I laugh, but Anna looks ready to murder me in cold blood.
“Seriously,” I say, still grinning.“A Barbarian King, huh?Didn’t peg you for the type.I mean, you’reterrifyinglysmart.And if emotionally constipated men are such a turnoff, why the hell are you drooling over one whose mode of communication is with a battle axe?”
She lifts her chin and quirks an eyebrow.“Maybe I like a man who isn’t afraid tocross swords.”
I choke.Pretty sure there was a double entendre buried in there.
Anna’s demeanor shifts slightly—victorious, almost—as she turns on her heel to head toward the hallway.“Have fun sussing out that one, Price.”
Like hell I’m letting her escape.And you bet I’ll be Googling whatever that meant later.
I follow her, too riled up to let this go.Maybe it’s the post-show adrenaline wearing off.Maybe it’s the fact that I need to find a way to get Anna out from under my skin before I blow up my friendship with Ethan.
“You know, I had a pretty great show tonight,” I say casually, like I’m just making conversation.
Anna keeps walking.“Good for you.”
“I mean, you wouldn’t know.Since you weren’t there.”
She freezes.The tension thickens, coiling between us like a live wire.
Anna turns slowly, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.“Oh,poor Joel.Was the crowd of drunk, barely clothed girlies not enough for you?You needed a few hecklers, too?”
I exhale sharply, running a hand through my hair.“I just don’t get it, Anna.You could’ve come to the show.Just to see how the new song sounded.”
She scoffs.“What would be the point of that?”
“Because you love music.And maybe you’d see?—”
“Seewhatexactly?”She cuts in.
“That I’m—I’mdifferent.”I blurt out, Ethan’s words racing through me.
She actually laughs.A cold, sharp sound.“Oh, you’re different?”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit.”
My patience snaps.
“What the fuck do you want from me, Ace?”I take a step closer, heat rising under my skin.“Do you want me to beg for your forgiveness?Do you want me to say I don’t regret anything I did when we were kids?Because Ido, Anna.I fucking do.If you’d just open the damn envelope, you’d?—”
Her arms tighten around herself, but she holds her ground.“It wouldn’t change anything if I did.”
“Itcouldif you’d let it.”
She flinches, just slightly, but I see it.
She realizes it too, because she turns away like she can physically shut me out.
But I’m done letting her.We’ve been living in this space for a week and I can feel her defenses cracking.Hell, mine have already gone to shit.May as well see if she’ll join me.
She doesn’t want to be angry with me.I can kinda see that now.She just doesn’t know how to let it go.To let me back in.
I step in, crowding her space, voice lower now—rougher.
“Admit it.You don’t hate me,” I murmur.