Текст книги "Misbehaving"
Автор книги: Abbi Glines
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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 13 страниц)
Maybe I should be careful with him. He seemed like he might just be more than I could handle. “Fine. I’ll go dance by myself,” I told them, taking a long swig of my drink before turning and walking out to the dance floor.
I made sure to swing my hips just enough to draw attention. I wouldn’t dance alone for long. This was what I was good at. I had watched my momma control men my entire life. It came easy to me.
“Heard you and Krit are over,” a deep voice said as warm fingers circled my arm. I turned to see Justin Monroe. He had been the senior quarterback in high school my freshman year.
“Yeah, we are,” I replied with a flutter of my eyelashes and a slow smile. “But I just want to dance.”
Justin grinned. “Lead the way,” he said.
I walked us into the center of the crowd. Luckily, this was Green’s song. He sang the solo on it, so I didn’t have to hear Krit singing while I adjusted to my life after Jason Stone.
Justin rested his hands on my hips, and I moved to the music while smiling up at him. He was a safe distraction. Nothing dangerous. He’d been engaged to the preacher’s daughter in town once, but that had fallen through. Not sure why. I didn’t hang out in their circle, and they were older than me.
Green announced a break, and I stopped dancing when the radio took over playing music.
“Need a drink,” I told him, and then I left him there while I went back to the table. I didn’t ask him to come with me. It had just been a dance, and he’d be one of many.
Rock was shaking his head at me when he saw me coming.
I picked up my drink. “What?” I snapped.
“You’re stirring up trouble,” Rock said.
I rolled my eyes and took a drink. “I’m dancing,” I replied.
“And here he comes,” Dewayne drawled.
I glanced back, expecting to see Justin, but Krit was headed our way instead. Hadn’t expected him. He normally had quickies backstage first.
Krit’s hand wrapped around my arm and he pulled me to him. “We need to talk. Now.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll cause a fucking scene,” Krit warned.
“We discussed this. What’s wrong with you?”
Two girls came up to Krit and grabbed on to both his arms and started telling him how good he sounded. He shrugged them loose. “Thanks. Now go,” he said, pulling me again. “I need to talk to you, love. Don’t make me do it here.”
The girls walked away, scowling at me. I pointed my glass at their retreating backs. “You should go get them. I bet they’ll do a threesome,” I said.
“Fuck, Jess,” Rock groaned.
Krit got in my face, and I felt Rock move behind me. “Back up,” Rock warned him.
“Is that what you want, love? You want me to leave and go fuck someone else backstage?” He wanted me to say no. I could hear it in his voice. But he needed me to say yes.
“Yes, that’s what I want,” I replied, and he stepped back like I had slapped him.
He wiped his thumb over his bottom lip and shook his head in disbelief. “That’s it, love. That’s it. I’m done.” He threw his hands up and stalked off. I didn’t watch him go. I turned back to the table and met Dewayne’s eyes.
“He’ll get over it. You did the right thing. He ain’t for you,” Dewayne said.
“I just hope we can be friends again one day.” I did. I shouldn’t have let things get out of hand with him. I also shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t belong here. I didn’t want this anymore. I set my glass down. “I’m gone,” I said.
“You okay?” Rock asked.
I looked up at him. “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I just …” I looked around at the place. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” I told him. “I want more now.”
Rock pulled me into a hug. “You’ll get more,” he whispered into my hair.
I pulled back and forced a smile. “I hope so.”
Turning to leave, I walked to the door and ignored people who called out my name. I just needed fresh air and time alone. Right before I reached the door, it opened and Jason Stone walked in. His eyes locked on me, and we stood there staring at each other. I hadn’t spoken to him all week. Not since his call.
He stepped back and opened the door for me. I walked through, keeping my head down. Should I say something? Or was he going to stay inside without a word?
The door closed behind me. I spun around to see Jason outside. He nodded toward the parking lot. “Can we talk?”
All I could do was nod. Even if I should be leaving here and protecting myself.
We walked over to his Hummer. This time there was no limo, no driver. Just him. He opened the door for me, and I climbed in, realizing that this was something Krit had never done. Opened my car door. I had missed it.
I thanked him, and he just smiled before closing the door and walking over to the driver’s side. The Hummer smelled like him. I breathed in deeply and enjoyed it before he opened the door and climbed in.
“Were you leaving?” he asked.
I turned to look at him, and seeing his face only made my heart speed up. His gaze was focused on me, and just being this close to him made everything seem better.
