For What It's Worth
By: Rhuben
Summary - [One Shot] Dak and Rhuben have their first big fight as a married couple that puts their relationship, wants, and inner thoughts out in the open.
Dak Zevon had always been told that he could get anything and everything he wanted just because of who he was. He was the "Teen Icon", damn it.
After the success of Varsity Vampires and Varsity Vampires: Game On everyone wanted whatever he wanted, he got without a second thought to it. If he wanted to be a part of the best movies coming up in production, he'd have a contract in the mail in a matter of days. If he wanted the best producers to work with him on a soundtrack or his own album, he'd have a list to choose from sitting in front of him without a second thought. Money was never a problem for him.
With his parents, Curt and Lydia, as the force behind Z-Cast casting directors, the Zevon name was one that everyone recognized. They taught both Dak and his little sister, Elizabeth—who insisted on going by Lizzie, the ins and outs of the business if they chose to have a future career in it. Not that they really had a choice. Dak and Lizzie were put into dance classes, acting classes, and vocal lessons since they were kids. And it paid off; while Dak was landing role after role in the film business, Lizzie was taking the stage as a dancer. Lead roles weren't uncommon for either of them.
With those lead roles came a lot of work. If you had to ask Dak, nothing was harder work then landing the girl he would one day call his wife. Over the course of their marriage—a little over a year now—he found it equally as hard to keep her.
"Psst." Dak blinked open an eye and peered into the darkness of his bedroom. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he felt a soft pair of lips press to his bare shoulder. "You awake?" An accented voice reached his ears.
Dak rolled onto his back and let out a long sigh as he rubbed his eyes, waking up even more. "I am now," he replied. He dropped his arms onto his stomach and took in the silhouette of the young woman leaning over him. "You heading out now?"
"Yeah," came the whispered reply. "Got to get up early to catch good waves." He closed his eyes as the ends of her hair brushed over his shoulders and across his face.
She could still send a shock through his spine with just one of her kisses. He slid his hand into her hair and cradled the back of her neck, kissing her back. He took in her vanilla scent, the feel of her smooth hair, and the burning touch of her fingers against his skin. It was the best way to wake up in the morning.
"I'd rather be up early for something else," he murmured. Ok, one of the best ways. A low laugh escaped his lips as she hit him on the shoulder. "You better get going or they'll leave you behind—for the third time."
"That's never been my fault."
Dak gave a sheepish grin and said, "Waves wait for nobody." She kissed him again.
"You're awesome," she said as she climbed over the bed.
"I love you, too, Sugar," he replied. He watched as she pulled a sweatshirt over her head before picking a bag up off the floor and hurried out of the bedroom. He could hear her shuffling towards the front door. "Don't forget to eat something!" Half falling back asleep, he heard the cabinet doors in the kitchen open and close, footsteps on the hardwood floor, and the door to their condo opening and closing.
Now wide awake, and aware of the warmth disappearing from her side of the bed, Dak pushed the blankets back from his form and climbed out of bed. His muscles stretched and the bones in his back popped as he pushed up onto his tip toes, reaching above his head. After quickly making up the bed, he pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxers and grabbed his computer from the nightstand.
Yawning, he set his computer down on the couch, making a mental note to start checking his work e-mail as soon as possible, before heading into the kitchen, switching on the overhead light. "Damn." Blinking rapidly, he shuffled further into the room.
Reaching the refrigerator, he pulled the door open and pushed his hand inside for a piece of fruit when he felt his hand brush against something that felt like paper. "What the-?" Dak pulled his hand back and stared down at the paper plate in his hand. A toasted sandwich sat in the middle of the plate—with a note on top—surrounded by apple slices and a dollop of peanut butter.
"Made you toasted peanut butter and banana since I knew you'd be up, love you, Dizzy" he read aloud a bright smile coming to his face.
God, he loved that girl.
After a day of going to the gym, taking business calls, meetings over video chat, looking over his new movie script for the umpteenth time, attempting some writing, and checking e-mails, Dak was ready for some company. One of his favorite moments of the day was when he could see his wife.
As soon as he heard the lock to the front door click, he stopped in the middle of prepping for dinner and quickly hurried to the foyer, hiding out of sight.
