That Girl is Mine - Part One (7 page)

In my room, I remove my sweats and pull on a pair of jeans for work. Then I sit on the end of my bed to put on my boots, when my door bursts open and Avery storms through it as well as anyone with a cast on their foot can.

“I’m not letting you do this, Dylan! I’m not letting you push me away over…over
fucking handholding!
” she yells, her eyes wide and her hair looking like fire in the morning light. It’s like it’s taken on a life of it’s own and is projecting her anger.
Fuck, she’s beautiful when she’s angry.

“It’s not your decision to make,” I state calmly, leaning forward to tighten my laces before I stand up and slip my wallet in my pocket, attaching the chain to my belt loop.

“And it’s not yours. What have I done to you? None of this makes any sense, Dylan. You don’t get to suddenly end our friendship without some sort of an explanation.”

“What friendship, Avery? I felt bad for making you fall and break your ankle. I helped you while you recovered. Today you’re getting your cast off. My job here is done. I don’t need to feel beholden to you anymore,” I snap, pushing her away with my words. I need her to leave me be. I need her to get out of my head and out of my dreams.

Not when she’s not mine.
Not when she’s not mine.

Stubbornly, she moves toward me and pokes her finger in my chest. I can smell her hair and her skin. It makes me a little lightheaded when I’m so on edge from having her hands on me, cutting my hair, inspecting my tattoos – tracing them with her fingertips. I had to close my eyes and force myself to stay calm before my cock betrayed me and stood to attention at the intimacy of her touch. I have
never
let a woman touch me like that. My ink is
my
ink.

I close my eyes again, and when I don’t respond, she slaps both of her hands against my chest, in a futile attempt to move me. I open my eyes again.
I need her to understand…she’s not mine.

But I want her to be mine.

“What is your problem?!” she demands, her ice blue eyes shining up at me with confused emotion.

She doesn’t know what she does to me. I need to make her understand. I need…

Before I can finish the thought, my instincts take over, and I grab her on either side of her face and bring my mouth down on hers. I hold her to me, my kiss demanding against her mouth. At first she responds with surprise, tensing up and pushing against my chest. Then something changes, and she relaxes into me, her hands sliding over my shoulders until her arms wrap around my neck, and she returns the kiss with equal intensity.

My head spins with a mixture of emotions, knowing this is wrong, but feeling a need so strong that I can’t seem to stop myself.

But I have to.

She’s my best friend’s girl.
She’s not mine…

Forcing myself away, I look into her tortured eyes, and see the same emotions whirling through her. My chest heaves, and more than anything, I want to kiss her again. I want everything with her, all at once. But I don’t do anything except back away from her.

“Did you feel that?” I ask in a hoarse whisper, while I continue to slowly move away from her, holding my hands out defensively as if I’m afraid of what might happen if I stop moving.

She nods, her lips parted, her eyes brimming with tears.

“What was it? What did you feel?”

“Everything. I felt...”

I nod slowly, knowing exactly what she felt. “Music. It felt like music.”

She closes her eyes, and a tear slides down her cheek. “It was like dancing,” she whispers.

“That, Rusty – that feeling right there. That’s what my problem is. Neither of us should feel that way. Not when you’re in love with Josh. Not when you’re not mine,” I tell her regretfully, as I turn and walk out of the room, hoping she doesn’t follow me.

But Avery is stubborn, and I…I’m just a man who isn’t strong enough to say no to the woman who somehow, without me even realizing, has come to own me. I need her to be mine…

End of Part One

Part two, releasing June 10, 2015.

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