Chapter Sixteen
“ S hould I sleep with him?”
“What, like tonight?”
She ran her finger over her bottom lip. “Yeah.”
“No.”
“Why, because you want him?”
“God, Christa. No. I already told you that.”
The gang was back at the Brewhouse, minus Kate who had plans, but plus a Christa who couldn’t keep her tongue to herself. We hadn’t been there long, but she and Adam had already become well-acquainted.
She pulled me farther towards the end of the bar while keeping an eye on the man she was preying on tonight. I’d figured they’d hit it off no problem, but I was still questioning my decision to introduce them in the first place. I didn’t want her to treat him like every other guy; I wanted them to… what, date? Ha. This was Christa. I was more wo rried about Adam getting hurt, but he was a big boy. He knew going in that she didn’t do boyfriends.
“He’s got this innocent vibe going on, like a sweet country boy. It makes me want to corrupt him and make him very, very bad.”
“He’s probably not as innocent as you think.” But then again, how did I know? “But he is a sweet guy. He’d make good boyfriend material.” She shuddered. Yeah, I’d said it. I said the B-word. “That’s why I said not to sleep with him tonight. Maybe wait a bit and see if you like him.”
She turned to face him. He was down at the other end and looking at us. “I already know I like him, Perry.” She blew him a kiss and he grinned. “I like him a lot. I wouldn’t have a one-nighter with him otherwise. I do have some standards.”
All right, this was a lost cause. “Dre told me today that he needs the seats and carpets replaced.”
She snorted. “Bet he wouldn’t complain about a speck of dirt from your shoes now, huh?”
“Christa! Don’t you even feel a little bad about it?”
“No. It’s a fucking object, Perry. He’s the one who turned it into a thing of worship. It’s not like we hurt his dog. You need to get over this, and don’t forget about our promise. He doesn’t need to know what happened.”
“I didn’t forget, Christa.”
“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m really hungry and nature is calling.”
I headed back to my table. Dammit. All that time up at the bar and I’d forgotten to order something. I was about to return when I noticed a gorgeous pink-colored drink sitting at my spot.
“Hey, what’s this?” I asked, sliding onto my seat. Stephen was one over drinking a bottle of beer.
“Prickly pear margarita. The waitress came around so I took a chance. ”
“Oh, thank you.” I took a sip. It tasted like a mixture of melon and berries. “I love sweet drinks. It’s perfect.”
He laughed. “I know.”
I stared over at Christa and Adam. She was sitting on his lap, dragging her fingers through his hair. “I wonder if it was the right thing inviting her.”
“Does seeing them together bother you?”
I looked back at him. His jaw was tight. “No, it doesn’t bother me.” Did he think I was jealous? “You know, you never did tell me why you turned her down that night.”
“Yes, I did. I told you she wasn’t my type.”
“She’s everyone’s type.”
“Maybe that’s why she isn’t my type.”
I wasn’t sure I understood that. I’d seen him with different women, and I didn’t peg him as the relationship kind either.
“Then what is your type?”
“Not her.” I frowned. We were talking in riddles. He smiled and touched my hand briefly. Zing . “You were pretty quiet at work today.”
“That’s because I was working.”
“No, there was more to it. Is whatshisname still giving you shit?”
“You know his name, Stephen.”
“And he’s going to know my fist if he keeps bringing you down.”
The intensity of his blue eyes floored me. I shouldn’t like his reaction. I shouldn’t be able to feel it so strongly. Feel him so strongly. He was looking out for me, and not a lot of people did that. But he was looking out for me for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t need protecting from my own boyfriend, especially when I’d been the one who’d screwed up.
I deserved to feel guilty, and Stephen was trying to absolve my responsibility. Even if it was misguided, it still meant something to me. Even if I didn’t want it to. And I especially didn’t want to like the electricity jolting between us, screwing me up even more .
I looked down into my drink. The drink he’d picked out for me, nailing it. In some ways, it seemed like he already knew me better than Dre did, which was pretty damn insane to even be thinking.
“Like I told you earlier, you don’t understand. If you knew what happened, you wouldn’t be taking my side.” There was still the whole issue of the alleged cheating, but I couldn’t factor that in when I didn’t have proof.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Not really.”
“Then I’m still taking your side.”
He finished off the rest of his beer while continuing to stare at me. I kept darting my eyes between him and my half-finished margarita. I heard a loud giggle that I recognized as Christa’s.
“Are you happy with him?” he asked.
“Happy with Dre? That seems a little personal.”
“No more so than you asking what type of woman I go for.” Yeah, I suppose he had a point there. “And it’s a pretty straightforward question. One I’d feel comfortable asking any one of my friends.”
He had another point. I think my initial hesitation answering him had nothing to do with the question itself or who was asking it. Or maybe it had everything to do with who was asking it.
What the hell. I took as large a gulp as my mouth could handle. Then I took another. “I suppose you could say I’m happy, but in a different way. We’re still ironing out the kinks.”
“That’s not a good answer, Perry.”
“It’s a perfectly fine answer.”
“How long have you been with him?”
“Hmm… about five years.”
“Five years. You’re joking, right?”
“Ah, no.” What was so funny about that? “We all met in high school. First Christa, then Dre.”
“Five years and you’re still ironing out kinks? How much longer do you need?”
“Well, it was pretty damn kinky to start with, so….” I smiled. I finally did make a joke, and he couldn’t even look amused. “Dre and I always had an unconventional relationship. We were together but not really together until recently.”
“Unconventional how?”
“Don’t you want to talk about you for a while?”
“I’d rather hear about you.”
“At least tell me something basic first. How old are you? You’ve never told me before.”