"I'm back," his wife, Rhuben Jackson-McGuire (she chose to keep her maiden name in honor of her biological parents and adoptive father), called as she came through the front door, kicking off her shoes and dropping her bag down to the side. "Heyyy."
"HEY!" He jumped out from behind the door, wrapping his arms around her waist, greeting her with a kiss to the neck. She let out a startled scream before it dissolved into a laugh.
"God, I hate it when you do that," Rhuben said as she kicked the door shut before turning in his arms to dazzle him with her bright smile.
He could count every freckle dusted across her nose, standing out against her tan skin. Her blue eyes glimmered with love; the same warmth and happiness that had been there ever since the first time he told her he was in love with her. She draped her arms around his neck, her fingernails gently scratching at the tops of his shoulder blades.
"I got your note," Dak said to her. Rhuben bowed her head just slightly, her black hair falling into her blue eyes as a faint blush reached the apples of her cheeks. "Thanks."
"No worries." The Australian young woman waved her hand in the air. "How was your day?"
"Busy," Dak replied, as he guided her through their living space. Juggling a career in both acting and music at the same time, he would be lucky to have a day off. But, he had a passion for both aspects of Hollywood and knew the hard work would pay off once things started falling into place. In the mean time, he having his wife home meant he could relax and just hang out and forget about work. "But, I hope you had a good day with your siblings."
"Great day," Rhuben agreed. "Pat and Riles are heading out to Minnesota soon to catch a couple of Kendall's games, so Noah, Sydney, and I did our best to distract them from packing."
Dak laughed; despite the joke, he could clearly see that his sister was going to miss her siblings while they were on vacation. Family was very important to the two of them. He loved Lizzie to death, and he greatly admired just how close Rhuben and her brothers—twins Patrick and Noah, and her baby brother Sydney—and twin sister, Riley, was. Dak could even view their dad, Ronan McGuire, as a good friend of his—Ronan was friendly to everyone and insisted they always call him by his first name.
"Oh, this is Patrick and Katie's first trip together, isn't it?" he asked. "Like, a big trip." Rhuben pressed her lips together, nodding her head (and said, "Which is why Riles is going too; to make things less of a big deal"). "Ahhh. I hope it goes well, then." He could only imagine how nervous the couple had to be. The first trip Dak and Rhuben took together as a couple was only a few months after they officially started dating.
He had taken her to a lake resort for the weekend and they spent the time walking through nature, really talking, and just enjoying each other's company. It was an unspoken big step forward in their relationship. He often found himself thinking back to those nights where they stayed awake late into the night talking about their relationship and what they liked about each other.
"Ha, you and me both," Rhuben replied. She made her way into their bedroom, talking all the while, "I mean, Patrick isn't dumb, but he really has a, somewhat, impressive way of finding ways to cram both his feet into his mouth. Especially around Katie."
Dak merely smiled in reply as he made his way into the kitchen. "I was just about to start dinner," he called to her. He made a beeline for the refrigerator and pulled open the freezer door. "We can make something together. We could have spaghetti or hamburgers?"
"Cheers, but I'm not hungry."
Retrieving the frozen ground beef, he used his elbow to close the freezer door as he turned around to face his wife. He was silent for a moment, wondering how he was going to bring up the subject. It didn't come around that often, but whenever it did, it was a delicate topic and could go one of two ways. But, it might not even be a big deal, either. Only one way to find out.
"You mean 'you're not hungry' not hungry?" he asked slowly, watching as she booted up her laptop where she sat at the kitchen counter. "Or…"
Rhuben stopped what she was doing and shifted her gaze over towards him. Not good. Her eyebrows lifted, putting a crease in her forehead. "I mean, I'm not hungry," she said after a moment of silence. The clicking of the keys filled the room as she typed in her password, hitting the ENTER key with a loud, sharp tap. Clearly, she wasn't going to give him any more information than that.
Placing his hands down onto the counter, he tapped his fingers against the dark granite counter top. Click. Click. Click. Taking in a deep breath of air, he briefly closed his eyes before he straightened. "Seriously, lovely, have you eaten anything today?" Dak asked, getting straight to the point.
"Yes. I have," Rhuben replied shortly. Lifting her hand to the top of her computer, she closed the top and he came face to face with her eyes-narrowed-I'm-really-annoyed look. She gave him a dangerously pleasant smile. "But thanks for keeping track. It's not like I haven't had my family ask me that seven times today." Her upper lip curled as she adopted a nasally, high-pitched tone. "'Have you had anything to eat?', 'Don't you want to eat anything?', 'There's plenty to eat, just grab some'."
