Kidnap My Heart

Chapter Twenty-Four: Emma and Will

He held up his hands as soon as he saw the look on my face. “Okay. You’re not starting to like it here.”

I just rolled my eyes and walked in the room, flipping the light switch on my way in. Unsurprisingly, my dark-haired headache followed. I had to resist the urge to slam the door in his face.

“Well, if that’s not the reason, then what is?”

Did he ever stop talking? It was like as soon as he got me alone, he turned on this switch that made him forget how to keep his mouth shut.

“I like how you think this is a question I’d actually answer,” I said.

“I’m honestly curious.”

I glanced at him and accepted this. With a casual shrug, I said, “Maybe I realized escape isn’t my best alternative right now.”

“So I’m a better alternative than freedom?” He seemed pleased— a little too pleased.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

I sighed impatiently. This conversation needed to end already. After my conversation with Taylor the day before, I had zero patience, especially when it came to Will. “Are you always this stupid?”

He didn’t even falter. He shot back his own reply at lightning-fast speed. “Are you always this evasive?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes. I mean, no! Damn it.”

I laughed out loud. God, he was stupid. This bantering thing never went his way. I didn’t know why he even bothered.

After I’d grabbed another t-shirt from his closet, I turned around and arched an expectant eyebrow at Will.

“What?” he asked.

“Aren’t you going to leave so I can change?”

He pretended to think about this. Considering the amount of time it took him to do this, it seemed to me that the wheel was turning, but the hamster was dead. When I’d had enough, I made a noise of exasperation. I threw the t-shirt I’d just grabbed on the bed and pulled off the shirt I was wearing. If he wasn’t going to leave, then whatever. I’d change, anyway. The soda from the shirt was starting to stick to my skin, and let me tell you, that wasn’t the most pleasant feeling in the world.

“Holy—”

I glanced over at him and saw the way his blue eyes widened. “What?” I asked, walking over to the bed. “It’s not anything you haven’t already seen.”

I mean, he took my dress off to get back at me for doing the same thing to him the day we met. I had nothing to hide. He’d already seen me in nothing but my bra and underwear, and I’d already seen him in his birthday suit— both sides. We were pretty well acquainted with each other in that sense, unfortunately.

“Yeah, but—” He abruptly stopped himself, but he didn’t stop himself from staring.

“But what?” I glanced around the room. “Do you have a wet towel or something?”

“I can, uh, go get you one,” he said. His eyes had traveled upwards and were now solely focused on my face. I could tell he was struggling to keep his gaze on my eyes, and it kind of made me want to laugh.

“Yeah, go do that,” I said.

He actually did come back with the wet towel I wanted. I wasn’t going to put on a show for him by wiping myself down, so I made sure to turn around before using the towel. I didn’t care if he saw me in a bra since he’d already gotten a long, hard look the day after we met, but anything further than that was leaning on the exhibitionist side of things. Besides, if it was socially acceptable for guys to walk around shirtless, why couldn’t girls walk around shirtless if they covered their boobs?