“Yeah,” I replied, not sure how much I should tell him.
He glanced out the window, then back at me. “Is he going to come looking for you?”
I shook my head. “No. We ended that … whatever it was.”
His eyes widened and his shoulders visibly relaxed. “Why?”
Did he want me to tell him it was because of him? Not that I would. I shrugged. “We don’t fit, I guess,” I replied.
Jason nodded like he agreed. I bit back a smile.
“Where were you headed?”
“Home,” I replied honestly, even if it made me sound pathetic.
“Could I convince you to come back to my place?”
God, how I wanted to say yes. He could convince me of anything if he tried hard enough. But the regret that would come when he left and didn’t call … The pain was something too fresh. I wasn’t ready for that again. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Jason leaned toward me and kept his intense gaze focused on me. “Why?”
“Because you’ll make me miss you.” I said it before I could stop myself.
He reached over and touched my hand. “That’s why I want to talk. The way we left things … I don’t like it.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to misunderstand him.
“I miss you, Jess,” he said in a husky whisper. That was my undoing.
“Okay.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay … you’ll go back to my place?”
I nodded and he let out a sigh. “Good. I was trying to weigh my options and abduction seemed risky.” The grin on his face brought the first real smile to mine in a week.
JASON
I had never been more relieved to get out of a car in my life. If Jess crossed her legs one more time in that ridiculous excuse for a skirt, I was going to lose my mind. Damn, why did she have to be so fucking sexy?
I tried not to look at her as we climbed the steps to the house. The outfit she was wearing was more adventurous than anything I’d ever seen her wear. How the hell she’d walked out of the club alone was beyond me.
I opened the door and she walked inside. The staff was gone for the night since Jax wasn’t in residence. I liked it better alone. Especially now that I had Jess here.
“You wanted to talk,” Jess said, not walking any farther into the house. She seemed nervous now. I wasn’t sure what had changed from the car to here. She had been fine in the Hummer.
“Yeah, uh, not here. We could go outside.” I stopped when she started shaking her head.
“No, let’s not,” she said softly.
The last time we’d been outside was memorable for both of us. She was right. That was a bad idea. I needed to focus. “Uh, yeah. Let’s go …” Where the hell to take her? “Downstairs. It’s more comfortable down there. Less formal,” I finally said.
Jess nodded, and I started toward the stairs. Hearing the click of her heels on the marble floor made it difficult not to turn around and look at her legs. Not that I didn’t have a very clear mental image of them.
I started down the stairs and Jess stopped. Glancing back at her, I noticed she was gripping the railing tightly and having some internal battle with herself.
“Jess?”
She looked at me and shook her head. “I can’t. I shouldn’t have come here.”
What the hell? I walked back up to the step underneath her. “Why?”
She took a deep breath. “Because—we will—we will—do stuff, and you’ll leave for Boston and I’ll be here and I’ll be sad and I’ll be alone and I can’t do that again,” she said in one long, rushed sentence, then turned to leave. I reached out and grabbed her before she could get away.
“Don’t leave. That’s why I want to talk. Yeah, I’m gonna have to leave, but I want to come back. Like I’m doing now. Like I did two weeks ago. I want to come see you. And I sure as hell don’t want you to be sad.”
She got very still and stopped trying to move away from me. “What do you mean, you want to come back?”
“Exactly what I said. I want to see you. I miss you.”
She didn’t look at me. “But why? You’re dating Star. Why do you want to come here?”
Those stupid fucking pictures. I shouldn’t have let them take those. I had witnessed firsthand how pictures like those had almost ended Jax and Sadie’s relationship. “She’s a friend.”
“Oh” was all she said.
“Please come downstairs and talk to me,” I pleaded, sliding a hand around her waist.
She tensed at first, then seemed to melt back into me.
“Okay,” she finally said after a moment.
I didn’t take my hand off her this time for fear she’d decide to run again. We made it downstairs and I directed her to the closest sofa to get her comfortable.
She looked around the place. “It’s nice down here,” she said.
It was where Jax and I had hung out when we were younger. He had been limited to our small portion of the beach when we visited, so we had spent a lot of time down here playing video games and pool.
“I haven’t been down here in a while,” I admitted.
She glanced down at her hands, then finally up at me. “So, you want to visit me,” she said slowly, as if trying to understand what I had been saying.
“Yeah, I do. A relationship would be impossible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still date. I can come visit. I can bring you to visit me if you want to. I just … This thing with us not talking sucks. I miss you.”