"I'm just asking," Dak replied as evenly as he could. He lifted an eyebrow. "Or are you forgetting that I'm part of your family now, too?"
"How could I?" she asked, her smile shifting just slightly into amusement. "You never leave."
"Why would I want to?" he shot back, matching her smile.
"I could give you plenty of reasons," Rhuben said, dryly.
"All things I accepted when I asked you to marry me," Dak pointed out to her. "I knew you had an eating disorder and I said I would do my best to help make you feel supported."
It has been just about five years since she had revealed to him that she was anorexic. With her busy schedule, she explained that at times cutting out eating was the easiest way to give her more time in the day to get everything completed in a day. Everybody knew there was pressure in Hollywood for women to look a certain way that contributed to her body image issues. While it was "caught early" as she had explained it to him, there were times where she still fell back into that damaging thought process in times of stress.
He wouldn't ever forget that moment; it was the first time she really opened up to him and trusted him in their (at the time) four year friendship. Sitting on the sandy shores of Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia, she had not only disclosed that information to him, but it was also the time her sister, Riley, had called him out on his "creepy stalker behavior."Or rather, he was yelled at. Admonished. Basically given the worst tongue lashing he had ever received.
Truth be told, he had never seen his actions like that. Sure, he was confident enough to ask her out numerous times, but he always spaced out whenever he asked after she said 'no.' He was sure one day she would say 'yes'. Why wouldn't she? He was a recognizable face in the industry and was confident like everything else, there would be something he could do or say to get what he wanted. It was only a matter of finding out what piqued her interest.
He had waited a long time or that day since he met her; for her to fully accept him not only as a friend but as someone she could confide in. He was 15 years old when he was asked by the music producer to her family band (then named the DarkElements, now named Blazing Phoenix), Ronan McGuire, to help the five piece band break into the American market. He had instantly been attracted to her and wasn't shy about explaining his feelings whenever he was asked.
He always got whatever he wanted. How was she any different? A little plug in an interview here, a couple pre-orchestrated meet ups between him and her there, and her family band was getting publicity to help push them into the limelight. Plus, that meant he got to spend a lot of time with her. It was a win-win situation. At least, he thought so. That is, until Rhuben, her sister, and brothers had come forward to announce their history of physical abuse at the hands of their foster father.
But, it was being yelled at that really made him stop and realize what he was doing. He cared about her too much to push her away and after everything he could imagine she had been through, he didn't want to be another source of pressure or stress for her. And on that beach, he told her as much, to which she "kind of", "sort of", hinted at the fact that she "may possibly" see her developing feelings for him. That was all that he needed to hear. He promised her no matter what happened with their relationship, he would always be there to support her. And she proved that with him when he sought out getting emancipated from his parents.
He could thank them for the rest of their lives for all of the experiences they gave him, and the skills they taught him, but he couldn't live with their lives being focused solely on their jobs instead of the Zevon family. Dak and Lizzie grew up with maids, drivers, cooks, and housekeepers to give them everything they needed. In reality, what they really needed were real parents.
"We all just care about you, Rhubes," he said with a small sigh. "That's all."
"I understand that," Rhuben replied with a shake of her head. "And I appreciate it. I just hate that I can't say that without people freaking out."
Dak put his hands up defensively. "Understood," he replied. "But you've been doing a lot lately and going through survival mode again." Her schedule had been busier than usual lately with not just music but school courses as well. "Just stop and take a breather. Relax a little."
"I can't," Rhuben replied. She started counting off on her fingers. "What part of I have my own music to do, and demos to work on, and dad is quizzing me on the new mixers he got, and I still have courses I'm working on, and I'm also helping you with your stupid label—"
"Stupid?" Dak's eyebrows shot up. "Now my idea of opening my own record label is stupid?"
After leaving the musical theater world behind, Dak decided to aim his sights back into acting despite wanting to keep going with his music. So, he decided to open his own record label. The past few months has been filled with nothing but meetings and travelling to shows to discuss what his vision for his label was and to think about what kind of groups he'd want to side. They were doing it together; she was working more behind the scenes with her new career path of producing music.
