Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(88)
Chapter8
Catalina might have cried herself to sleep the night before, but by the next morning she was full of fire and ready for a fight. She arrived at the campus early and hunted for Reggie in his regular haunts. She found him walking across the campus on his mid-morning break between classes and she went straight for him, giving him a hard shove in the arm and he stumbled to the side a few steps and then turned and looked at her.
“What in the world was that for?” he asked in surprise, rubbing his hand over the spot on her arm where she had plowed into him with both of her fists held together.
She gave him a hard look. “I can’t believe you’re asking me that. More than that, I can’t believe you went to my father and told him about Connor and me! How could you do that? How could you betray me and betray our friendship like that?” she demanded furiously.
He turned to look at her, his own anger stirring deep in him and rising up as he defended himself to her. “I had to do something! You’re out here screwing your life up royally and nothing I can say or do is going to change your mind! I can’t let you wreck yourself like you are! You won’t admit to yourself that what you’re doing is wrong! You just want to keep on screwing up and making bigger and bigger mistakes!
“Well, I’m not going to let you. I love you, Cat, and I’m not going to let you destroy yourself and your life, and our friendship over some useless old man!” He lifted his chin defensively and looked down at her. “I knew that the only thing that could stop you would be your dad. I knew that if I went to him and told him what you were doing, he’d put a stop to it, and from the look of it, he’s already done that.” He nodded his head at her in satisfied approval.
“Good. I’m glad he chewed your ass out and made you stop. Look at you. You’re miserable. You never would have been miserable if you had just left that man alone. You’d be just fine right now, and as happy as you’ve ever been. I’m glad I did it. That’s what true friends and true love does.”
She glared at him hatefully. “You stuck your nose in business that isn’t yours and you hurt my father and you hurt me, and you made a much bigger mess out of things that were already fine! Connor and I weren’t going to keep up the affair because we both feel like we need to have just a student and teacher relationship on campus!” she snapped at him.
“Oh yeah…” Reggie said smartly, rolling his eyes. “That’s exactly what I saw when he was feeling you up in the doorway to his office. Teacher and student relationship. Yup. I make out with all of my teachers like that, too,” he threw at her snidely.
She launched her fist at him but he dodged it easily and stepped back closer to her. “Why are you so angry about it? Can’t you see that your dad and I are trying to do what’s best for you because we care about you and what you’re doing with your life? He and I, we’re in it for the long haul with you. We both love you, Cat. We both want what’s best for you. I’m best for you, Catalina, and I want you to open your eyes and see that!” He stepped closer to her and though she wanted to back away, she stood her ground, looking up at him defiantly.
“I’m what’s best for you. You should be my girl! You think that professor cares at all about you? He doesn’t. You think he loves you? He doesn’t!” he raised his voice a little as emotion strained his voice and his face.
“He does care about me! He cares a great deal about me!” Catalina retorted to him angrily.
“Yeah?” Reggie asked her, stepping even closer and looking down into her face. “He cares about you, huh? Has he said it? Has he said he loves you? I love you. I say it. I want you. Has he said that he loves you, Cat, or does he just try to get you into his bed?” Reggie shot back at her.
She bit her tongue and looked at him in outrage. She couldn’t argue the point. Connor had never said that he loved her. He had made love with her, he had made her feel better than she ever had in her life, and he said that he cared about her, but he had never told her that he loved her. There was nothing that she could say to Reggie about that.
He caught it. “Ha! See? I was right! He hasn’t ever said it to you because he doesn’t care about you enough to say it! He doesn’t love you, Cat, and you need to see that! You need to pay attention and open your eyes! You need to realize that you and I should be together! You should be my girl. I love you, Cat, and you know you love me, too. You know it,” he said, shaking his head as he stared at her eyes.
He reached for her suddenly and pulled her to him, lowering his mouth to hers and kissing her firmly, just as he had the first time, and for a moment she was too shocked to react, but as his mouth moved over hers, that same feeling of ownership and possessiveness that she had felt the first time he kissed her came flooding back over her. It didn’t feel like passion. It didn’t feel like love. It didn’t feel anything like Connor’s kisses, and that showed her all that she needed to know.
She pushed herself away from him and he stared at her in surprise, his mouth parted slightly and his eyes glazed with the heat of just having kissed the girl he loved. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, reaching her hand up to slap him in the face, hard. He blinked and shock registered in his eyes as she backed away from him.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Reginald Brown. You keep your hands off of me and you stay away from me and from my dad. Go to hell, Reggie.” She spat at him and then she turned on her heel and stomped away from him.