Chapter Nineteen
JESS
A relationship would be impossible. That’s all I heard. Everything else he said didn’t make sense. What was it he wanted? A booty call?
“So you just want to hook up when you’re available and do what? Have sex?” I asked bitterly.
His eyes went wide and he shook his head. “No! God, no. That’s not what I mean. I meant just … date. The sex, well, yeah, it’s amazing, but that isn’t what I came here for. I wanted to see you.”
Just not in a relationship. He wanted to be free to go on dates with Star and whatever A-lister came his way and also come see me. Yes, this pissed me off, but it shouldn’t have. He never promised me anything. Just because I wanted more didn’t mean he had to. He liked me. He wanted to date me. I was used to the possessive-type guys who wouldn’t share, so casually dating wasn’t something I had done much of.
Seeing him with other women would hurt. But was it worth it to have him, even if only for a little while? Could I do that? Maybe I needed to. Maybe it was time I learned how to date different people, to leave my options open. It wasn’t like I was looking for marriage and babies.
“Okay,” I finally said. This would probably come back to haunt me, but I wasn’t willing to let him go.
A slow smile spread across his entirely too handsome face. He’d gotten what he wanted: me and whoever else. I guess he had something to smile about.
“Okay. You’re open to seeing me when we can? And we can talk on the phone,” he added.
I was going to the long-distance-nonrelationship-while-in-college place. That made me sound weak. For giving in to something like this. It was as if I had settled for less. But I wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet. Maybe soon I would be, but I wanted Jason Stone. Damn him.
His gaze dropped to my feet. “You’re wearing the boots I bought you,” he said with a pleased grin.
I nodded and swung the leg out that I had crossed. “Yep.”
His eyes trailed up my legs and stopped to spend extra time on the tops of my thighs. I was dressed like a hooker. I knew it. I had done it out of stupidity. Of course he was looking.
“I’ll wear more clothes the next time,” I told him, trying to make a joke out of it.
His gaze jerked back to meet mine. “Sorry. I was, uh …”
“You were checking out my short skirt. I know. I was in a mood tonight.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “And that mood would be to see how insane you can drive every male you come in contact with?”
I shrugged and leaned back on the sofa. “Pretty much,” I replied honestly.
Jason laughed. “You succeeded.”
“Thanks. I think,” I replied.
He leaned closer to me and picked up a strand of hair from my shoulder, then began playing with it. “I love your hair,” he said as he let it fall through his fingers.
I tried to say thanks, but I couldn’t manage to form the words.
“I want to kiss you. But I don’t want you to think that’s why you’re here,” Jason said.
My heart was speeding up, and I wanted to sigh from the way it felt to have him run his fingers through my hair. “I wouldn’t think you brought me here just for a kiss,” I assured him.
He leaned forward and nuzzled my neck, inhaling me. “If I kiss you, I’m gonna want more. We’ll do a lot more than just kissing,” he whispered.
I shivered from his warmth. I wanted that too. Maybe that was why I had come. It would be a lie to say I hadn’t thought about it. I turned my head and caught his lips in a kiss. His breathing stopped for a moment and his hand stilled in my hair. He was thinking. Trying to decide. I was going to have to push this.
I turned my body and slipped my leg over his before wrapping my hands around his neck. That was all it took. His hand was on my thigh, pulling me closer, before he took control of the kiss.
After months of thinking this was over and I’d never feel this way again, I couldn’t get close enough to him. All I could think was that if this was limited, then I wanted more. If it was possible to get my fill of this man, then I wanted to. Maybe next time it wouldn’t hurt as much.
Jason pushed me back on the sofa and covered me with his body. His mouth kissed my collarbone and the tops of my breasts, which were now pushing up from the top I was wearing. I closed my eyes so I could breathe. It was hard to take deep breaths when I could see his tongue dart out and lick my skin.
I reached for my shirt to pull it off, but his hands grabbed mine and stopped me. “Don’t,” he said as he rested his head against my chest, breathing hard. I didn’t move, waiting on him to do something or say something more. His hand trailed down my side and cupped my hip, but he didn’t do anything else.
“Jason?”
“Yeah,” he replied in a hoarse whisper.
“Are you okay?”
“Give me a minute.”
“Okay … but why?”
He pressed a kiss to my chest, then lifted himself off me. “Because this isn’t why you’re here. And as much as I want to take whatever you’re willing to give, I can’t do that.”