"If it's so stupid, why did you even agree to help me?" he asked. He had to admit, her working with him not only helped take some of the work load off of his shoulders. It was also fun to be working alongside his wife on something at a time when both their schedules made it hard to see each other during the day. Only maybe it wasn't as fun for one of them.
"You don't think I can do this do you?"
Rhuben put a hand in the air. "I didn't say that." Her blue eyes flashed in anger. "Don't put words in my mouth."
"Then what are you saying?" he asked. "I mean, you were the one who suggested that you produce for me." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Or was that just your way of saying, like everything else, I couldn't handle it by myself?"
"When have I ever said that to you?" Rhuben demanded. "Even once? When have I ever implied it?" Her vocal tone getting more tense and tight. "I'm sorry you're so insecure about every new thing you're doing on your own—"
"Insecure?" Dak repeated, cutting her off. His eyebrows shot up. "Are you serious?"
"Ok, I shouldn't have said that," Rhuben agreed and Dak let out an odd laugh. Damn right she shouldn't have. "Don't laugh at me!" Closing her eyes, her nostrils flared as she sucked in a breath of air. "I don't pity you, Dakary. When are you going to realize I do actually believe in you?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe when you stop laughing at me when I don't do things right?" Dak asked. Rhuben gave him a confused look. He buried his face in his hands for a moment before he crossed his arms over his chest. "It was funny at first, but then I just felt real stupid and your opinion of me is very important to me."
"Why didn't you just tell me that?" Rhuben asked, her jaw dropping just slightly.
"Because our relationship was mostly based on you and what you needed from me," Dak blurted out. "You made me feel like what I wanted to say to you wasn't as important."
"What?!" Rhuben's voice cracked into a high pitched shriek. He could see that warmth and love in her eyes, now tinged with confusion, slowly turning into sadness and hurt. "That's not fair."
"You're right, it's not," Dak agreed, his voice cracking as well. "I've had to deal with that all my life with my parents."
"I've let you get closer to me than anyone else ever has been in my life, and you didn't feel comfortable enough to tell me that?" She bobbed her head, waving her hand in the air. "Apart from my family, but you know what I mean."
"I am your family!" Dak snapped, his voice echoing around the high ceilings. "I'm your husband."
Rhuben looked like she was going to yell back. Instead, she slowly blinked and settled back in her chair. Her jaw tensed and jutted forward in comparison to how she settled back against her seat. She wasn't shutting herself out of the conversation, she was mad. That was something he quickly learned about her; madder she was, the quieter she got.
"I was at the ceremony," she said in a crisp tone, "you don't have to remind me."
"Don't do that," Dak said with a shake of his head. Rhuben's eyebrows lifted and she gave a slight shake of her head. "Don't just get quiet on me. Tell me what you're thinking." Instead of answering, Rhuben pushed her chair back and moved to leave the room. "Stop. Come back here."
Rhuben let out an odd laugh and turned around to face him. "So now you're telling me what to do?" she asked.
"No. I'm asking you to sit back down and listen to what I have to say," Dak replied with a shake of his head. "Please."
"I think we both need to stop and figure out what it is exactly we're mad about," Rhuben suggested, running her fingers through her hair. "And then we can talk everything out. Otherwise, I feel like we'll be arguing about nothing for the rest of the night."
Dak's cheek poked out as he dragged his tongue around his bottom row of teeth. "Ok," he agreed with a nod of his head. He glanced at the clock and chewed on his bottom lip before he setting his gaze back on her. "I'll talk to you in an hour or so?"
"Sure."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
The apartment was silent. All he wanted was a nice and relaxing night at home with his wife before another long day of work. He never set out to argue with her, but then again, no one ever does try and plan out an argument. They were both the type that tried to avoid confrontation as much as possible and because of that, this was the worst fight they had ever had.
His spoon clanked against the side of his ice cream bowl before he placed the carton back into the freezer. Retrieving a second spoon from the silverware drawer and added it to the bowl before stepping through the apartment, making his way towards their bedroom.
Rhuben was sat in the center of their bed, scrolling through her phone. The screen illuminated her face, casting a glare on her glasses—which she routinely changed into after a long day out wearing contacts. He could see the reflection of her instagram feed before she locked her phone screen and looked up at him. She perked up as soon as she spotted the bowl in his hands.
