feelings about us dating, but I won’t let that happen. I don’t want a relationship with you, so you need to stay away from me. I’ll just end up hurting you again.” He ran his hands through his tousled hair and back down his face.
“ That was really cruel.” Hannah started tearing up.
He went to touch her, but she jerked away.
“Don’t. You don’t get to touch me anymore.” She wiped her tears and stood up straighter. “ You need to take a hard look at yourself, Brett. I’ve tried to walk away from you, but you keep stopping me. You’re the one creating the drama. You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me, and I’m not putting up with it anymore!” Hannah clenched her fists and stomped her foot.
Bre tt grabbed her arms and seized her mouth with his. He felt her trying to pull away, but desire screamed from him to escape, controlling his unyielding grip. He released her lips.
“No, I’m not letting you go, Hannah.”
She finally jerked free from his torrid hold as tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s too late, Brett,” she said before running toward the house.
“Hannah, listen to me. I’m sorry. Please talk to me.”
She quickly spun around.
“What you keep doing to me is more hurtful than anything those guys you were supposedly protecting me from did. Are you just trying to stomp on my heart? You made it very clear that other than your attraction to me, I have no quality you find appealing, so leave me the hell alone!”
“Hannah, I don’t just like you for your looks. I know what I’v e been doing is wrong, but you haven’t made it easy for me to keep my hands and mouth off of you.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t throw my slutty self at you r self-righteous ass ever again!” She turned and ran to the pool.
Brett picked up hi s shovel and threw it. He sat on the bed of his truck, trying to calm down before he went home.
***
Not wanting her friends to see how upset she was, she tried to walk past them.
“Hannah, stop,” Chelsea said as she stood up from her chair. Hannah turned around, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“What the hell did he do to you? We could hear the screaming,” Morgan said.
“He doesn’t want me. All he wants to do is hurt me.”
The next thing she knew, Nick was standing in front of her. “You need to sit down with me, and tell me who the asshole is,” he said, grabbing her hand.
They walked to the patio table and sat under the umbr ella. Hannah told Nick about Brett, but left out the intimate details.
“I c an’t leave you alone. I hate that I wasn’t here. You need to forget about him, Hannah. He doesn’t deserve you.”
“I’m going to forget about him, and I’m not letting him ruin my day. I’m going to that party with everyone tonight, and I’m determined to have a good time. Let’s go swim,” she said as she wiped the last tears away from her cheeks.
Chapter Thirteen
Brett tore into his house.
“Hey, bro. What’s wrong?” Matt asked.
Brett p aced around the room not saying a word.
“It’s Hannah, isn’t it? ”
“I feel like I’ m losing my mind over that woman. She has this hold over me. She’ll tell me she wants me, so I tell her to leave me alone. But when she tries, I stop her by putting my hands and mouth all over her, and it starts all over again. I pissed her off good today.”
“Then leave her alone . We all have experience with younger girls and can tell you that they’ll go bat-shit crazy on you if you make them think you want a relationship, and then don’t give it to them.
“ You can’t keep her away from other guys though. You can’t have it both ways, so no more getting jealous and picking fights when you see her out.”
Brett recalled what his old boss, Lauren, had said a few years before when he was getting ready to leave for Nashville. She told him to take it easy on the girls at college, or he’d break their hearts. That’s exactly what he’d avoided until
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