“What about the Wall of Achievement? Was that your idea, too?” he further remarked, gesturing to the very wall next to me. The entire section of the room was decked out with all the framed award plaques alongside a lengthy shelve of every trophy and medal I’d ever won. “You know what I think?”
“If I say yes, will you go away?” I bit, turning to face him.
He slinked over, his shoulders drawn like a lion stalking his prey. I instinctively recoiled, my back hitting the frontend of the dresser. He stopped only once there was virtually no space even left between us.
“When was the last time someone asked you what you wanted?” His breath fell onto my lips as I angled my head upright to look at him, my eyes stealing a glance at his mouth.
“Why are you doing this?”
He braced his hands on either side of me, trapping me in as his fingers gripped the dresser top. Taking a small step back, he lowered his frame and leaned in, meeting me eye to eye. “Doing what?”
I wanted to kick myself again for marveling at his mouth. The admiration didn’t go unnoticed either, because heat flashed in his eyes.
“Let go.” He said the words almost breathlessly as he drew closer, leaving nothing but a fraction of an inch between us.
“Kat!” called out my mom’s voice from downstairs. “Get a move on. The Andersons just pulled up front!”
Reese shut his eyes, his grip contracting around me. I whispered a pardon to him, but he only growled. “Don’t.”
“Reese, I have to go.”
His features hardened as he finally looked at me. “You don’t have to do anything.”
“Please move.”
Reese’s arm disappointingly fell back to his sides as he straightened. “Why do you keep letting yourself be used like a puppet?”
“Excuse me?”
“You do everything everybody tells you to do, because you’re so afraid to disappoint someone. What do you want?”
A clamp tightened around my chest. Blaine had asked me the same thing. Had inspired me to break free from all the polite, societal bullshit. Its answer had been the very thing that convinced me to go to the bonfire instead of Mom’s last fundraiser. And that stupid decision had cost him his life.
Feeling red hot tears burning the back of my eyes, I plowed past Reese, grabbing a random pair of heels off the floor. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Yes, because you can’t flaunt a trophy around unless it’s perfectly polished,” he growled.
“What is your problem?”
“This isn’t you.”
“How would you know? You don’t know me!” I sneered.
“Perhaps you’re right.” His voice was low and riddled with ire. I could hear my pulse pounding again in my ears. “Perhaps I misunderstood the girl I met that night at the theater, because I never believed her to be some Barbie doll with a spine of a collapsible folding chair.”
Any apprehension I had drained from me immediately. The inside of my arm radiated with such intensity that the makeup couldn’t conceal the burning blue light. I dropped the heels in my hand. The air resounded with the deafening wallop as my hand smacked Reese across the face. The slap jolted his head to the side. I waited for him to react, seeing his cheek already reddening from the impact. But he didn’t say anything.
Chocolate-hued strands hanged in his eyes, casting shadows across his features as he slowly turned to face me. Anger surged through me again as Reese wordlessly moved in closer. I retracted, trying to keep some distance between us, but my back hit the wall. I slammed my hands against his chest to push him back. He didn’t budge.
His breathing remained steadied, but it grew heavier, stirring the ends of my hair. He was too close.
My hand grew readily hotter, and without a second thought, I took another swing at him. It stopped a mere inch from connecting with his face. He’d caught hold of my wrist. I brought up my other hand, but he claimed that one too. I writhed under him, forcing Reese to pin both of my hands against the wall. The space between us was nothing more than a slither that disappeared against our ragged breaths as our chests heaved. I nearly screamed at the dress’s boning piercing into my sides.
Reese kept scanning my face, seeming to calculate my next move. Waiting for me to kick or thrash or yell. But I didn’t move. His eyes lost their edge, replaced by an unnerving softness. Without warning, I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.
His mouth immediately molded to mine. This wasn’t a chaste, innocent kiss. Not like how our first one had started out. Each of our lips was demanding and fierce, and neither of us was pulling away. Reese’s grip around my wrists slowly eased, sliding up to my hands to interlock our fingers. It wasn’t enough.