Page 91 of Challenge Me

“Because nobody else sees it that way. Not you, not Avery, and especially not all the people eating up these goddamned articles.”

“You don’t even care about the articles.”

“But you do. For some reason, you’re obsessed with the image you put out to the world, and all that’s happened since you met me is it’s become completely warped.”

“It’s fixable,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Sure, maybe if we dance around these proper processions, pretending to be something we’re not.”

“I told you I’m not pretending. This is real.”

“But this”—he gestured at himself—”is not. What happens when she decides to keep digging? Mysterious drifter to troubled foster kid to—” He looked away, and his throat bobbed. “Worse.”

“If you’re worried about how they’ll portray you—”

“I’m worried about you, you fucking idiot. Damn my reputation to hell. I ripped off my skin ages ago, and believe me, there’s no getting it back.” He held his arm out, and his expression took on a terrifying determination. “If ever I have to sacrifice something . . .”

“This isn’t one of those damn poems, Remi. It’s real life.”

“Then let me be the first to tell you that you don’t understand poetry.”

Pushing past me, he bent to grab his duffel from the floor. I watched him with an ache in my chest as he took a step toward the door. Whoever he’d morphed into, it wasn’t the man I’d come to know, and somewhere inside of me, I knew that it wasn’t really him.

He was pushing me away, taking the easy way out. The signals weren’t exactly mixed, but they were completely wrong.

“Don’t leave,” I said.

“Relationships end all the time. It won’t be hard to spin it. You can even blame it on me if you want.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

“Whatever works best for you.”

“We don’t have to break up,” I insisted before he could make it out of the room.

He stopped and let out a sigh as he turned around. “Eventually we do, so let’s get it over with.”

“Is that what you want?”

“I’m just along for the ride here, man. No opinion.”

My heart raced as I stared into his eyes. They were closed off, but Oli was right. There was truth in there, hidden behind walls he thought were impenetrable. They weren’t.

I marched right up to him and grabbed him by the back of the neck. Too quickly for him to do anything about it, my lips slammed into his. I poured out the emotions that had been building the entire time we’d been doing this, plus all the ones that had appeared today. It was my fear, my anger, my desperation. My desire, my hope, my love.

“No opinion?” I repeated against his lips before I kissed him again. The duffel thudded onto the floor. “No fucking opinion, Remi?”

I walked him backward, and when he hit the door, it clicked shut. Now that I had him in a better position to keep him from leaving, I pulled back and lifted my hand to touch his face. He flinched, turning his head abruptly to the side, and it froze me to the spot. His breaths became erratic, his chest rising and falling too fast.

With slower movements, I caught a tear from his cheekbone. His lip trembled, but he pushed my hand away and lifted his chin, standing at his full height so he was taller than me. He was less guarded, and what I saw in him split open my chest. I couldn’t decide what exactly he was consumed by, but I knew that it hadn’t started with me.

Complete and utter terror looked back at me. I hadn’t been shy about telling him how I felt this entire time, but here he was, thinking I was going to . . . what? Hit him?

“Baby,” I said, my voice low. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you.”

“Let me go.”

“No.”