"Ice cream?" she asked reaching for it, wiggling her fingers.
Dak smiled at her adorableness, handing over the treat before collapsing on the bed. "What were we fighting about?" he asked, his face half buried into the mattress. He peered over at his wife and watched her shoulders drop just slightly.
"I don't even know, Dizzy" she admitted. "But it was something we've both been feeling for a while, hey?"
"Yeah," he agreed. He pushed himself up into a seated position and reached for the second spoon. He worked out a chunk of cookie dough—her favorite ice cream flavor—and slid it into his mouth. As he chewed, he realized she was staring at him, tapping the back of her soon against the mound of ice cream. "What?"
"No chocolate sauce?" Rhuben asked with a teasing smile.
"I apologize," he said with a roll of his eyes. He matched her smile and the two of them just sat there, smiling at each other for a moment. "I also apologize for thinking that you act like a baby every time you just…" He held his hand flat in the air, his palm facing his face before he waved his hand up and down. "You put up a wall between your emotions and your mouth. You stop yourself from just coming forward with what you're thinking to save yourself from hurting everyone's feelings. I know it's what you worry about because of your experiences, and I can see how hard you're working at it and I love you for that."
"Well, I love you for greeting me at the door when I come home," Rhuben replied.
"I love you for always making me something to eat in the morning if you leave earlier than I do." Dak sat in silence for a moment before settling his spoon into his bowl of ice cream. He then reached out and grasped her ankles, pulling her across the duvet, draping her legs on either side of him. He leaned forward, closing the smaller distance between them, and kissed her on the cheek. "And I love how you can tell when we need to take a step back during an argument."
"I didn't know it embarrassed you that you didn't know how to do normal things like running a dishwasher or doing your own laundry," Rhuben said with a small frown. She glanced around the room for a moment before locking eyes with him again. "I wasn't laughing at you to be mean or hurt your feelings." She ate a spoonful of ice cream and used the end to push her glasses up her nose. "I liked that you didn't know things like that."
Dak felt his eyebrows slide towards each other. "I don't understand," he replied.
Making a face, she said, "This will sound cheesy, but I liked being able to see your face light up when you figured things out by yourself." She gave the Jackson family famous one-shoulder shrug and her lips turned upwards into a shy smile. "I liked seeing how proud of yourself you were. I liked seeing you change from who you were to the man you are now."
"You know I've always been jealous of your family," he explained with a sigh.
"Wait." Rhuben lowered her spoonful of ice cream back into the bowl. "What?"
"We both went through crap with our parents, but you guys never sought out emancipation as the answer to your problems," Dak explained. He captured his cut of ice cream with his lips and pulled the frozen treat onto his tongue. As the ice cream melted on his tongue, he took that time to think carefully how he was going to explain his thoughts. "I was jealous of how close you all were and how you had someone like Ronan always looking out for you and actually teaching you how to be good people."
"You all had the type of family dynamic I've always wanted and after hanging out with you guys, it was hard to come home to the situation I was living with. Marrying you meant I got to be part of the family I always wanted. Throughout our relationship, the more I got to see how your family was, it really put into perspective how much differently I had grown up. You all talk to each other about your problems and how you're going to handle it together—"
"For the most part," he said in unison with Rhuben. She let out a short chuckle.
"With Lizz and I, we had to handle it on our own. That was even if we wanted to do it on our own. If not, it could just go away at the snap of mom and dad's fingers or the sight of their checkbooks. I've always been told I can have whatever I wanted, but I was never actually given the opportunity to figure out exactly what that was. I've always wanted to have friends that I could always count on and to really feel like I had a family. I also wanted the opportunity to decide what acting roles I go out for or what projects to take on for myself and not part of a personal marketing plan."
"So…let me see if I understand you before I say something, yeah?" Rhuben asked, a thoughtful look on her face. Dak gave a nod and took another bite of ice cream. As it dripped from the bottom of his spoon, he quickly shot out his hand and caught the droplet in his palm. "As you got older, you just wanted the ability to make decisions in your life and to feel supported when you did make them."
"Yes," Dak said after he swallowed his spoonful of ice cream. "I just get frustrated at times where I feel like I'm making so much progress about doing things on my own only to have people tell me I don't know what I'm doing. And maybe I don't." He shrugged his shoulders. "But, I don't need to be told over and over again how I'm messing up and not being told how I can improve."
