Chapter 22
Amelia
Monday morning, I’m back in the studio. After spending the whole day around Alex, sleep was even more fleeting than it’s been since I ditched out of New York, drunk off my ass. I tossed and turned for hours, fighting both tears and arousal at the same time.
I play some faster songs than yesterday, trying to put myself in a good mood because I don’t want to ruin this for Bean.
My alarm goes off sooner than expected, and I lock up the studio before walking next door for coffee and pastries.
Ignoring the fritters, I order almond croissants.
My fingers itch, remembering the silly texts I sent Alex from the coffee shop by the office.
I haven’t looked at them since I left. Haven’t read what he sent between me running out of the office and when I blocked his number. But I want to. Oh god, do I want to.
“What are you up to today?” Gloria asks as she gets our drinks ready.
“Going up the mountain.”
Gloria cringes. “In August?”
“Yeah. Bean’s on a crusade. Yesterday was the falls.”
“I saw. Is she trying to kill you?”
I laugh. “Maybe.”
“You want an extra shot in yours?”
“Might as well.”
“Why didn’t you tell me Lizzie’s dad is a stone-cold fox, by the way?
Those pictures she posted? Damn, that man is fine!
I’d like to give him a cruller, if you know what I mean.
” She winks at me. “Lizzie better bring that hunk of sexy in to meet me before the wedding, or I might forget how to make coffees.”
I groan inwardly and sigh outwardly. She’s right. Alex is hot. And I can’t bring myself to play the ‘he’s my best friend’s dad, so I don’t think of him that way’ card today. The look Gloria gives me says she knows something’s up, but she doesn’t know what.
“Should I tell Bean you have the hots for her dad?” I ask her.
“I wouldn’t be mad if you did.” She shrugs and hands me the last drink. “See you tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
After loading the drinks and pastries in my car, I drive home, and for the second day in a row, I meet with my best friend and her dad in my driveway.
“Get in, get in, get in, get in, GET IN!” Bean hisses at me through Alex’s open passenger-side window as soon as I pull up. So, because I can’t help myself, I ignore her and take a sip of my coffee. “Minnie! Get. In. The. Car.”
I look over at her, roll the rest of the windows down, and slowly turn my radio up.
“I swear to Lucifer, I will murder you while—” The music drowns the rest of her words out.
I point to my ear and shake my head, then mouth, “What?” at her.
“You suck.” She over-pronounces the words so I can read her lips, and then she glares and flips me off.
Alex smirks. I look away, and movement next door catches my eye.
Tiffany sticks her head out of her door, looking for the source of the noise.
Before she swings her head my way, I duck down and turn the nob, silencing the radio.
Without sitting back up, I close the windows and cut the engine.
I open my door and slide out, staying low, and peek over the hood of the car.
Tiffany’s door is just swinging closed, so I quickly reach in for the coffees and hand the tray through the open window into Alex’s hands.
Then I reach back in for the bag of croissants and my purse, slam my door shut, and throw myself into Bean’s back seat while making sure not to land on the pastries.
“Go, motherfucker!” I’m lying on my back across the seat, laughing my ass off.
“God, you fucking troublemaker!” Bean throws the car in reverse with a snicker and takes off down the road. “I hope you brought breakfast.”
I hold the bag up in the air. “What the hell do you take me for? Of course I brought breakfast.”
“How’s Gloria this morning?”
“Good. She says you’re trying to kill me with these touristy summer adventures, and she has a crush on your dad. Made some terrible coffee-related threats if you don’t bring him into the shop soon.”
“Of course she did. And of course she does. She has a crush on half the men in the state.”
I sit up and take a croissant out of the bag before passing it up to the front. “You going to hand me my coffee, or am I going to have to push you out of the car?”
“The man who tries to keep you away from caffeine is putting his life at risk.” Alex turns and gives me my cup, and my fingers brush his when I take it from him.
That fucking shock of electricity runs through me, and my eyes lock with his.
