Chapter 156 Miles and Victoria's talk 2

Chapter 156 Miles and Victoria's talk 2
Tori let out a nervous laugh. Then she looked down.

"I'm not..." She paused, inhaling. "This isn't the right time for this conversation." Tori raised her head back up. "I just found out that my father is a bloody hypocrite."

Miles understood that.

He knew where she was coming from and what was going on in her head, but... "Then would there ever be a good time?"

With Tori, he wasn't sure.

Miles took a step forward, but Tori instantly stepped back.

Her action got Miles infuriated.

He clenched his knuckles, raising both hands in frustration. "Is it that crazy or weird that I'm in love with you? Or what? What don't you seem to like about it?"

She acted like liking him was some kind of disease.

But he already knew.

"Tori, my sources tell me that you have feelings for me too."

Tori, looking away from him, laughed awkwardly. "By sources, you mean Irene?"

"It doesn't matter." Miles said, giving her a look.

Of course it didn't matter. Tori was just trying to diffuse the still and awkward atmosphere between them, but it only made it a whole lot worse.

Miles took another step towards Tori.

This time, she didn't back up immediately.

"After you crazily dumped me on the day of prom, a part of me really thought that it was all bullshit and that you really didn't like me." He began, his tone calm and steady. "But then I remembered how scared you sounded after that killer..."

"Who my father hired..." Tori muttered, her mind going back to that exact moment.

"After the shot sounded and you thought it was me."

She had never been so scared in her life.

It had just been for a few seconds, but her heart had stopped beating. The way Miles lay on the floor, unmoving...

A shiver ran down Victoria's spine, and she looked up at him.

"The way you hugged me afterward and the tears in your eyes." Miles said in the same tone. "I know that can't all be fake."

Miles took another step towards her.

This time, Tori was still too lost in the moment to move. So Miles was able to get closer.

"So, Victoria Maurine Rogers, I'm going to ask you this." He began.

Tori's heart skipped a beat at his tone.

He called her by her full name.

Nelson had said it before, but it didn't sound half as good as it did when Miles said it.

Miles inhaled.

He had been rejected once. He didn't want the same thing to happen again.

He brought his hand up to touch Victoria's face. She didn't flinch. Miles took that as an opportunity to get closer, his finger hooking under her chin, forcing her to keep her eyes on him.

"Look into my eyes and tell me that you don't like me."

Victoria's heart skipped another beat, then another, and another, and then it was hardly beating at all, and she was barely breathing.

Her face began to feel hot.

As soon as she realized the kind of spell Miles wanted to put on her, she backed away, which made Miles' hand fall back to his side.

That was the same thing Nelson had said to Irene. She had seen that.

She took a few steps back, and her heart began beating again, twice its normal rate.

"Why are you pushing this, Miles?" Tori asked, genuinely curious. "You can have someone better. You should have someone whose father isn't a revengeful maniac."

She wanted him to have better.

At first, it was just because of her pride. She didn't want to fall back to him after everything she had said that night of prom.

But then, after finding out about what her father had done, she didn't feel like she deserved him.

To her... she didn't.

Miles smirked. His hand, the same one that had been on her face, went into his pocket.

"Two things." He lifted the other one, showing her two fingers. "Number one, you're not your father, and two..." His tone dropped. "I want you."

Again...

Victoria felt like her heart was developing a new kind of disease.

One second it was beating fast, the next it was skipping beats and then pausing before resuming the cycle again.

She froze as Miles' words repeated over and over in her head.

He wanted her.

She heard Miles clear his throat. "We'd be going off to college in a few months, and I want to know where I stand in your life."

He said it while staring straight at her. In Tori's head, his last words were still on repeat.

I want you.

She didn't respond. Miles' eyes dropped to Tori's lips, lingering there for a few seconds.

"I want to know if I mean nothing to you." His words came out in a bass-like tone, his masculinity more obvious than he wanted.

Miles crossed the distance between them again, returning his gaze to Tori's eyes. "If my feelings mean nothing to you."

Now she was not only looking at him but also listening.

Tori gasped.

The way Miles stared at her.

It was making her go crazy.

She didn't even realize she was speaking until she heard the words that left her lips.

"Miles Sanchez, I do not like you." Tori said, her eyes searching his. She noticed the instant disappointment that clouded them, followed by disbelief.

A side of her lips pulled up into a small smile.

"I'm in love with you."

Miles, whose gaze had lowered, immediately looked back at her, his eyes lighting up.

Tori continued.

She hadn't expected herself to admit this. She had told herself that she was going to keep her feelings for Miles a secret, if not for the sake of her pride, then for the fact that he deserved better.

But he had just proven to her that not only did he not want anyone else, he also didn't care about her pride. He didn't care about the nonsense she had said two weeks ago.

"When I thought that bastard shot you..." An image of Miles lying on the floor popped into her head, and she felt the hairs on her neck stand. Tori shuddered. "I was even more scared than when he pointed the gun at me. I thought..." Her voice broke. "I thought I would lose you. I hate thinking those thoughts."

"I..."

"I love you too." Miles interrupted her, crossing the little distance left between them.

Her heart raced again.

The words left his lips smoothly, like he was always meant to say them.

It scared her.

"But..." Tori panicked. She tried to back away again, but the look on Miles' face made her still.

Nonetheless, she shook her head. "We can't have anything to do with each other. What if something like that happens again because of me? My parents already don't like you. What if you..."

The rest of the words she wanted to say went down her throat as soon as she felt Miles' lips on hers.