He Begged Me, I Rejected Him Before

Chapter 3

That evening, I went to a gathering thrown by a senior who was about to graduate. It was at some new karaoke place.

When I walked in, most people were already there.

Ryder was tucked into a corner of the sofa in a gray hoodie, his messy hair falling across his brow, his eyes cool and distant as a frozen lake.

The second he saw me, he perked up. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and all that lazy aloofness vanished in an instant.

I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me. Honestly, I wanted to turn around and walk right back out.

But the senior insisted, so I ended up joining their game of Truth or Dare.

Ryder, who'd been keeping his distance from everyone the whole night, suddenly slid closer—though he stayed across from me after I shot him a warning look.

The rules were simple: roll the dice, and the highest number punishes the lowest.

The first few losers all picked Truth, so when my turn came, I went with Truth too.

Typical luck, though, my punisher was Ryder.

His voice was low and steady, those sharp eyes locked on me. "Which one of your exes did you like the most?"

The whole room went dead silent, then every pair of eyes lit up like Christmas morning.

I had a reputation, okay? I'd dated more people than everyone in that room combined.

There was no way I was answering that live grenade of a question.

So I said, "The next one."

Everyone burst out laughing, calling me a master diplomat—somehow managing to offend every single ex and every single future prospect at the same time.

I forced a dry laugh, feeling the temperature across the table drop about ten degrees.

Guess I'd offended one person in particular.

The game went on. The next loser was Ryder.

A junior girl jumped on it right away. "Ryder, is there someone in this room that you like?"

His eyes flicked to me, subtle but unmistakable. "Yeah."

A wave of gasps and excited murmurs rippled through the crowd.

My stomach did a little flip, but I stayed put—didn't wanna make things awkward for the senior who'd organized all this.

Next round, Ryder lost again.

Same junior girl won. She tapped her chin, thinking, then broke into this sly little grin.

"Do the one thing you've been dying to do to that person."

Before I could even process what that meant, Ryder was on his feet. He grabbed my wrist, pulled me toward him, and I fell right into his arms.

Everything happened in a flash. I felt a cool brush of air—

And then his mouth was on mine. Hot, hungry, almost desperate.

He kissed me like he'd been holding back for way too long, rough and insistent, prying my lips apart like he was claiming something that'd been stolen from him.