Chapter 9
I walked back into my apartment Saturday morning, throwing my keys onto the counter after a much too-early chat over coffee with Callie. I never woke up early on Saturdays. Ever. But I couldn’t sleep last night to save my goddamn life. Why?
Because I had sex with Wesley Callahan.
Who the hell am I?
If someone had told me he would be the person to end my drought, I would have laughed in their face, then punched them in it. I couldn’t have predicted what happened last night in a million years.
I didn’t even know how to explain it, and that’s where my lack of sleep came in.
I got home last night, jumped in the shower faster than ever before, and then spent all night trying and failing miserably to make sense of it.
I hated Wesley. He hated me. So how we ended up griping at each other one minute and naked in Gabe’s spare room the next was beyond me.
I couldn’t even recall who made the initial move that started the whole thing.
There we were, standing in the kitchen and bickering like usual, and a second later, we were making out.
After tossing and turning most of the night, I finally forced myself out of bed and headed to Callie’s a little after eight that morning.
She’d always been a fairly early riser, and after what happened last night with her and Lucas—something I still hadn’t gotten the full scoop on—I was pretty sure she hadn’t slept that great either and was probably wide awake.
I’d been right; she was sitting on her porch swing under a blanket when I pulled into her driveway.
I joined her with a cup of coffee and listened while she told me about her fight with Lucas on the beach at Gabe’s.
I didn’t tell her what happened between Wesley and me.
When she asked me why I was up so early, I simply said it was because I was thinking too much.
It wasn’t a lie. I just didn’t elaborate on what I was thinking about.
I didn’t see a point in telling her. It was a one-time thing that was never going to happen again.
I just needed my mind to stop trying to figure it out.
I leaned against my kitchen counter after making a fresh pot of coffee, burying my face in my hands while I waited for it to finish brewing.
Had I really been that desperate for physical intimacy?
Was my body so starved for attention from a guy that I didn’t just lower my inhibitions and standards but obliterated them entirely and had sex with Wesley Callahan?
“You’re so stupid. So incredibly stupid,” I muttered to myself.
I could already hear him throwing what happened back in my face during one of our future bickering matches.
He was the type that would bring it up any chance he got just to use it against me.
I could always rebuff and say it wasn’t even a memorable encounter, but that wouldn’t matter; the fact that he’d been able to wring an orgasm out of me would be all the ammunition he needed.
But it really wasn’t all that memorable.
And I wasn’t just saying that because it was him.
Sure, it felt good, but most sex did. It wasn’t mindblowing, though.
In the end, it was your basic quickie that served its purpose.
Did I think he held back? Probably. I did.
I had no intention of giving him more than the bare minimum, and I was pretty sure he had the same sentiments.
It’s not like we were trying to impress one another.
Regardless of how it was, I didn’t know how I was going to face him tonight—it was Saturday, which meant a night out at The Sandbar.
Callie wasn’t going after what happened with Lucas, which I’d expected.
I was half-tempted to not go, but Gabe was excited about Blake going out with us since it was his last night in town.
That, and I couldn’t avoid Wesley. Doing so would only turn this whole thing into something it wasn’t.
It was a mistake. A one-time mistake that I could pretend never happened.
I arrived at The Sandbar at my usual time and walked inside. Gabe threw his hand up in a wave with a grin when he saw me, and the gesture caused Lucas, Blake, and Wesley to glance in my direction.
“Hey,” I greeted as usual as I approached our table.
Gabe and Blake both grinned and returned my greeting.
Lucas lifted his hand in a wave as he sipped his beer.
Wesley didn’t say a word.
Things were totally normal so far.
“There’s my girl.” I glanced up when I saw Susan and smiled when she bumped my arm with her hip. “Rum and coke for you?”
“Please,” I answered. “With a tiny extra splash of the demon water.”
Susan nodded with a chuckle, and when she turned and headed for the bar, Wesley snorted. “How fitting. You and demon water.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped him off.
Yep. Definitely normal.
I spent the next couple of hours talking with Gabe, Blake, and Lucas when he wasn’t staring off, contemplating how to fix things with Callie.
Wesley alternated between the table and the bar, making a snide remark now and then that I volleyed right back.
