Page 26 of Ravaged By Lust

He moves in his head. His lips are about to meet mine.

And then I take a step back.

His arm drops from my cheek.

“You betrayed me,” I reply with a tilt up of my chin to face him. “Do you forget that?”

Bishop shrugs, but he knows the magic of the past minute has completely evaporated.

“We were both teenage idiots,” he explains. “Maybe the past should be left in the past; you clearly still have feelings for me.”

I shake my head. “Get lost, Bishop. The past is still important and I will never forget it.”

“The past is the past.”

“You’re really not giving up, aren’t you?” I accuse him. “You really do see everything as a competition to win.”

“I never lose,” Bishop replies. “I lost once. I lost the most important thing in my life.”

“Which was what, exactly?”

Bishop doesn’t even blink. “You.”

I take in a sharp breath.

“You were my best friend,” I say matter-of-factly. I don’t want his words, however piercing they may be, to visibly affect me.

Bishop takes a moment to study my reaction. I try to remain stony-faced.

“I know,” he eventually replies.

“In fact, you were more than my best friend,” I clarify. “You were my everything.”

“People can change, Chloe. I can change. Have you even thought of that?”

“You changing doesn’t change what happened.”

“You’re not still hung up on all of that, surely?” he asks me. “It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing.”

“If anything, you should be angry at Axel. He was involved.”

“I was. For a long time. But family is family. We mend and we fix things up.”

“So I mean nothing to you? Nothing at all?”

“Yes.”

Bishop sneers.

He doesn’t believe me.

“That hurts, Chloe, but it’s not true. I know it’s not.”

“I just want to get my taxi, Bishop. Get out of my way. Let me wait in peace.”

“But this is the conversation we should’ve had seven years ago.”