all."
"I liked her," I said again, faintly.
"I can't stand this mockery. I bet a third of those people in there are actually feeling sad. The rest, they're just there so everyone will see them there. I hate it. Leisha wouldn't have cared and that's so sad. She wouldn't care that they're just using her. She'd say something moronic like 'at least they're praying for a good cause.'" Bailey broke off and laughed bitterly. A few tears streaked down her face and she wiped them away.
"I gotta go," she said abruptly and sped down the stairs.
I didn't move. Bryce came and sat in her vacated seat.
He leaned back and neither of us said a word.
We sat and stared at nothing.
Chapter 22
Bryce and I left as the last prayer started. We wanted to beat the crowd and after Bryce dipped inside to tell Corrigan the plan, neither of us said a word when he came back with Luca in tow.
The three of us trailed to Bryce's car and Luca sat in the back. Silently, Bryce drove to his house. He didn't look my way, but disappeared inside with Luca for a moment. Bryce came back out with a bag slung over his shoulder and he reversed the car out of his driveway.
My house was doused in black while Mena's was white with movement, music, and dancing lights. They were having a party. It was surreal considering what we'd just left.
I walked around the garage for a better view. Bryce rounded the garage and stood beside me. He watched for a moment and murmured, "Those people seem pretty glitzy."
"Yeah. I don't think Mena's parents are there."
"Big bro is having a party." Bryce nodded with no reaction and moved around to the back door.
He knelt, found the hidden key, and unlocked the house.
It was a little startling how ingrained Bryce had become with my life.
. Once inside, I said, "You can't leave."
He stiffened and slowly put his bag on the ground before he turned to me. "We're not going to hash that out right now."
"Why not? This is as good a time as any. No one's here. And you're already pissed at me."
"Pissed," Bryce bit out. "That's what I am? That's why I held your hand and sat next to you at that prayer thing? That's why I'm here right now?"
"No." I was blind as I spewed out, "You lo—"
I stopped as the words choked in my throat. My eyes went round and I blanched as I took in the furious keenness that had overtaken my best friend as he heard me and heard the words stop. He stepped closer.
He asked softly, lethal, "What were you going to say?"
I readied myself. A fight was brewing.
Bryce finished it as a gentle fury swirled in him, "I love you. That's what you were going to say."
I looked away and started to walk, but Bryce gripped my arm and whipped me back. "You don't walk from this. You started it. We're going to finish it."
"I—" I started, but my doorbell rang and the words shriveled and died.
Bryce cursed and I shoved past him to walk the entire household's length to the front door.
I glanced through the living room windows and gulped as I saw who stood there.
Bryce still waited in the back doorway, so I moved around and opened the front door.
Denton stood and I saw the movie star that caused everyone to pant. He wore a crisp white buttoned-down shirt over a pair of just-as-crisp black leather pants.
Denton grimaced and laughed as he saw my perusal.
"Sorry. It's my get-up for the…" He waved in the direction of his home. "It's the crowd that I'm entertaining over there. The Hollywood crowd doesn't do jeans and tee shirts."
I leaned against the door and remarked, "I recall Mena wearing a shocking leather outfit today."
"Yeah," Denton rolled his eyes and rubbed a hand over his jaw. "She…she's been a bit out of hand lately. I think she got it from Kari."
"So what are you celebrating tonight?" Let's swap evening stories. I've just been to a vigil for my murdered friend.
Denton seemed to choose his words carefully, but he said, "I'm trying to make it up to Kari for our argument last night."
"Yeah." I raised my eyebrows and taunted, "How's that going?"
Denton smiled softly, seductively, and stepped closer. "Mena told me about your friend. I'm sorry. I saw your car pull in and wanted to offer my condolences." He reached out and trailed a finger down my arm to my hand and threaded our fingers together.
I didn't move, but I just watched.
I felt Bryce move around the corner. No sound. No reaction. Nothing, but I just felt him. I looked over my shoulder and stared into his cold eyes.
Denton didn't notice him right away and murmured, "I was wondering if I could offer my condolences right now? Maybe in a bed this time?"
Bryce jerked awake and strode to us.
Denton looked up, startled, and was quickly pushed out the door. Bryce slammed the door shut and locked it.
