Forgetting Billions | ✓

11 | Forgetting Him

JASMINE GAPED at the man standing in front of her and at the venom dripping from his lips. His chilling eyes acted as daggers stabbing through her heart, ripping it to shreds in an instant.

"Let me explain," Jasmine whispered, placing her hand on his cheek. He jumped away as if her touch had burned him and that hurt more than any word he could ever spit at her. "Selena was trying to protect me by pinning the blame on you. I know it wasn't right but believe me when I say I never meant to lie to you. And I never meant to hurt you."

Shayan continued to rub his jaw and the purple growing bruise that adorned his skin. "I'm always your last priority, Jasmine. I'm actually dispensable to you. It happened before I left, it happened at the Burger Palace, and it's happening right now. You're lucky I've stayed through your bullshit for so many years, but I won't let you ruin one of the only friendships I have here, all for your larger agenda."

Jasmine hated how well he knew her insecurities and how easily he could wield them against her. She wouldn't stand for it any longer.

She stood up and walked off of the perfectly cut lawn, making her way to where Selena's car was parked. Shayan followed her with a pained groan and he grabbed her wrist as they stood in the middle of the street. The lamps around them were flickering softly and all she could hear was the distinct thumping coming from the speakers in Evan's house.

"We need to have this talk, Jas. You are not running away from it again. Just because I'm the only one that says what you need to know, rather than what you want to hear, doesn't make me the bad guy."

Jasmine pulled her arm out of his grasp and flashed him the dirtiest look she could muster, "I'm sorry. I didn't know if you'd still want to talk to the lying, thieving bitch that never pays enough attention to you."

"Now wait a second—," he bit back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I will not wait. My entire life is waiting. Waiting for my parents to tell me what to do, waiting for Selena to find a way to help me, and waiting for you to tell me what you need from me. Why don't you just open your mouth and spit it out, Shayan? If what I do is never enough, then what do you need?"

His arms snaked around her waist and she was pulled into his embrace as suddenly as the argument itself. The smallest sensations danced across her skin as he held her in a way that was so different from their sophomore year. He had matured, grown experienced in a way that made Jasmine want to throw up. She tried to swallow the jealousy rumbling through her heart at the mere thought of all the other girls he had before, all while she tried to ignore the growing heat in her chest.

"I need you," he whispered.

Jasmine could no longer see the bruise on his jaw or the specks of gray in his eyes. She could only feel his body against hers and his short locks of hair running through her fingers. She could only feel the way his breath hit her neck ever so gently and how it turned the heat in her chest into a raging wildfire.

He leaned into her and Jasmine's eyes began to close, as if it was a natural instinct that she had ignored for so long.

And then she snapped out of it.

"You don't need me. You need my attention, and most of all, you need the me that withered away when you left all those years ago," she whispered and pulled her hand away from his. "I am not that girl anymore and you are no longer the broken boy who ran away. I'm sorry, Shayan, but I can't do this."

She released him, backing away from his warm touch as the brisk air hit her skin like tiny bullets, one after another.

Her promise to Bianca was the only thing that would make her say this. She needed her parents in her corner, but Shayan needed her and sometimes, she wasn't sure what was more important. However, she was sure now. He could never be with her as more than anything but a friend and she could never even hope to try.