I sat up beside him. “But it is why I’m here. We decided to date.”
Jason grinned and rubbed his jaw. “Still need a minute, Jess.”
I reached up and grabbed his arm. “Explain to me what you mean.”
He turned and looked at me. He reached out and moved the strap of my top back up to my shoulder, where it had slipped from, then ran his finger down my arm. “When I go back to school Sunday and you’re left here all week to think about this, I don’t want you convincing yourself that all this was a ploy for me to get in your pants.”
Damn, he was sweet. I leaned toward him, wanting him to touch me some more. “I won’t think that. Besides, I’m not wearing pants,” I reminded him teasingly.
He let out a short laugh. “How could I forget?” he replied.
I leaned over and kissed his neck, and he groaned. “I want this,” I said.
“I want it more. Trust me. But I want you to know that’s not all I want.”
This whole not touching me to prove he cared thing was doing it for me. He could teach a Seduction 101 class. Or one on the fastest way to get a woman naked. “I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Jason put his arm around me and pulled me against his side. “Me neither. Tell me what I’ve missed the past three months, but leave out the details with the singer.”
He wanted to talk. But he was still going to hold me. I moved closer to him, and he reached for my legs and threw them over his lap. This was by far more dangerous to my heart than if he had screwed me tonight.
“Not a lot,” I replied.
“That’s not true. You said you got a job sewing. Tell me about it.”
I laid my head back on his arm and smiled. I liked talking about my job, but no one ever asked me.
JASON
It was soft and warm and smelled fucking amazing. I pulled it closer and buried my head against it. A soft moan and a shift in just the right area woke me from the dream to reality. Opening my eyes, I realized Jess was the soft, delicious body I was trying to climb inside of. She was tucked against my chest. At some point we had fallen asleep on the sofa and had managed to spoon. I moved my hand, to find it full of bare, soft flesh. Shit, I was feeling her up in my sleep.
She pressed the boob I was holding into my hand and let out a soft moan. The semi hard-on I had went to full blown in seconds. I knew I should move my hand. She was sleeping and vulnerable. I knew I shouldn’t be touching her tits. Although they felt like heaven.
Her legs were tucked in between mine, and her perfect, round ass was pressing against my erection. How the hell was she sleeping through this? Slowly I moved my hand away from her, using all my willpower not to go back and play with the hard nipple that brushed my palm. Slipping my hand out of her shirt, I moved her top down as far as it would go, which wasn’t very far. It left a small portion of her stomach bare. I rested my hand over her shirt and as far away from her extremely tempting chest as possible.
We had talked for hours. Then she had started yawning and I had started playing with her hair. The idea of taking her home wasn’t appealing. Not when I had to leave on Sunday. I wasn’t willing to give her up just yet. So we went to sleep on the couch. We were still in our clothes.
The only things she had told me that made me remotely happy were that she had a job she loved and that the ex boyfriend who had been harassing her was now married. He had been forced to marry the girl he’d gotten pregnant to prevent her from moving off to Arkansas with his kid. She hadn’t talked about the other guy, though. Not once. But then, I’d asked her not to.
Jess cuddled closer to me and shivered. I reached behind me and grabbed a white blanket to pull over her. I wasn’t moving, though. According to the clock it wasn’t even six in the morning yet. I had hours left of this.
Jess pressed back against me. “ ’S cold,” she mumbled.
I gave up trying not to touch her too much and used my body to warm her up by getting under the blanket with her. She made a pleased sound and began wiggling her ass again. I bit back a groan and tried to think about anything other than her body.
“You’re warm,” she said sleepily, and settled back down once she had burrowed against me so hard all I could feel was her body.
I pressed a kiss to her temple. As much as I wanted to promise her more, I knew I couldn’t. It would be wrong to ask for a relationship when I never knew if I would have time away on the weekends. Then there were my parents, and I had to deal with them. My mother was going to go apeshit when she found out I was taking off next semester and traveling.
Jess needed her freedom, but I had to have some sort of connection to her. I missed her. I liked being near her. While she was willing to give me this much, I would take it.
She began moving her ass against me again. But this time there was a rocking movement to it. I grabbed her hip to still her.
“Don’t. You like it, I feel it,” she said. Her voice had the thick sound of sleep. She reached for my hand that was on her stomach and moved it up to cover one of her tits. I squeezed it gently, and she arched into it, then threw her hand up and slid it behind my head. I could see my hand on her as the creamy, smooth flesh rose up out of the top of her shirt.