But each time he spoke, I found myself holding my breath, waiting for what I thought was an inevitable comment about what happened between us last night.
It never came.
I’d been so sure he’d try and torment me with it, but at that point, he hadn’t said a word about it.
Mid-conversation with Blake and Gabe about the trip to London their parents were currently on, a commotion of laughter caught Blake’s attention, and he turned to see the small group of women it came from. “That one in the red shirt is fucking cute.”
I followed his gaze, seeing the familiar-looking woman, but I couldn’t recall why she looked familiar.
Wesley scoffed. “Save your breath.”
Blake looked at him, his cheeks dimpling as he grinned. “You and her…?”
“No, no,” Wesley said as he shook his head. “I tried. She got a free drink out of me, and that’s as far as it went. Save yourself the trouble.”
It clicked then why she looked familiar; she’d been the one I overheard turning him down a few weeks back after trivia.
Blake glanced back at the girl, and his lips curled into a challenging smirk when he looked at Wesley again, pushing his chair away from the table. “Maybe you just lost your touch, Casanova.”
He stood and casually made his way over to the woman. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Wesley called over his shoulder.
While Blake worked his southern charm on the woman and Lucas fell into conversation with Wesley, Gabe and I headed over to play a couple rounds of pool.
I kicked his ass the first game, and he kicked mine the second before calling it a tie and deciding to head out; I cracked a few jokes about his age and it being past his bedtime as we walked back toward the table.
“You leaving?” Lucas asked.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah. Blake looks like he’s going to be busy for a while, so…” He trailed off with a chuckle, gesturing to his brother, who seemed to have the woman he was talking to swooning.
“I think I’m gonna take off, too,” Lucas said, standing from his chair. I didn’t have to ask why he was heading out earlier than usual; he’d been off all night, and I knew it was because of his argument with Callie last night. “I’ll see you Tuesday?” he said to me.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be here. And hey…” He met my gaze. “Just…give her some time.” He offered a halfhearted smile and a nod, but I could tell he wasn’t feeling very optimistic.
When they left, I started across the bar and headed toward the restroom.
I saw Wesley standing near the small, dimly lit hallway as I neared; he was watching Blake and that woman, and I couldn’t help but shake my head with a derisive snort as I walked by him.
He was just waiting for her to turn Blake down so he could throw out an “I told you so.”
When I saw that the bathroom was occupied, I turned, leaning against the corner of the hallway entrance to wait.
Wesley was a few feet away, and I shifted forward to get a better look at Blake.
I saw him lean in and whisper something in the woman’s ear, and based on the way her cheeks blushed, I didn’t have to guess too hard what it had to do with.
Then, I watched as she nodded her head with an all too eager smile.
When she stepped away to speak with her friends, Blake looked over his shoulder at Wesley, and his cheeks split into a shit-eating grin.
A moment later, she returned, took Blake’s hand, and led him toward the door; he laughed as he threw his free hand up in a wave toward me and Wesley before they disappeared outside.
Wesley stared at the door with a look of sheer disbelief.
I laughed as I stepped back into the hall. “Oof, that had to hurt.”
He turned at the sound of my voice. “Why would it hurt?”
“That same girl turned you down, what? A month or so ago?” I snorted. “Actually, if I recall correctly, she told you that she didn’t go home with random guys she met at bars, and, well…” I gestured toward the door. “That was obviously a big fat lie.”
“Zip it,” he shot back.
I smirked. “Aw. Is someone jealous?”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he scoffed.
“I don’t know. Your friend just bagged the girl you weren’t able to.” I chuckled. “And you looked pretty jealous just now watching him pull off what you couldn’t and leave with her.”
“I don’t get jealous. Am I a little bitter?
Perhaps. But jealous? Absolutely not. They’re two completely different things.
” He finished off his drink, and when he pulled the now empty bottle away from his mouth, he set it on a nearby table before stepping into the hall where I was, wearing a smirk with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
“And maybe you should be thanking that girl.”
“For what?”
“Because if something had happened between me and her, I would’ve no longer been in a slump, and I wouldn’t have been so desperate last night, which means you never would have got that release you all but begged me for.”