Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
“Rachel, you traitor,” I said once I got close to her and the guys. “I needed coffee, and you weren’t home.”
I was mostly teasing her, but I needed to have an icebreaker. Being near Tyler was freaking me out. If I weren’t so mortified about seeing Tyler again so soon after we had sex, I would have found it funny the way he scrambled out of his chair.
Please don’t turn around to look at me.
Seeing Tyler’s face right now terrified me, because all I could think about was the way he looked above me as he thrust into me. The intensity in his eyes as he took every detail of my face while we were connected was something that was still fucking with me days later.
Rachel rolled her eyes at my comment.
“There’s no coffee here.”
“There is no good coffee here, so I might as well get a drink,” I said, then acknowledged Zeke and Adam because I was still refusing to look at Tyler.
“Adam, Zeke.”
I should have known better than to think Tyler would keep quiet.
“Come on, Astrid, don’t be like that.”
Surprisingly, his tone was playful. Okay, so he wasn’t annoyed with me or mad, and that made my stomach tingle. When I spoke, I had a bit of a smirk going on.
“Did you hear something?” I asked Rachel. “Sounded like some kind of mouse.”
At my words, Adam burst out laughing.
“I’m going to go help EZ before he loses it.
Later.” Adam got up and threw some bills on the bar.
Okay, so he definitely didn’t know; otherwise, he would have stayed so he could watch me squirm.
I kept waiting for Tyler to follow suit.
Instead, he rose to his full height and bent his head so his mouth was right by my ear.
“You can ignore me all you want, Astrid. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m sorry, Tylenol. Did you say something to me?” I lifted my head toward him and narrowed my eyes. It wasn’t precisely a glare, but it was armor. I just needed not to picture him fucking me as he stood in front of me.
“Really?”
He was amused.
His eyes got darker, and I swear the air was thicker. It was safe to say the asshole was getting off on this.
“Listen, Thyroid, I’m going to sit over there—” I pointed to the seat Adam had just vacated “—and we will pretend like we can’t see one another.
At least until I get myself in check and don’t picture you fucking me.
Tyler let me go as I took Adam’s spot, and then Zeke just shook his head, amused at me, but he got me the seltzer I asked for. I had just taken a drink when I remembered why I was looking for Rachel in the first place.
See, Tyler was terrible for my mental health.
“Oh, my God,” I screeched.
“What happened?” Ty was out of his seat again, and I could see concern in his eyes. I should have been annoyed by how he seemed to be attuned to my moods, but instead, I found it endearing.
“No one is talking to you, Typo.” I glared at him this time. He needed to keep his cool, or else that ‘I fucked Tyler Kane’ tattoo would be moot because he would give it all away. Instead, I did my best to keep looking at Rachel.
“I forgot why I was looking for you. There was a man holding flowers on your front porch!”
It seemed like the barstools at Zeke’s were wonky because, this time, it was Rachel who appeared to be falling.
Tyler was faster than me, and he held on to her.
I felt a twinge of jealousy at their closeness, which I found annoying, and I blamed it on the fact that I had the asshole’s sperm inside of me a few days ago—it was probably trying to rewrite my DNA.
That was another thing I needed to talk to him about once I figured out how to actually speak to him.
I thought there was some sort of etiquette for a guy finishing inside of you.
Isn’t there some code or manual to jizz in vagine action?
Finishing inside a girl on the first date seems kinda rude, ya know?
“Are you okay, Rach?” Tyler asked.
Behind us, someone asked the same question Ty did with less concern and more bite to their tone.
It was the same man I had seen earlier, and now that I could look at him properly, I noticed two things. The first thing that struck me was he was absolutely gorgeous. The second was that I recognized him from the society pages.
I leaned into Rachel and put a hand over my mouth, aware I wasn’t being discreet at all. If I had to guess, that was her ex-husband—and man, was he hot. Now, I felt kind of dumb for not piecing things together sooner.
“That’s the man. He’s old, but like in a daddy way, and not a Ron Swanson way.”
He totally met the sugar daddy face card.
Hell, he didn’t even have to have sugar with that face card he had going on.
Girls would ride him for free. Not that it would be necessary, but one look and you could tell he came from money.
His eyes had been on Rachel, and then they slid down to where Ty was still holding on to her.
He looked as happy about it as I felt, but unlike me, he didn’t stay quiet about it.
“You can let go of her now.
“If you need me to kick him in the balls, just say the word,” I told Rachel as I tipped my drink toward her ex-husband.
Zeke seemed to know said ex-husband, which wouldn’t be weird if we lived in the same town. Sunny Pines was close, but it was still odd. They exchanged a few words when I thought about asking the ex-husband if he had followed me here.
“Pretty girl, can we talk?” he asked Rachel.
“Ohmigod, I want someone to call me pretty girl.” I was practically squealing in my seat because I found it cute, then immediately cursed myself because Ty called me beautiful, even if he didn’t mean it in the way this man meant it toward Rachel.
“I’ll call you pretty girl,” Ty said immediately.
“No one cares what you have to say, Tylosis,” I bit out, because the last thing I wanted now was to be called by someone else’s endearment.
Mr. Fancy Pants grabbed Rachel by the hand and led her away.
Fuck .
Not that I wasn’t happy, she was getting her shit sorted, but she left me alone with Tyler.
