Eden nodded, pulling away from him. The second she did, she wanted his arms around her again. She missed his warmth and his strong body pressed up against hers again, but she shook it off.
“You can watch anything you want,” she pointed to the TV. “I’ve got Netflix, too, if you want to watch anything on that…”
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Sterling have her a small smile and stood. He held his hand out to her to help her up.
“Cool. Thanks, Eden. Sorry to be a bother and having to stay longer,” he said softly.
Eden looked at his hand, bit her lip and took it. Her hand was so tiny in his… and how was his so unbelievably warm?
“No,” she breathed. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. You’re not a bother.”
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Sterling helped her to her feet, keeping his hold on her hand eve after she stood. He looked into her eyes with a smile, which only grew at her words.
“Well, good. I don’t want to intrude on you. The only time I want to bother you is when I’m teasing you,” he joked with a chuckle.
Though she desperately wanted to, Eden didn’t look at their hands. If she did, he might take his own away. She liked the way he held on to it, as if it was glass. As if it would break.
She glared at him at his words. “Funny, Sterling. How do you tease me, exactly?”
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Sterling grinned, winking as he entangled their fingers. “I have my ways. Mostly with saying something to you, though.”
Heart exploding in her chest, Eden’s eyes betrayed her commands and flickered to their intertwined fingers. Not good. Definitely not good. She should pull away, but she didn’t want to. At all. “Like what, Sterling?”
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“I suppose it’s less of teasing and more of flirting,” Sterling mused, noting the way her eyes shifted to look at their hands. “But I’ll have you know that everything I say to you when I flirt is the truth. I don’t lie to flirt.”
Eden’s eyes went back to his, maintaining eye contact. The truth, huh? Cute wearing glasses. Cute wearing his hoodie. The truth.
“Is it?” She murmured. “Well, I don’t know how to respond to that. I’m out of snarky comments at the moment.”
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Sterling smirked. “Have I rendered you speechless? Simply by telling you that it’s true when I say you’re cute?”
Eden rolled her eyes, though he wasn’t wrong. He left her speechless with just that.
“It isn’t every day that a pretty boy tells the animal of the school that she’s cute,” she responded. “Twice on the same day.”
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Sterling blinked, raising an eyebrow at her statement. “Pretty? So I’m a pretty boy, now? I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.”
Eden flashed him a wide smile in replacement of a smirk. “Take it however you want,” she purred, not knowing where this sudden burst of change came from. Their fingers were still laced together, neither pulling away. “If not pretty, then what are you?”
Handsome, a voice said at the back of her head. Eden ignored it. Attractive. Dazzling.
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“Oh, I could think of a few words to describe myself. Like handsome, insanely attractive, sexy,” Sterling listed with a shrug, smirking down at her again.
Eden snorted, her grip on his hand tightening unconscious. With her free hand, she twirled a strand of her hair. “Modest, aren’t you?”
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“Modest? No, I don’t think so. Where did you get that idea?” Sterling chuckled as he watched her. He took a small step closer, continuing to smirk down at her.
“Ah, right, silly me,” Eden looked up at him, returning his smirk with a heated look of her own. “You and modesty would never go together.”
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“No, no we wouldn’t. Now you and I, on the other hand… That could be an interesting pair, don’t you think?” Sterling stated, his smirk widening at her look. He didn’t think about what he was saying until after he’d said it, and then he almost regretted it. He didn’t want to scare her away, and that could do it for him…
Eden stiffened a little at his words, the smirk on his face making her look away. She swallowed. What in the hell was she doing?
“Would it, though?” She questioned, returning her gaze back to him. He was still flirting, still being like that. Before, it would have made her sick. Now, it made her stomach flutter. She hated that feeling. Hated what it reminded her of. “I’m afraid I’m more of an antagonist.”
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“And what would that make me? The love interest? I can assure you, sweetheart, that I am definitely not a main character. Far from it. I’m way too messed up for that,” Sterling murmured, raising an eyebrow at her. She looked away, though. Why did she look away? It must have been what he said… Of course it was.
“You’re messed up?” Eden quirked an eyebrow, ignoring the way her heart squeezed when he said the words ‘love interest.’ “If you’re messed up, what does that make me?”
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“We’re both messed up, okay? I’ll acknowledge that. But do you know how the protagonist usually is? They usually charm the bad boy who can’t be charmed. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter what we are because we’re not in a book. This is real life,” Sterling sighed, glancing away and tearing his free hand through his hair.
Eden turned her head away again, squeezing his hand gently. Was it stupid for her to want his arms around her again? They weren’t even dating. They had no feelings for each other. Perhaps it was the lack of affections that was making her act like this. Maybe she just wanted someone to really understand her. But could they, if she never told them?
“I’m not really a bad boy, you know,” she muttered in mild amusement. “This may be real life, but it still has chapters.”
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Sterling chuckled and shook his head. “I was talking about me, Eden. I know you’re not a bad boy. You’re not a boy, to begin with. Unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” he teased, squeezing her hand back.
Eden quirked an eyebrow at his first statement. “Why bring up the protagonist, then? You made the comparison as if you’re trying to charm me,” she then scowled at his second statement, trying to prevent the slight squeeze of her hand from making her melt. “I’m very much a female, Sterling, thank you very much.”
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“I know you are, E. I was teasing you,” Sterling chuckled, gently pulling her closer. “I was saying that you are the protagonist and I’m the bad boy love interest.”
Eden’s breath hitched in her throat when he pulled her closer. God, what was wrong with her? Was she really getting that desperate? Just a little attention from an insanely attractive male and she was succumbing just like that? It didn’t make things better knowing the attractive male was Sterling Ainsley.
“A protagonist who likes to beat people up and the bad boy who’s kind? I think you’ve got the roles reversed in there,” she breathed, swallowing thickly, trying not to let out a reaction at the words he kept saying. Love interest. Goddamn it.
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“I’m only kind to people I care about. The others I could care less about. So it looks like neither of us really fit into typical roles, do we?” Sterling said, his gaze flicking over her face as he looked down at her. His eyes found her lips and lingered for a moment before he looked back up at her eyes. “You were going to go take your contacts out, weren’t you?”
Her lips. His eyes were on her lips, darkening as if he wanted to take them into his own, want swirling in them. Eden swallowed a shiver that threatened to shoot down her spine. Her own eyes flickered to his mouth, and for a second, she wanted a taste. Her eyes found his a second before he looked back at her.
“Yeah,” Eden nodded, slipping her hand out of his hold, knowing if she stayed, she’d do something she would most likely regret. Like pull him down and kiss him. She was too broken to do that to him. He deserved so much more than what she had to offer. An all-too-used body, trashed and discarded; a destroyed personality, a sick and twisted mind that sought to be hurt to be relieved. He deserved so much more than that. “I’ll be right back.”
She stepped back and turned her back on him, glad that she didn’t stumble or wobble her way to her room. Her cat slipped in with her as she shut the door behind her and finally, when she was inside, she slid to the floor.
“Razor, I think I’m making a huge mistake…” her cat licked her cheek in comfort.
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Sterling nodded in response to her words, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. As soon as she disappeared into her room, he made his way over to the couch and sat down, burying his face in his hands.
This was bad. He was so far gone already. He couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t want her this way. She deserved someone who had so much more to offer her than he did. He used people. Well, he used to… He was trying to stop, and he had a while ago, but what if he did it again? It would break her if they were together and he let himself slip back into old habits.
