"The same courtesy?" he was rounding on speechless. "Gotten there first?" James coughed, his mouth open in shock. "Are you kidding me? This isn't some sort of race to the finish line! You sodding git!" The words came out in short bursts, he was practically choking on what he meant to say next. His breathing was rough, rougher than the expression that sat darkly on his face. "I kissed her thinking that I care about her, and if she had cared so much about you then she would not have complied! She would not have kissed me back!"
Right? Right? It was not so much desperation that James was feeling, but embarrassment thinking that he had, for so long, believed that this had actually been the case. That Lily had kissed him because he was the only one she considered kissing. How could he have been such an idiot!
In a single movement James' anger got the best of him. He pulled his fist back and swung it into a rugged punch to Eli's cheek.