Page 99 of Bad Attitude
Twenty
Raven
Goddamn Declan Hale.
He assures me that he’s had no relationships, confirming what I already suspected. And Ibelievehim.
He practically gets down on one knee and tells me he wants to tie our lives together—after onlytwo weeks.
Then he completely closes down and withdraws, giving me one-word answers for the rest of the evening.
That’s a pattern I know only too well: men who run hot and cold, until one day they only have cold left, and don’t come back. I know this pattern; I wrote the book on falling for it. And Declan’s already shown me what’s on the forecast.
Why do I put myself through this?
Taking advantage of him being out of the bed, I change the sheets, using up my last spare while he’swearing the only other one I have. The one I strip from the bed is fit only for the trash, and the mattress is stained pink beneath. For now, I flip it, which will at least give us a slightly drier night than the last two.
Actually, fuck that. After the way he’s been, I’m sleeping on the couch.
First, I have to help him back into the bedroom, which means pressing up against him while he’s barely able to walk, vulnerable, and so very, very naked. It doesn’t matter how angry I get at Declan Hale, my body still responds to him every time I see him. Let alone have totouchhim.
The most annoying,aggravatingman in existence.
“Good night,” I mutter as I set a glass of water down on his nightstand, next to his bottles of pills. I’m halfway across the room before he speaks.
“Where are you going?”
“Couch.”
“No.”
No? The hell does he mean ‘no’?
I spin back to him, ready to give him a piece of my mind, only to see him sitting up, in the awkward process of getting his injured leg out of the bed. “The fuck are you doing?”
“Your apartment. If anyone’s sleeping on the sofa, it’s me.”
Goddamn this man.
“One, the couch is barely big enough for me. It sure the hell isn’t big enough for you—”
“—Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“—Two, which of us has beenshot?”
“I’m feeling much stronger.”
I cross my arms. “The hell you are.”
Declan pauses, sitting on the edge of the bed. Then the stubborn man pulls himself up to stand, all his weight on his good leg, fuckingnakednext to my bed.
I’ve just got him into it, and I can still feel the press of him all down my side. I donotneed the reminders of his body right now.
“Lie the fuck down before I push you down and tie you there.”
His lips twitch. “With what? If you have bondage rope, that would’ve been good to know.”
My breath catches. I’m clothed, he’s the one naked and injured, yet in that moment, it’smethat feels vulnerable. It’smetied down in the images in my mind.