He stood and breathed. His chest jerked up and down with each raging breath and then he hauled me against him and slammed his mouth down on mine. He ground into me and I whimpered once as pain and lust slammed full force into me.
I literally crawled up him and wrapped my legs around him.
Bryce clamped his hands around my legs and pawed where I knew bruises would appear within the hour. He turned and slammed me into the wall as he reached up and ripped my shirt into pieces. Different pieces hung off me. One wrapped around my wrist. Another hung from my naked waist. And one strand was still wrapped around my neck as it hung down my back.
Bryce took my weight as he walked up the stairs and to my room. He threw me on the bed and pinned me down with his body as he unzipped my pants and flung them off.
I screamed in my throat from the force and anger that rolled off him, but I also screamed because I felt it and needed it. I needed him in that moment.
Bryce scooped me up and flipped me on my stomach. I heard a condom rip open and a second later, after he spread my legs wide, Bryce shoved inside of me. I felt him gasp just above my ear as his chest rubbed against my back.
I whimpered as I pressed my face into the blankets. I'd never felt anything like this before.
He shoved deeper and I felt myself stretch to take the full length. One hand held my arms pinned above my head. The other snuck underneath my body and grasped my breast. He rolled the hardened nipple in his fingers as I panted. I bucked underneath him, needing more. Bryce let my arms free as he moved to wrap my legs around his waist and he pistoned into me.
I twisted my neck, in search for him, and Bryce found me with his lips. He demanded entry and I gave it, gladly. After a short battle of the tongues, Bryce let go, clamped one hand to the bed's headboard and another at my hip. He held me still as he levered himself up and down over me.
I could only lay there, gasping, as the onslaught of pleasure crashed over me.
The thrusts increased in tempo and both of us were gasping for release as Bryce exploded over me.
I was just behind and my body quivered as he fell onto me with his full weight.
Neither of us moved. We laid there and focused on getting our breath back.
Finally, I asked, hoarse, "Was that supposed to be punishment?"
Bryce sighed wearily and rolled off of me. He moved on his back and threw a blanket over both of us.
I propped myself up, on an elbow, and asked as I stared at him, "What was that?"
"You came."
"Bryce," I snapped and overpowered him this time. I straddled him and glared. "What was that?"
He laughed bitterly, "The epitome of a dysfunctional and unhealthy relationship?"
"Are you smug about this?" I asked, incredulous.
"What do you want, Sheldon?" Bryce shoved me off. "I love you. You're about to say it and that movie star slut shows up."
"What do you want from me?" I snapped and shouted. I scrambled to my feet and flung a sheet over my naked body, but I stood and I demanded an answer. "What do you want from me?"
Bryce watched me intently from the bed. "What do you think?" he shouted back.
"I don't know," I grated out. "I don't know…okay? I want you, but…"
"But what?" Bryce scrambled to his feet now. He towered over me and I felt his body heat radiate off his skin.
"I…how can I want to—all the girls, Bryce! All the girls that you just screw."
"I don't screw 'em!" he cried back, frustrated. "I just…I don't push 'em away and why should I? It's not as if I have a relationship to push them away for. I'm not going to hand over my balls just to feel the breeze in a different way."
I choked in outrage.
Bryce said further, "I have told you. Others have told you. You know how I feel, Sheldon, and you don't do a goddamn thing. Are you that deluded?"
"You're leaving!" I shouted. "You're leaving me for professional soccer."
"No." Bryce shook his head, fierce. "You didn't find that out until today. That doesn't count. Stop playing games!"
"I'm not!" I got in his face.
"That's all you do!" He got in mine.
"My god—" I laughed, darkly, and shook my head as I stepped back. "I can't believe this. We just…you just screwed me, literally, and we're trying to tear each other apart. This isn't…this isn't right."
Bryce sucked in his breath and retreated. He raked his hands through his Mohawk and sat on the edge of the bed as the sheets covered his slim hips. Even there, even with the hatefully-charged words and recriminations, even with all of that—I wanted him. I wanted him deep and I wanted him forever.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, softly, and my voice echoed in the screaming wake.