Rachel left me alone with Tyler after I had a moment of weakness and listened to my vagina instead of my brain. I’m not even going to bring my heart into this because that fucker was a traitor too.
“Look at all the love birds today. Must be something in the water,” Zeke teased whimsically, and I couldn’t help but glare at him. “That’s why I will be sticking with liquor.”
He tapped the bar and walked away, leaving Tyler and me alone.
Shit.
I hadn’t even prepared what I wanted to say to him. I didn’t practice enough fake scenarios of how this might turn out in my head.
“Alone at last, beautiful. Or are you thinking of running away from me again?”
“No one is running,” I told him, and the asshole smiled at me.
“Then what do you call the other day? I barely pulled out, and you were already leaving me.”
“Ty,” I hissed as I looked around to make sure no one heard him.
He didn’t seem to care if anyone heard him. He moved the stool Rachel had been on, got up, and stood facing me. He shielded me away from everyone in the bar, making a cocoon of privacy for us.
“What do you want me to say?” I finally managed to speak. “We slept together. I’m sure you’ve done that with plenty of girls.”
I hoped my voice didn’t sound as bitter as it felt getting them out.
Ty let out a humorless chuckle.
“It’s you, Astrid. It’s always been you. No one else fucking matters to me but you.” He shook his head, and I could see how his jaw was clenched as he tried to calm himself down.
We shouldn’t be having this conversation here.
“You know, you came back to town, and I thought, this is it . This is the time to make things right between us.”
“Friends outgrow each other,” I said softly.
He shook his head.
“I’d be lying if I said I wanted our friendship to go back to the way it was before, but I don’t want your friendship, Astrid… I want more… I want it all.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. He was saying everything I had once longed to hear, and now that I had his cards on the table, I didn’t know what to do with mine.
The only thing that came to mind was the bitter years I pined over him as his loyal best friend while I watched him date other girls, but there was already enough damage we had endured—shots I’ve taken and unknowing jabs he took—that I didn’t want to keep the pain going.
“I don’t regret it,” I finally said, and I could see how my words relieved him.
“Yeah?” His voice took a husky tone that had my lower belly quivering.
“Yeah.” I managed to give him a small smile, and his eyes automatically went to my mouth.
The air got tense, and I knew if I let it, this moment would take a turn. I wouldn’t say for the worst because I would be open to the idea of sleeping with him again—maybe. But it was a turn I didn’t want to take in public.
So, I got out of my stool, evading him, and headed toward Rachel. Mostly because I needed some space before I let Tyler fuck me again, and the other part was that I was nosey. Even while talking to Rachel and her ex-husband, I could feel Tyler’s gaze on mine, which made it hard to concentrate.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home. I expect to see you at breakfast.”
I could have walked out and left it at that since I still had my purse with me. As I walked back to the counter, Tyler’s gaze did not leave mine at all. I felt like he was biding his time, letting me play things my way until he snapped.
Was it wrong I wanted that to happen? Although I shouldn’t because if I did that, then I would tell myself the decision was out of my hands. Ty was right, I needed to stop running away from my problems.
Lucky for me, Zeke chose that moment to come back out.
“I’m heading out. I need to go talk to Lupe,” I told him, even though I was sure he didn’t care.
I started to pull my wallet out so I could pay, but Tyler cut me off.
“It’s okay, I got it,” Ty told Zeke.
“Well, I’m going to head out.” Even though my eyes were on Zeke’s, my words were meant for Ty.
“I’m heading out too. I need to get back to work,” Ty told Zeke.
I walked out, aware Tyler was right on my heels.
Did he drive here with Adam? I had only seen Adam’s car out front. Unless Ty parked in the back? Should I offer him a ride to the auto shop? It would be cruel to make him walk in this heat, right?
Before I could push the door open, Tyler did it for me. As he did this, he pressed his body against mine, causing a shiver to go down my spine. His hand rested above my hip, pushing me forward.
Someone was coming toward the door when we got out. My eyes clashed with silver eyes I remembered all too well. I froze, and if it wasn’t for Tyler being right behind me, I might not have moved out of the way at all.
Collin Rivers stood right in front of me. He was the reason I had been an outcast. Instead of thanking me, he blamed me like everyone else. He had outgrown his lankiness and embraced his unique style.
“Astrid.” He composed himself much quicker than I did.
Tyler cursed behind me.
“Collin,” I managed to bite out. “I’ll get out of your way. I wouldn’t want to be a meddlesome bitch.”
He flinched.
“Could we talk?” he asked.
“I have to go,” I said as I began to walk away.
“Astrid.” Ty came right behind me. He took hold of my arm, stopping me from getting to my car. The same car where we had sex.
Everything I had been ignoring came rushing back at me. Out of all the places to have sex with him, it had to be on the hood of my car. I could avoid the auto shop forever, but changing cars was not that simple.
“Collin was just?—”
I cut him off before he could finish.
“You know, Ty…” I hated how my tone quivered. “It would be nice if you could have my back instead of his.”
Tyler flinched. I could see the pain in his eyes, but I didn’t care.
What about my pain?
“I really needed you that day,” I said, hating how broken my voice sounded.
“Beautiful.” It was a pained whisper.
“Everyone was mad at me for ruining prom, and you didn’t do anything to stop it.”
I had tears in my eyes, and when I blinked, one of them sprang free. Ty’s eyes looked just as glossy as mine did. “After all this time, it still hurts.”