“I thought your reputation was the idea that you’re a huge asshole, not some rich bastard trying to cover his ass.” Jia Li supposed that having the story about his family get out would sort of mess things up for him. Maybe he was afraid it would make him look weak though the dryad thought he must be very strong to be able to emotionally survive something like that. Then again, she felt sorry for what had happened to him, and he probably didn’t want everyone feeling pity for him.
There was also the name thing. Personally, the dryad liked the name Gabriel. It was a lot more interesting than Jack. Then again, Jack suited his persona. The name was as hard as he showed people he was. Gabriel was gentler, but somewhere inside him, there was probably a softness that he didn’t want to expose to others. He said his real name like he was cursing it, though.
Jia Li didn’t say anything in response to his telling her she was forward. She wasn’t sure if she preferred it to his making fun of her about being frigid, and now wasn’t the time to examine the least offensive of his insults. They weren’t going to do anything anyway, so that meant the invitation into her room wasn’t exactly a means of seduction.
When he silently rejected her invitation to take the chair, she shook her head. He always had to one-up someone, to defy them, even when they were just trying to be nice. It could be frustrating, but right now, it didn’t matter. What was important was that he stood there, waiting for her to speak.
She told him she didn’t want to blackmail him, and he began to joke as usual. However, his joke reminded her of when she’d gotten drunk at Kay’s party. Was that what he was referencing? For a second, she almost wondered if he’d been jealous which could have been why he was bringing it up now in his insult, but she banished that idea a moment later. He didn’t care about her. Even his saving her from humanists wasn’t an indicator. He would have saved anyone because he was a good guy.
A small panic rose within her as she saw him move closer to the door. It was probably what brought the words from her mouth, words she hadn’t rehearsed. Knowing what to say in situations like this was hard, but even if what she said wasn’t perfect, it had at least gotten him to hesitate long enough to decide to stay.
He told her she didn’t have anything about which to worry, and he tried to prove it by pulling up his shirt to show her that his abdomen didn’t even bear a small marker of what had happened. She was a little jealous. After all, she wanted to be beautiful even if she knew it wasn’t the most important thing in life, but her bruises still marred her skin unpleasantly.
“Well, I obviously know that you’re not human. What are you, a demi-god or something? It doesn’t matter. I just think you’ve suffered, and your way of dealing with it is to pretend you’re the biggest jerk on the planet. It’s not healthy. I’m not trying to make you conform to some stupid mold.” Not that she could really make him do anything. All she could do was flail her arms and hope she hit a mark. Obviously, using his real first name had accomplished at least one attention-getting hit.
Jia Li hadn’t expected him to come toward her, though, when she’d stopped talking. She tensed, ready to shove him away, to move away from him, but he didn’t really give her much time before he shoved her onto her back. He formed a cage around her from his own body, and she could feel his body heat envelop her. The dryad’s heart began to race. She was suddenly very glad she’d had the foresight to wear jeans that day instead of a skirt.
The dryad felt trapped, and she desperately wanted to get away, but another part of her didn’t. Physically, her body betrayed her mind, warming her even while she didn’t want to feel that heat circling her core. She was afraid to move for fear that she would cause their bodies to press even a little harder against one another’s.