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I shake my head insistently.

“Should I inspire you?” He lowers himself over me, his nose drawing precariously close to mine, clearly trying to fluster me into relenting. “You’re too nice, Riley. I’m giving you permission to knee my sack, and you won’t, even though I’ve been insufferable all day.”

When I merely uphold my stern stare, he groans, draping his head forward so his curled black tips are grazing my chin.

“Sometimes I want to eat you alive,” he says, like that’s a normal thing to say to another human being. “Fine. We’ll skip the knee-to-balls part. But for the record, it worked.” He draws back so he can dramatically cup his pants and whimper at the nonexistent damage. He sniffles with just enough theatrics that I have to forcibly wipe the smile from my face as I stand.

“What next?” I ask.

“Seeing me after the whole”—Aaron clears his throat, struggling with the words—“trespassing incident with Logan pissed you off. I tried explaining that I was only here to talk to Logan, but you yelled at me.” Aaron rolls his hand toward me with a wink. “Care to guess what you said?”

The mention of the arrest raises my blood temperature. “I probably told you to stay away from my brother,” I assume.

“So tell me to stay away from your brother.” Aaron’s smile is annoyingly cheeky, and once more, it’s clear he’s enjoying the role-playing thing a little too much.

“Stay away from my brother,” I say with a dreary sigh.

“How about with enthusiasm? You were furious.”

I don’t doubt it, but I’m depleted of strength. “Stay away from Logan,” I try again with more bite. He still doesn’t look satisfied, so I jam my index finger into his chest. “Quit ruining his life. You’ve done enough damage.”

Aaron’s eyes glow with eagerness. “Or what?”

I try to envision what I might’ve said in this situation. “I’ll snitch to your dads,” I suggest.

“They already know I go out at night,” he admits. “They don’t like it, but they’ve given up on leashing me. So, anything else?”

What else is there? I can’t threaten bodily harm, and he doesn’t care about consequences, so I have no way of blackmailing him. “What would it take to keep you away from him?” I ask, and my heart skips, like my body is telling me I’m on the right track.

Sure enough, Aaron’s grin widens with satisfaction. “What could you offer me?” he prompts.

I feel like my brain is short-circuiting and smoke is about to curl off my scalp. “I don’t know anything about you to help me out.”

“You know I’m single,” he offers.

I give a squeaky scoff. “No way I promised my body to you,” I snap.

Aaron laughs at me. Again. I’m getting sick of this bastard. “Then, how about this? For every date you go on with me, I’ll stay away from your brother for two whole weeks. Surely that’s manageable for someone as busy as you.”

The blood boiling in my face drains away. “I thought you hated me,” I mutter.

Aaron’s smile disintegrates, but it’s so brief that I’m not sure if I hallucinated it before it comes searing back. “I thought you were annoying as shit for a while, but you’re cute, so I’m curious to know more about you. Does that suffice?”

I have this nagging feeling he’s illuminating 90 percent of a whole truth. Like I’m missing a fragment of information that could fully interlock the puzzle pieces and pry open my world of understanding. “Is that all?” I ask dubiously.

Aaron nods.

“Fine.” I sharpen my voice. Maybe I can endure this just long enough that Logan will break all communication with Aaron. They’re already on the rocks after the arrest. Spending a few hours with Aaron a month seems like a tolerable exchange for ensuring he’s not further screwing Logan over. I don’t know if he has hidden motivations for suddenly pursuing me, but—

Wait.

I shake my head, centering myself. I was so into the thought process behind these decisions that I forgot I already made them. “This is what you meant when you said our relationship wasn’t a pretty truth,” I say, brows arching. “You figured I was desperate to protect Logan.”

“Yeah,” he admits. “Sorry. I ran with what I knew.”

I sigh, glad that things are coming together but hating that I agreed to this. At least he’s capable of acknowledging when he’s done something tasteless.

Aaron inches closer to me, and it’s like I can see the mischief beginning to claw into his expression, flickering in his eyes and sculpting his black brows. “What do you think happened next?” he asks softly.