Quicksilver Dreams(174)

                “So you think that even though I was with you last night, when I’ve only ever had one other partner, like, once, I’m likely to get together with your friend tonight? In your house?”

                “Taylor—”

                “I can’t even imagine what you must think of me, and I don’t want to know. You are impossible. This is just not going to work.” I stormed off through the bathroom into the guest room I had taken over earlier, feeling wholly justified in my anger.

                “Don’t walk away from me,” he snarled, following me into the guest room and pushing through the door I was about to whip closed.

                “Oh, no you don’t,” I snapped, backpedaling away from him as he stalked me across the room. The wall halted my progress, and I held a hand out to stop him from coming any closer. “Just leave me alone! I’ve had to put up with nastiness from my relatives all my life, but I’m not going to stand around and be insulted by you.”

                “I wasn’t trying to be insulting,” he said darkly, grasping my arms and pulling me close to his chest. “Would you just listen?”

                “That was you not trying to be insulting?” I yanked free of him and took a few steps away. I didn’t want to be touched by someone looking down on me. “You just do it well naturally? Nice talent to have. And by the way, your good friend was actually taking time to tell me what a swell guy you are. Don’t you find it absolutely ironic that you think just the opposite of him? What I didn’t tell him was that you’re probably counting your blessings that you found out who I was before anything got too serious.”

                “He does know who you are,” he stated quietly. “I told him. I don’t care about that.”

                There was remorse in his voice, but I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to vent my pent-up anger over all the bullshit that had gone down that was not my goddamn fault. “Don’t lie to me! I saw your face. It’s etched into my mind. I was disgusting to you!”

                “That’s not how I feel. We were all surprised!”

                “Yes, we were. But I became the nonhuman in the room.”

                “I didn’t say that!”

                “I’m the animal!”

                “Taylor!”

                “You wouldn’t even listen to me!” I was surprised to find tears filling my eyes again as the memory arose. “I was practically begging you—” They spilled over, but I slashed them away with the back of my hand impatiently.

                “I heard you, Taylor. I heard you. I can’t even tell you how sorry I am. In the moment, I felt like my world was crashing around me.” He looked into my eyes steadily. “I didn’t know how to handle the situation. It felt crazy, and then there was Asily...” He shook his head, as though he didn’t know what to say.

                “Yeah, well, you weren’t the only one having a moment. I found out who my dad was for the first time.” I rubbed a hand over my eyes, still unable to process the information. Part of me felt like I’d just found out my dad was a loyal Nazi Party member or something.

                “There was so much going on, and I lost the ability to think clearly.”

                “I get it,” I said in a quiet voice, though I didn’t really. I couldn’t be mad. Everything he’d just said was reasonable, but it still didn’t fix anything, which brought me back to the original point. “You don’t want me jumping in bed with Sy. I’m your sex buddy, and you don’t share. You obviously think I’m a trailer-park skank, but I’m not such a skank that I’d go for your friend after being with you.”