“Are you awake?” I asked, wanting desperately to slip my hand back under her shirt.
“Yes,” she breathed, and threw a leg over mine so that when she rocked back, my erection brushed closer to the heat between her legs.
I started to slip my hand under her shirt but grabbed the bottom of it instead and pulled it off. Her breasts bounced free from the tight halter top, and I filled my hands with them. I’d seen a lot of boobs, but never had I seen any this perfect. Jess arched her back, giving me an even better view of how good they looked in my hands.
She opened her legs wider, trying so hard to get the friction she needed for a release. Slipping my hand down her stomach, I pulled the short skirt up, and Jess cried out in anticipation. I played with the top of her panties, running my finger back and forth as she squirmed.
“Please,” she begged.
“What is it you want?” I asked, pressing a kiss to her ear.
“Touch me, God, please, touch me,” she panted. Her legs were wide open, and I could smell her arousal, which was about to push me over the edge. I slid a finger inside the lacy fabric, and Jess gasped and stilled. Her breasts rose and fell, causing them to bounce beautifully while she waited for me to move lower.
When my finger brushed her clit, she cried out my name and threw her head back. Fuck, that was hot. I ran one finger down the slick folds, and then I brought it up to my mouth to taste her as she watched me.
“So sweet,” I whispered, then moved my hand back down to touch her through the soaking-wet cotton crotch of her panties. “We need to take these off,” I told her, and she nodded frantically.
I reached up and unzipped the skirt because it was going too. Then I shoved them both down until she had to shimmy them the rest of the way and then kick them to the floor.
“Jason,” she breathed, opening her legs to me again. The room smelled like sex with her open like that. I was beginning to think I didn’t have to go back to school. I could just live down here with Jess naked on this couch with me.
“Yeah?” I asked, kissing her neck while I moved my hand back to cover her smooth, wet mound.
“Take off your pants,” she said, moving her hips against my hand.
“Why? I’m taking care of you,” I told her as I pressed my thumb over her clit.
“Not the same. I want you inside me,” she said, grabbing my arm and holding on tight as she bucked against my hand. “Just like this. Slide into me from behind,” she said.
The image in my head had me unbuttoning my jeans. I reached in my pocket and grabbed the condom I had stuck in there last night when we got back to the house. I hadn’t planned on it then, but I also didn’t want to be unprepared. If Jess put her mind to it, she could make me do anything.
I handed Jess the condom. “Open it,” I told her, then pushed my jeans down until I could kick them off.
“Here,” she said, handing it to me.
I grabbed it, then pressed a hard kiss to her lips before sliding it on. I was past the point of being hard. I was in pain. Reaching for her leg, I pulled it up high on my hip, then eased into her. She was more than ready as she pulled me inside, causing us both to cry out.
She moved her hand back behind my neck again and arched back into me. “You’re so deep,” she said on a moan.
“Forgot how fucking amazing you feel,” I told her as I fought to keep from losing myself right then.
Jess’s hand touched my cock as it slid in and out. I held my breath as she then ran her fingers over her clit before circling them around me again. Having her play with me while I fucked her was pushing my resistance.
“I’m about to come,” she said, tensing up as I pumped into her hard. “Oh, God, Jason. I’m going to come. It’s …” She stopped talking and her head pressed against my chest as she bucked wildly against me, screaming my name, until I followed right behind her.
Her body started to tremble, and I held on tight as I jerked while filling the condom with my release. I had almost convinced myself that sex with Jess hadn’t been the most epic experience of my life. That because I had lost her, I had put sex with her on a pedestal. I realized now that it had been epic. It had never felt like this with anyone else. Ever. And I wasn’t willing to lose this again.
Chapter Twenty
JESS
I didn’t go home until Jason dropped me off on his way to the airport Sunday. Momma hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of me spending time with Jason again, but she didn’t argue with me about it over the phone.
However, I knew she would be waiting on me to get home so she could confront me about making stupid decisions. It was the reason I had told Jason not to walk me to the door even though he had tried really hard to. Eventually, telling him it would wake my momma and she needed rest before work had kept him standing at the limo instead. He had watched until I’d closed the door before he turned and got back inside to ride away.
He hadn’t told me when he would be back. He’d made me no promises. He had just said that he would call me. If this weekend had been even a tenth as special to him as it had been to me, then he would be back soon.
