows scrunch because there’s more meaning behind them.
“What?” My forehead wrinkles.
“I’m going to kiss you now, Mrs. Emmett Noughton.”
My eyes widen. He leans in, his fingers sliding up the back of my head so I’m exactly where he wants me. How many nights did I stay awake dreaming of this moment? Dreaming of him saying these things to me? But I’m not the only one keeping a secret.
I push him back before our lips meet, and he stumbles down the step, finding his feet. “What the hell?”
“How do you know?”
He laughs.
Anger boils inside me, and I circle around, heading the rest of the way up the porch. “Go to hell!”
I stomp upstairs and slam my bedroom door behind me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Emmett
I plop myself on the floor outside Briar’s bedroom door. “I’m sorry,” I say loudly enough for her to hear me.
I regret trying to be cute, but when she said she hated me, I used the opportunity to let her know I knew that wasn’t true. But it didn’t go as planned.
“Just go to bed,” she says. The hiccup in her voice is killing me.
“I’m not going to go to bed. I want to talk about this.”
“I don’t.”
I rest the back of my head on the door. I want to demand she talk to me. We’ve been so open with one another to this point, so transparent about all our baggage and our fears. All for it to come down to this…
This is the exact reason I never wanted to get into a relationship with anyone. But with Briar, I’m already in too deep, and I can’t find my way out without her holding my hand and guiding me.
“Have you always known?” she asks, her voice closer to me. I think she’s on the other side of the door.
“Known what?”
“I’m not stupid, Emmett. You knew what you were doing when you said that.” I hear a small thud, and I smile. She is on the other side of the door. She hasn’t completely shut me out… yet.
“When I was moving you in, the box with all your keepsakes and yearbooks broke open, and everything fell to the floor.”
She groans. “What did you see?”
I huff because, in hindsight, I should’ve told her that day. Made a joke about it, and we could’ve moved on. We’ve come so far since then. I don’t want to lose the headway we’ve made.
“What did I do back then to make you hate me?” This question has been plaguing me.
“Answer me first.”
I pull up my legs and rest my forearms on them. “Just scribbles about Mrs. Emmett Noughton. I love Emmett and a big red heart over my senior picture. There were a few other things, but nothing creepy.”
“Oh my god.” She groans again. “I’m going to bed, and you’re going to erase all that from your memory.” The floorboards creak.
