Fraternizing with the Enemy

Bonus Chapter // Reese Powers, Eat Your Heart Out

"Can I get up first?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Fuck no."

I paused, pressing my lips tightly to stop the chuckle that threatened to escape. She still loomed over me, arms poised with intimidation on her hips. A deep frown was punctuated on her face, and that spark of fury twinkled, the one that always seemed to light up her eyes.

And it was just as entertaining as it was the first time, something that never occurred to me before. I never thought that, after all these months, she could still pique my interest in the same way.

But she always did.

And honestly, it wasn't exactly an accident that a pair of her lace black underwear were captured in the background of my Facebook profile picture.

"I left my phone over there," I told her, eyes falling over her shoulder to the other side of the room. "There's a passcode. If you want me to delete the picture, you're gonna have to let me go."

I saw a look of deliberation cross her face, her nose pinching, and then a defeated sigh pushed past her lips. A moment of silence flooded between us. I watched as she shot me one last look of skepticism, receiving the broadest of grin in response, before she begrudgingly took a step to the side.

"Be quick. Or I can't promise you'll make it out the door."

When I lifted to my feet and brushed by her, making sure to flash another grin for good measure, I could still feel her intense stare singeing into my back.  Securing an exit was top priority according to any survival instincts I hadn't blatantly ignored over the course of our relationship, and so I found a safe seat on the edge of her bed. I pretended to grab something from the opposite side of the bed, and then slipped my phone out of my pocket and into my palm. When I looked up, her unwavering gaze still scorched into my own, and I grinned.

"You should be happy that I didn't include the hot pink granny panties."

She did not look happy. In fact, I would go more for homicidal.

"Delete them now. Or I will kill you. And I will hide the body. And no one will ever know," she snarled, taking a threatening step forward. "And no one will ever care."

I threw up my hands, chuckling. "Okay, okay, got it. But I mean, it's just, it's a pretty good picture. I'm just saying-"

"Delete it."

"I'm really working my angles though-"

"Do you want to die?"

Her gaze fused with mine, and I couldn't stop a bark of laughter from escaping. "Stella, I know you're upset, but listen, I look fantastic. Do you really want to take that fantastic selfie away from the world? Are you really prepared to face those consequences?"

She fixed me with a deadpan look, transcending her death-threats to a new level of non verbal communication, and then, when I challenged her stare head on, she heaved a tired sigh. "Fine- fine, okay, whatever."

I arched a brow. "Seriously?"

She threw her hands up in annoyance, giving a shrug. "I'm just gonna have to delete them myself."

"Wait wh-"

Before I could react, she lunged for me, pinning me down against the bed and viciously grabbing for the phone in my right hand. My welfare had clearly been forgotten as an aspect of her decision making. I almost choked as she collapsed my lungs with her palms, although I still managed to keep the phone just inches away from her wriggling grasp. I could her hear struggle, frustrated groans interrupted by heavy sighs, and I gasped for air.