"So, what did I have to do with that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "I mean, when we first met, I wasn't exactly forthcoming. I don't see how that helped."
"It didn't." Dak snorted. That was an understatement. He understood why now, but when he first met them, he was his usual charming, confident self, and she and her siblings were guarded. He didn't know how he was going to work out a work relationship with them, but it wasn't like him to give up. So he didn't and now he was married to her.
"Well at first, I just thought you were hot," Dak said with a second shrug. Rhuben's jaw dropped, a blush appearing on her face. She kicked at his hip, the motion jostling herself and the ice cream bowl in her hands. She let out a whining sound as some of the melted ice cream spilled over the sides and was soaked by the duvet. "And I loved your accent."
"Reckon you shouldn't say that around Riley," Rhuben commented, arching an eyebrow. "She looks exactly like me you know."
"Yeah, only you weren't as mean," Dak shot back, "you were just quiet." The dark haired girl bobbed her head back and forth, accepting his answer.
"I wouldn't let her hear that either."
"Anyway, the more we worked together and I saw how you were with your family, and with Big Time Rush, the more I saw the real you," Dak continued his explanation. "I saw how you were as a sister, as a daughter, as a friend, a musician, an ass kicker, and so much more and I liked seeing how all of that came together to make you. I started asking you out because I wanted to see more of that one on one."
Rhuben sucked in a deep breath of air and let out a sigh. "That's why I got mad at you for asking about whether or not I ate today," she explained. "I don't want you to stop thinking about me the way that you do and I know you didn't exactly 'sign up' for my issues." Dak opened his mouth to protest and she quickly talked over him. "And I know you seriously don't care. I appreciate that. It's something I've accepted about myself, but I get embarrassed about it, too. And I didn't want that to change your view of me."
"Nothing could do that," Dak said, shaking his head back and forth. "You know that. "
"It's like you said, your opinion of me is important to me," Rhuben said with a shrug. "All my friends and family's opinions matter to me. That's all."
"Well, my opinion of the two of us right now is that we're both stupid for not talking about this sooner," Dak said with a half smile, "because, it's really not a big deal."
"Yeah," Rhuben agreed with a short laugh. "I know what you mean." Her eyes then widened. "Oh! I apologize for making you feel like your problems or your thoughts weren't important."
"I didn't mean to say that," Dak said, putting his hand in the air. "I really didn't. I know you pride yourself in helping others as much as you can, but sometimes it does have to be about you. You've really listened to me and my problems more than anyone else in my life and I am so grateful for that. Yeah, I came on too strong with you, but I'm glad you decided to stay my friend. All of you guys, even if you thought I was a creep."
"They didn't think you're a creep," Rhuben protested. "You were just acting creepy. I mean, yeah, you asked me out a lot when I wasn't ready, but you did back off a lot when I asked you to." She gave him a gentle smile. "And, I did kind of like the attention. It made me start to believe someone could actually care for me. You really do, don't you?"
"I do," Dak agreed with a nod of his head. "Maybe for shallow reasons at first, but I do. And I know our relationship and our marriage isn't always going to be exactly even all the time. I really am ok with that."
"I am sorry. About this fight and everything."
"I'm sorry too." With the tension in the room lifted, they enjoyed the rest of their rapidly melting ice cream. As he took the dirty dishes, he tapped her on the leg with his free hand, laughing as she jerked her leg back from his cold touch.
He set the bowl down into the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet to rinse them. He could sense Rhuben standing behind him before he felt her arms slide around his waist, pressing her cheek into his back. Turning off the water, he rested his arms on the side of the sink, watching the excess liquid twist down the drain.
Dak turned around in her arms, resting his lower back against the sink. She smiled and stood up on her tip toes to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw. "What?" he asked her eyes. It was really all he could see of her as she rested her chin on his chest.
Her nose wrinkled as her smile grew. Man, he loved it when she did that. "Nothing," she replied.
His smile grew when he saw the love in her eyes return. He parted his lips and said, "I knew you loved me." It was almost exactly what he had said after she had "sort of" told him that she could develop feelings for him.
"You don't have to be so smug about it," she repeating her exact words—with less eye roll and annoyance then years before.
He shrugged. "I can't help it." After all, he always got what he wanted.