Page 7 of Control (Everyday Heroes 3.50)
“Go away,” I mutter as I keep my head down, knowing how anything I do can and will be used against me. Sunnyville might not be a Podunk town, but it has one whopper of a gossip mill, and I’m the last person who wants to take center stage in it.
I take my time gathering my keys and water but can feel his presence at my back.
“Thanks for helping today.”
I whip around to see him standing there, shirt off and balled in his hands, pants slung low on his hips, a towel scrubbing through his hair. The typical look of a guy who knows he has a hot body and is so damn comfortable with it he doesn’t give a second thought that most people can’t do that and look sexy.
“Helping?” I grit out. “How about being your human punching bag for the past hour? The one you continually said was doing the wrong thing. How about that, huh?”
He chuckles. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have taught you nothing while I went and took my psych test again to see if I qualify for the Academy.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Same could be said about someone who judges others without giving them the benefit of the doubt,” he says and shrugs nonchalantly.
“Look. I was making conversation. I was…” I run a hand through my hair and sigh as I rein in my temper. “Never mind.”
Stop babbling, Des. That’s what got you into this predicament in the first place.
“You better hope you never need to defend yourself—”
“Screw you.”
“—because you’re spending so much time being mad at me that you’re not paying attention.”
“I don’t put myself in situations to…”
Reznor angles his head to the side and takes a step closer. “Ah, but you have though.” His voice is softer, sympathetic. I take a step back and shake my head. “What did he do to you, Desi?”
“Who said anyone did anything to me?” I shove my hands on my hips to match my defensive tone.
He rocks on his heels and stares at me with an intensity I want to shy away from but don’t dare. “You didn’t have to say a word. It’s written in your defiance…in your body language.”
“Maybe my body language is saying I’ve had enough of you and your bullshit.”
“Dodge and defend.” He chuckles, and it grates on my nerves. “I should have figured you’d be one of those.”
“One of those?”
“The person who can’t admit you’ve been caught off guard. That you were vulnerable and someone else took advantage of it.”
“I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh. Types like you always quit,” he says, prompting me to shove my keys in my purse and try to walk past him. But he sidesteps to block my exit. “All talk and no guts.”
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again…screw you and your stereotypes.”
“I’ll be surprised if I see you again on Thursday.”
I glare at him before stomping away. My resolve that I wasn’t coming back is now shattered by my pure stubbornness to prove him wrong. Arrogant asshole.
The night air feels like heaven. It’s still hot and stifling but it doesn’t smell like sweaty gym, and it sure as hell doesn’t smell like Reznor—cool and clean and manly.
Standing in the entry of the high school, all I can do is shake my head and curse the man I’ve tried to abuse over the last hour.
He frustrated me. He tested me. I tried to fight back.
I lost.
