Lexi began pulling the sleeves of her black dress over her palms and dipped her eyes to avoid me. I tilted her chin again.

“No, Pix, don’t look away. You were there for me at the hospital a few days ago. Let me be here for you now. What is going on with you?”

More silence. That just pissed me off.

“Why the war paint, Pix?” I pushed.

She shook her head and tears sprang to her eyes. “Don’t, Austin. Please don’t ask me that anymore. I can’t stand it!”

Bowing my head, I gave up.

“I’m tired,” Lexi suddenly said, and she stood up abruptly.

Quickly standing to meet her, I reached for her fingers, lacing them through mine. “Then lay down.” I gestured to the bed behind me.

“NO!” Lexi said, a bit louder than I think she intended, and I raised my eyebrow at her response. “I need to go back to my room,” she said, wide eyes darting to the door.

But I didn’t want her going back to her room. Something was up, and her alone, acting like this, made me feel pretty damn uneasy about letting her outta my sight.

Stepping closer, I released her hand and cupped her cheeks. “Stay with me. Just stay with me here. We’ll just lay down and talk. Get to know each other, remember? Why the f**k are you running off?”

I could see the indecision in her gaze. I leaned forward to put my mouth to her ear. “Stay with me. I promise I won’t even touch you if you don’t want me to. I just can’t, in good conscience, let you go when you’re like this.”

As I made that promise, I realized I did want to touch her. A lot. The little pixie was getting under my skin.

“If you promise to keep your distance, I’ll stay a while longer,” Lexi whispered back, and, releasing her face, I sighed in relief.

So she didn’t want me touching her? At least something was clear in this mess.

Walking around Lexi, I climbed on my bed, laid my head on the pillow, and faced her direction. She looked so f**kin’ cute standing in the middle of the room, staring at me sprawled out on the bed—her dress too big for her five-foot-nothing body, her boots too big for her skinny-ass legs, black hair curled and molded to her face like a 1920’s flapper, and her bright-red lips puckering in nerves.

I felt like some evil beast trying to lure an innocent virgin into his lair.

“Pix, I ain’t gonna do anything you don’t want. So come on, get on over here and lay the f**k down,” I said and, even to me, my voice sounded hoarse.

It looked like she was walking the green mile as she took four steps forward and kneeled on the mattress beside me. Positioning her legs straight, she lay opposite me, her eyes never leaving mine.

“You comfortable?” I asked.

Nodding her head, her lip twitched. “Yeah.”

“You ever been in bed with a guy before?” I smirked as she blushed.

“No. Never. Never really been around guys, period.”

“What about at high school?” I asked. She must have been a cheerleader then too. That means a shitload of football players were around her all the damn time.

Her eyes fell. “I was homeschooled for the last couple ‘a years of high school. The cheerleading was put on hold until just a few months ago.”

I frowned. “Homeschooled? Why the hell would you wanna be homeschooled?”

Lexi snorted out a humorless laugh. “I didn’t wanna be homeschooled, Austin. I was forced to be. School was… too difficult for me. It was the only realistic option.”

Inching closer, I pushed. “Were you bullied or some shit?”

Lexi shook her head and she began fiddling with a piece of white loose linen off the bed sheets. Reaching out, I grabbed her finger, but her eyes never lifted once to meet mine. She was holding something back. Something I really wanted to know.

“Look at me, Pix,” I demanded sternly.

Sighing, she did as I asked.

“Were you bullied? Is that why you never went to school?”

Lexi didn’t say anything in response. So I waited. Waited for about two minutes, two long minutes, still gripping her hand, watching as she worked herself up to an explanation.

“I had some issues… in school,” she eventually confessed. Her explanation wasn’t enough. I wanted details. I wanted to know how she was hurt and, preferably, who was responsible for it. I was feeling all kinds ’a protective over the little emo pixie. A strange development for me to take, but true nonetheless.

“What kind of issues?” I prompted.

Lexi’s eyes squeezed shut, and when they reopened, she said quietly, “Body issues. I had a few…” She sighed and added, “I had some body issues.”

Taken aback, I looked down the bed and scanned her tiny frame, trying to think how someone like her could have body issues. She was petite… She was trim, athletic, but she looked damn good, maybe a bit too thin, but pretty f**kin’ special, regardless.

Lexi, seeing my interest in her figure, ripped her hand from mine, crossed her hands over her stomach, and curled up into the fetal position. Her green eyes grew wide with fear.

“Lexi? What the f**k—”

“Don’t look at me like that! I can’t bear to be looked at like that!” she said kinda hysterically.

“I wasn’t!” I said through gritted teeth. Her eyes narrowed at my lie. “Well, okay, I was. But I was trying to work out why the hell you had issues! I wasn’t scrutinizing you, Pix. I’m not that much of an ass**le.”