“You’ve never asked.”
“I’m asking now.”
“Twenty-seven.”
“And I suppose you already know my age.” He nodded. Of course, it was in my damn file.
“I believe I answered your question,” he said. “Now you can answer mine.”
I glanced around for either Christa or Adam, but I couldn’t see them. In fact, I couldn’t find anyone I knew. It was like Stephen and I were the only ones in the place. I finished off the rest of my drink. All right, here we go.
“Dre and I have always seen other people. We’d be together for a while, then split up to explore other options, I guess you could say. Then we’d come back together again and start all over. There was never any jealousy and it just worked for us. I wouldn’t even call it an open relationship because what we had was never even that. I don’t know how to explain it other than unconventional. Or complicated, depending on how you look at it.”
“And these other people you’d see in between, they didn’t care either?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like we were dating them or anything.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. I think I’d made it clear enough that it was just fucking. I didn’t think I took advantage of the times apart quite as often as Dre had, but I’d still participated.
“So, you’ve never been serious with anyone before?” he asked.
“Have you?”
“We’re not talking about me.”
I sighed. Okay, we’d get back to him another time. “The serious thing? Never until now. Dre wanted to try it out. In fact, he brought it up for the first time on Saint Patrick’s Day. The same day I met you at Lucky’s.”
He rubbed his jaw and my eyes were drawn there, then up to his lips. Then up to his eyes. I was wildly attracted to him; I’d never once lied to myself about that. I’d thought him arrogant at first, but now I didn’t know what to think. But I did know that I’d never had a friend quite like this before.
“That makes sense for what I overheard that night.”
“What did you overhear?” I tried to think back, but other than Christa not being too supportive of Dre and me, I couldn’t remember what all was said.
“Enough to make me question if you’re truly serious about him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You said that he wanted to try out being in a relationship, but what did you want?”
“I agreed, didn’t I? I accepted his offer to be exclusive. So what does that tell you?”
I wrapped my fingers around the empty glass. I wasn’t in the mood for another one, but I wish I had something for my mouth to do besides talk. Thinking about what I really wanted to do with my mouth pissed me off. Why couldn’t I have met Stephen even one day earlier? Not sure if that would’ve mattered, but it would have been nice having the option. There was still the whole temporary boss thing, but he wasn’t going to be in charge of my department forever.
Not that anything would’ve happened between Stephen and me even under the best of circumstances, but again, options were good things to have. Argh. I squeezed my glass harder. I felt like I was backtracking. I’d always had options, too many options pulling me in every which direction. I wanted to be different now. I wanted to lock in on one thing for a change. I didn’t want to continue doing things the same way, and that was why I’d said yes to Dre.
“Would you like to hear what that tells me?”
He leaned in closer, his hands nearly touching mine.
Hands, Perry. They’re freaking hands.
“If I say no, would that really stop you?”
He smiled. “From listening to the way you talk and the words you say, it feels like your decision to accept Dre’s offer, as you call it, was based on your head and not your heart.”
My mouth dropped, a whole slew of insults ready to pour out. But I had something more important to find out. “What’s your endgame here, Stephen? Are you trying to break up Dre and me?”
“No. I wouldn’t do that to you, Perry.”
“Oh.” I don’t know why his answered surprised me, but it had. He’d sounded sincere about it too.
“The only thing I’m trying to do right now is be your friend.”
We stared at each other for what was likely only seconds but what felt like way too damn long. His eyes flicked away just as two arms wrapped around my neck, scaring the bejesus out of me.
I yelped, then heard Christa’s giggle followed by a set of keys dangling in front of my face.
“Hey, girl. Having fun?” she whispered in my ear. “Do me a favor, okay? Drive my car home. I’m going to catch a ride with Adam.”
I turned towards her. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” She kissed my cheek. “Don’t wait up.”
Before I could say anything further, she winked and sauntered off. I held her keys in my hand and came to the conclusion that she’d actually done me a favor. All this talk about Dre had left me feeling disjointed. I’d made a promise, and I wanted to remain faithful to him. I didn’t want to be wondering what-if this or what-if that. And I especially didn’t want to be having this introspective conversation with Stephen. Being friendly with him made my life both easier and harder, and this night definitely belonged in the harder column.
“This seems like a good time for me to leave too,” I said. “I’m feeling pretty drained.”
He nodded and slid off his chair. “I’ll follow you home.”
“What? No. That’s silly. I have a car and I’m fine to drive. You’re freed of chauffeuring duty tonight, so take advantage of it. Because as far as I know, you’re back on tomorrow, buddy.” I slugged his arm and laughed. Keeping it light. “So, you should definitely stay and….”
Stay and what? Pick up some woman? Ugh. The thought made me sick even though I had no right. No. Right.
The way he looked at me…. “I know you’re fine to drive, Perry. That’s not the issue. And I have nothing but enjoyed ‘chauffeuring’ you. I simply want to make sure you get home safely. I won’t even leave my truck. I’ll watch you go inside and then I’ll leave.”
When I didn’t respond, he said, “Just let me do this, okay? Don’t make it into a big thing. I was planning on leaving soon anyway.”
“Okay.” Stephen handed me my purse and I slung it over my shoulder. I noticed him eyeing it. “What?”
“Do you still have the necklace in there?”
I was sure I looked like a frickin’ deer and he’d just shined a big ole spotlight on me. It was so unexpected and should’ve been an easy yes or no answer. The fact that I didn’t say anything spoke volumes.
He grinned, obviously knowing the answer without me having to open my mouth. I wanted to believe that it’d been nothing more than a casual question, but we both knew it meant so much more than that.