All This Time

10 ⦿ in which i make a deal with the devil

December 22, 2010 2:00 p.m.

"No." The words are out of my mouth so fast that it takes even His Royal Highness aback. "There's no way you're involving me in whatever screwed-up relationship you have with her," I vow, wagging my finger at him.

There, I've said my piece. I turn to go, but too late, I realize he's still holding my hand. Giving him my iciest look, I stare at him until he lets go.

Except he doesn't. With a muffled curse, he sits down on the bed, and the abrupt move forces me to half-tumble onto his lap. I'm positive my face is a uniquely violent shade of red by the time I straighten myself and I delicately distance my leg from his. I'm sitting next to him when just a moment ago I'd spoken my mind and convinced myself I had the upper hand.

"Are you going to leave if I let go?" Wolfram asks, nodding down at our linked hands.

A smart person would have said "no" but I'm so full of self-righteous annoyance that "obviously" comes out of my mouth in a withering tone.

"Please, Charlotte." His eyes beseech mine earnestly. "You would really be doing me a solid."

"I'm supposed to help you after the crap way you've been treating me? You know, your sister all but accused me of going after Xander's money," I fume, wrenching my hand away. He lets me.

"You know, you have some nerve, Wolf. I cannot believe you seriously think you can just bat your eyelashes at me and expect me to fall at your feet like some pathetic van der Waals groupie. You've made it perfectly clear that I repulse you, so you've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to play along with your idiotic plan to ditch your girlfriend." The words are spewing out of me like projectile vomit and his face blanches in horror.

"I wasn't...I mean...you don't repulse me," he tries to say, but I'm not having it.

Cutting him off, I scoff belligerently. "Seriously?" I mimic the icy look he's been aiming at me since I arrived. I flatten my lips, tilt my chin up, and slant my eyes downward.

"What is that? Constipation?"

I gasp in outrage.

Wolf just rolls his eyes. "Well, if the shoe fits."

"Jerk!"

I try again, trying to make my green eyes look as disdainful and pompous as possible. It's hard raising my chin and looking down my nose at the same time, but even under my heavy-lidded gaze I can see him trying not to laugh.

"What the hell are you trying to accomplish?" The corners of his mouth are curled upwards in mirth.

"I'm trying to replicate that I-smell-poop expression you get on your face when you think Xander's not looking."

"I smell what?"

"Look," I bark. "The point is, you clearly don't like me. Let's not complicate things, yeah?"

I expect him to shoot off an insult but instead, he surprises me. With a groan of frustration he flops onto his back, hanging his legs over the side of the bed. Wolf's eyes close and for a moment, I'm transfixed by the way his entire face relaxes. He's older than me, but in that instant, he looks impossibly young. A golden-haired Adonis, a face which could sail a thousand ships.

I get up, intent on leaving before I do something stupid like apologize for my outburst. His voice stops me as my hand reaches for the doorknob.

"She slept with Levi."

My hand drops. I turn, unsure of what to say. Obviously, getting cheated on sucks. I would know. My boyfriend decided that instead of getting me a Christmas present, he would give me the joy of walking in on him unwrapping his. And by his, I mean a platinum blond size-zero wearing a naughty Mrs. Claus outfit.