I force myself to drag my gaze away from the need I see there. I’m afraid of what he saw in mine.
Bean takes a bite of her pastry. “Any ideas on what we should do for lunch?”
“You ask that while your mouth is full of breakfast, kiddo?” Alex asks with a chuckle before taking a bite of his own breakfast.
“Dude, Minnie and I can fight about it all damn day long. Figured I’d get a jump on it.”
I lean forward. “Okay, here’s how it’s going to go.
We’ll debate it the whole way up the mountain, but come to no decision.
We’ll decide we’re starving in the gift shop and buy a bunch of snacks.
We’ll then eat the fudge and jerky and fuckknowswhatelse on the way back down, so by the time we get anywhere close to a restaurant, we’ll have stomach aches from all the junk. ”
Bean nods. “That’s fair. Sounds like something we would do.”
“It’s literally what we always do,” I remind her.
“I wish you weren’t right.”
“But I am.”
“Yeah, yeah. Know it all.”
I sit back with a smirk.
We stop at all the turnouts and viewpoints along the way. I make Alex pose for pictures with Bean every chance I get. His glares hold no heat, and we’re both enjoying ourselves, even if we’re fighting it.
I might be mad at him, and I might be annoyed as fuck that he still turns me on after stomping on my heart, but that doesn’t stop me from snapping a few extra shots of him when he isn’t paying attention…
Bean swivels in her seat to face me as much as she can after parking at a history center. “Hey, Minnie, check out the car behind us.”
I follow her gaze and see a red 1990s Mustang. “What about it?”
“Didn’t you lose your virginity in a car just like that?”
I turn and stare at her for a few seconds before realizing she’s serious. “That was you, dipshit.”
She blushes, and her eyes go wide. She stares straight at me, refusing to turn her eyes toward her dad. “Oh shit, it was! So, wait…that means you lost yours in the dugout, right?”
“Jesus Christ, this is not a game I want to play with you, but no. That was Carla.”
“Oh, come on and play! Um…Timmy’s basement, Halloween night, junior year.” She claps and points at me like she knows she’s right. She’s wrong.
“How are you so terrible at this? That was Stacy!”
“How are you so good at this? Um, the DC trip!”
I shake my head. “Betty. Oh, and Katrina. And I think Alice.”
“Spring break, Disneyland.”
“Denise. And god, our friends over-share,” I add.
Alex watches us, obviously amused.
“My sixteenth birthday party.”
“Whitney.”
“Son of a bitch. Uhhhh, who did I find in my bed with Wayne after prom?” Bean asks.
“Brenda and Connie.”
“Goddamn it. Okay, one more guess. The big tent, summer before senior year. The camping trip where it rained for three days straight, so we drank for three days straight.”
“I was there for that, sure. We all were. Jackie and Bruce just pretended like we weren’t. I still have nightmares of Bruce’s pale ass mooning us all from the sleeping bag.”
“Fuck, that was Bruce and Jackie! Fine, I give up. What was yours?”
“Nope, you lost. Better luck next time.”
“Prude.”
I snort and get out of the car. I really don’t want to talk about losing my virginity in front of Alex.
It wasn’t anything special, just a random night junior year with a guy I’d been dating for a while.
We watched a movie on his bed while his parents weren’t home, and I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
It was fine, but I wasn’t sad that we only did it a few more times before we broke up because he barely put any effort into getting me off.
Most guys I’ve been with only gave half a shit about me and my pleasure.
My box full of toys has served me better.
Until Alex.
My one night with him was the only sex worth even remembering, and I’m actively trying not to remember it right now.
It’s damn near impossible with the man around me so fucking much, smelling so good.
I can feel him walking behind me as Bean points stuff out to him.
And every time I glance at him, his eyes are on me.
We take pictures outside, explore the historical exhibits inside, and then hit the gift shop. We’ve been taking our time so it’s past lunchtime now, but we have a shit ton of snacks. We take our time on the way back, too, and I do my best to ignore Alex.
I fucking suck at it.