“Fire, baby girl. Playing with fire,” Momma said as she walked into the living room in her blue silk wrap.
“Don’t, Momma. Please. Let me enjoy this.”
She walked over to the window and watched as his limo pulled away. “You gonna sulk in your room again when this goes south? I can promise you Krit won’t come running back to save you.” She paused. “Then again, maybe he will. Maybe Krit is your Jess. Come to think of it, that makes complete sense.”
She was back to the Gilmore Girls thing again. I wasn’t doing this with her. Not today. “I have some things to do for work,” I told her before walking back to my bedroom.
“Did you love Krit?” Momma called after me.
“I wasn’t in love with him, no.”
She sighed loudly. “Well, I guess there’s always time for that. You did do this backwards, after all.”
I closed my bedroom door on my mother’s crazy relationship advice, then turned to my bed and lay down. Staring at my ceiling, I let the silly smile free that I had been trying to hold in. Jason had been different this weekend. He hadn’t been as standoffish. He had let me in. We had talked about his friends at school and his brother. I felt connected to him in a way I hadn’t before.
My phone started ringing, and I reached in my pocket to get it. Jason’s name was on the screen, and the happy giggle that erupted was one I hoped no one heard.
“Hello,” I said, unable to mask my happiness that he was already calling me.
“I wanted to hear your voice one more time. Once I get back, I have to study.”
“I need to do the same thing. I’m glad you called,” I replied.
I heard a soft laugh. “Good. I was afraid it might be too soon.”
“Hmm, maybe, but it’s cute,” I teased.
“Cute, huh? Do I need to remind you of my sexiness?”
This time I laughed. “Definitely not. I’m very aware.”
“Thought so. I’m hard to forget,” he replied.
“Agreed.”
He sighed. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay, be careful,” I replied.
When he hung up, I dropped the phone to my stomach. It was hard not saying anything more than that. Remembering that this was a casual thing was hard. There were no strings. Not that I intended to date anyone else, but still. The fact remained he could. And I wondered how I was going to handle it when he did.
*
The first part of the week, I stayed clear of all entertainment news and tabloids for fear I would see something with Jason in it that I didn’t want to see. When he hadn’t called me by Thursday, I caved and googled him to see if there was any news on him. But only old stuff popped up. There was news about Jax Stone’s new single and some photos of him and Sadie shopping on Rodeo Drive.
Friday I seriously considered going to Live Bay but changed my mind about five times during the day. By the time three o’clock rolled around, I had decided to stay home and work.
When my phone rang, it was almost four, and I ran for my phone. The sinking feeling hit when I saw Amanda’s name instead of Jason’s on the screen.
“Hey,” I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. I didn’t get calls from Amanda very often.
“Hey, Jess. It’s Amanda,” she said.
“I still have your number. Just because you hooked up with Preston and ruined all our partying fun doesn’t mean I disowned you as a friend,” I teased her. She was the kind of girl I would never be but often wished I could have been.
Amanda laughed. We had actually done very little partying. I hadn’t let it get too far. Back when Amanda had a wild streak, she had come to me to help her learn to have some fun. One night when she had gotten drunk, she’d let it slip that she was trying to get Preston Drake’s attention. He was the last guy she needed to be messing around with. Or at least, I had thought so. In the end she had wrapped Preston so tightly around her little finger that he’d cleaned up and stopped screwing his way through life.
“Yes, well, speaking of partying,” she said, “I’m having a birthday party for Preston tonight at the house. I just found out that even the single guys coming are bringing dates. And Preston just ran into a former teammate of his in town for the weekend and invited him. He has no date, and I don’t want him to feel like the odd one out. So I was hoping …” She trailed off.
“That I would come and make this an even number,” I finished for her, thinking that I would rather poke needles in my eyeballs.
“Yes, please? Rock and Trisha will be here. I know you aren’t a big fan of this whole crowd, so if you don’t want to, I understand,” she said.
That was typical Amanda. She was giving me an out in case I didn’t want to do this. She hated making anyone uncomfortable. I knew Marcus Hardy’s wife, Willow, didn’t much care for me, and honestly I didn’t blame her. I’d been an ass to her once. I had been so full of anger back then with my life in general, thanks to Hank. Probably time I apologized to the woman. Then there was Cage York’s wife, Eva. We had only had one run-in, but I had been a bitch then, too. I’d never had my sights set on Cage. He’d been more screwed up than Krit, but then he’d met Eva. Cage was so completely different now.
