Take Me Once, I'll Bleed You Twice novel Chapter 235

Chapter 235

AVERY

of way

Avery wasn’t sure how to feel about catching Cooper in the act of eavesdropping. A little thrilled

but also annoyed that he’d done it.

since it must mean hir

The moment she’d said his name he’d tensed, eyes locking on hers before narrowing. What was going through his mind toed to replay her side of the conversation to figure out what he’d have heard and what conclusion he might have made

“Who’s making you scared?,” he demanded after a few uncomfortable seconds had passed in silence.

Avery blinked. “…huh?” Was he actually drunk?

“Who’s scaring you?,” he repeated as if using slightly different words would help her understand

“What are you talking about?”

–

it didn’t.

Cooper closed the distance between them in a single step, his hand reaching out and gripping her arm. The touch startled Avery into stillness as she tried to figure out what was happening. His grip on her arm was firm but not alarmingly so; if anything it was the right amount to make her feel grounded – that he was there to help – if such a thing could be conveyed through touch.

“Who’s scaring you, Avery,” he asked once more, this time in a tone that could almost be described as soft.

Was… he worried about her?

“I, uhm,” she stammered as she did her best to ignore her body’s reaction to the skin on skin contact. “I’m not… no-one’s scaring me? Why do you think, uhm, I’m being scared?” Words were getting harder to string together in a way that made sense as she wrangled with

what both her wolf and body were suddenly demanding.

“You really are a bad liar,” he told her, voice a murmur as he reached out and took hold of her other arm, his grip far gentler this time. Avery had a feeling Cooper wasn’t completely sober – there was just no way. “Who’s scaring you, Avery? Why are you scared?”

Oh. That’s what… Shit. “It’s not… like that,” she managed to get out as she tried to take a step back only for Cooper to follow. “Uhm. Cooper. You shouldn’t be… your touch is…”

“What’s scaring you, Avery? Tell me.”

Avery fell silent, mind racing. Honesty was always the best policy but there were times when speaking the truth would only result in pai Was this one of those times? She wouldn’t know until it was too late. “I’m… scared that you want to reject me.”

Her mate froze, his eyes shifting from brown to gold before settling somewhere between the two. “You’re scared… I’ll reject you?”

1/

…yes.”

“Who were you talking to?”

The sudden change in topic helped Avery get her thoughts in order somewhat. “A friend.”

“A man?”

Avery was suddenly over this conversation. He didn’t get to be all jealous, or whatever this was, after barely giving her the time of days week. Not happening. “What do you care,” she challenged, wrenching her arms from his grasp as she took another step bark very clear about what you think of me, Cooper.”

11. be

The wolf flinched at her words, his eyes suddenly back to their normal brown as he averted his gaze. “That’s…”

“I’m not going to force myself on you,” Avery told him, voice clipped as she hugged herself – the loss of his touch left her feeling sold and it was all she could do to keep warm. “If you don’t want me then you should reject me so I can leave without… so I don’t have to like this when nothing will come of it.”

Cooper ran his hands over his face a few times before letting out a loud sigh. “It’s… not like that.”

“Not like what?”

A low growl came from him but Avery wasn’t deterred. She’d been patient – extremely so, all week – and getting an actual answer out him would save her so much worry, so much pain. She was starting to feel desperate. It wasn’t that his touch made her feel things all! more strongly; it gave her a tiny window into what she was missing out on for reasons he wasn’t saying – reasons she wanted to ask about but knew doing so would only push him further away.

“I just…,” he began only to trail off.

Patience was key, or so Beatrice had said, but it was hard when all Avery wanted to do was touch him, be at his side, for him to hold hi

For once, Avery understood how Hendricks must have felt. Except she didn’t have the urge to force herself on Cooper, to manipulate hi into accepting her as his mate. Sure, she’d finagled her way into them spending time together but it was in the hopes he’d come aroun to accepting the mate bond. Not once had she gone after him, had she crossed any of his boundaries, and she had every intention of keeping her word after the seventh day. It’d barely been a week and already it felt like her heart broke a bit more every time she thoug of him, every time she saw or talked to him, because somewhere deep inside she had a feeling he wouldn’t come around.

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