Bryce drew a ragged breath in and said quietly, "Maybe the question is what you want from me?" He pinned me with his eyes and added, "I love you. I'm here. We'll have sex until the house falls down…what do you want, Sheldon? You don't want me gone. Is it—can you just not be vulnerable? Is it the trust thing? I've seen you naked in a shower. I've seen you pretty goddamn vulnerable."
"That's not vulnerable," I said faintly, surprised at my words.
"Yes, it is." Bryce stood up again and advanced on me. "I know you inside and out, Sheldon. I just…I want you to say it, once. I want you to finally break down your pride and admit that you need me. I know you do. Not Corrigan. Not even your parents. You need me and I need you. And I need you to just tell me, once."
"I want you."
"That's not what I want and you know it. Stop the games!" he retorted swiftly.
Backed into a corner, I snarled back, "Stop it!"
Bryce caught my hands and pinned them above me. He leaned close and whispered against my skin, "Just say it, Sheldon." He kissed underneath my ear and I gasped.
I arched into him and whispered, brokenly, "That's not fair."
"Yes, it is. I'll take anything I can get at this point," Bryce whispered back and his fingers slid around one of my legs. He raised me up to wrap around him and I felt him push against me. I melted inside and grasped at his shoulders. I fought to draw him closer and I fought to keep him away.
"This isn't—," I gasped as his mouth moved to my breast. "This isn't fair."
"Is this the only thing that you'll let yourself feel?" Bryce whispered against my skin and he thrust inside.
"No," I whispered as I wrapped my other leg around him and rose up against the wall.
"What else will you feel? What else can I get?"
"If I say it now, it's not fair." I kissed his jaw, his neck, his lips.
"I don't care anymore," Bryce whispered as he thrust again.
"Bryce."
"I love you," he panted against my lips.
"I—" I broke off as he thrust again.
"Say it!" Bryce demanded as he thrust again.
I snapped. I swiftly arched my back and shoved him away at the same time. It wouldn't happen—not like that.
Bryce fell on the bed, startled by the swiftness and strength, but I quickly straddled him. As he fought for entrance, I clamped my hips around his and held myself above him. Bryce could've overpowered me. He could've closed the distance and it would've been met with an excited scream, but he didn't.
Bryce stayed in my arms and he gazed at me as I waited for him to see what was in my eyes.
He stopped as he saw it. His breath left him in that exact moment. And I took it in. I let the warmth fill my lungs as I bent and softly met his lips, tenderly. I kissed him, a loving kiss, and I whispered against the corner of his lips, "I love you."
He lay suspended in my hold and the fight had left him.
Bryce blinked in shock until my words sunk inside.
I realized that he'd never expected it. He had asked, fought, and demanded—but he'd never expected it.
"I—," he started, but I kissed him and stopped the words. I moved farther up his chest and looked down.
The wall fell down and I let him see me.
"I love you," I sighed.
Bryce shifted and slid my hips down to meet his. He went inside and I gasped. My eyes closed as did his and we felt each other for the first time in four years of being intimate.
Afterwards Bryce curled me against his chest as we laid still, sweating, and panting from what had happened. He ran a soothing hand up the side of my arm to my shoulder and back down again.
In the darkness, I asked, "So what now?"
Bryce tucked his head into the crook of my neck and shoulder. He breathed in my scent and tightened his hold around me. His voice was muffled as he replied, "I don't know."
I heard the exhaustion and felt its answering pull inside of me.
"Just…no more Denton Steele," Bryce remarked.
"No more girls fawning over you."
"Deal."
"Deal."
Bryce chuckled and swiftly tucked me underneath him. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and cradled my cheek. His thumb rubbed sensuously, comforting, against my skin. I nearly purred as I moved closer and sought his touch.
"So what?" he asked and flashed a blinding smile.
"What?"
"Are you my…girlfriend?"
My eyes widened as panic robbed my breath. This was what I'd been afraid of—this unyielding fear. I twisted away from him and hurriedly dressed.
"What—." Bryce cursed and leapt for the door just as I turned towards it.
He got there first and twisted between me and my exit.
"Stop it," Bryce snapped and pushed me back. He held firm in front of the door. "We were just—you told me that you love me and