by Kelly Harper
A familiar wave of anger welled up inside her.
“Ray wasn’t the only one she left…”
Bre was going to say more, but cut herself off as the anger solidified into a painful burn at the base of her throat. To his credit, Collin didn’t try to reason with her. He just bobbed his head in understanding and remained silent. She didn’t say anything until she trusted herself to not lose control.
“Anyway… Whatever happened between them, she was there one day and gone the next.”
“She just packed up and left?”
“I don’t think she even did that much.”
He frowned.
“Did she ever come back for her things?”
“She never came,” Bre said, her voice quieting. “For anything.”
Collin let out a soft breath. The pained expression on his face redoubled.
“You haven’t seen her since then?”
“Not since dinner the night before she left,” she said. She shook her head and let out a little laugh. “We had McDonald’s. I annoyed the shit out of her because I made her get me ice cream with my burger. She always said the sugar would make me fat and ugly.” Another laugh slipped out. “Well… joke’s on her!”
Collin tried to humor her, but it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m sure it was incredibly hard.”
Bre fought off another surge of emotions with a dismissive flick of her hand.
“Good riddance to her. If she doesn’t want to be in my life then I don’t want her in it.”
Collin gave her a look that made it obvious he didn’t believe she truly felt that way, but he was smart and didn’t question it.
“And your dad didn’t take it well?”
“His name is Ray,” she corrected. “He had his moments; it wasn’t all bad. For every time I remember dragging him in from the car after he’d gotten drunk and passed out there are memories of us dropping engines or installing turbos. Once he even took me to the shop and showed me how to bend pipes and weld them together to make a custom exhaust.” She let out a soft breath. “Things could have been worse.”
Collin still didn’t look convinced. Or maybe he just wasn’t done with his millions of nosey questions.
“You said he blames you for her leaving?”
His tone was so soft and patient. For a moment, Bre felt like she was in the middle of a therapy session and not with a guy who had just fucked her brains out. The nervous flutters in her stomach swirled. She hated thinking about everything Ray would say when he was drunk.
“He said that things were easier before I was around. That they were happier.”
Collin didn’t respond for a long while. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. Or maybe he was trying to figure out how to fix a problem that he had absolutely nothing to do with. Guys were always trying to fix things where they weren’t wanted. It surprised her when he reached out, took her hand, and gave it a light squeeze.
“I can’t imagine what it was like to hear that.”
The tightness in her chest loosened. Not much, but a little. Tears welled up in her eyes as she smiled at him.
“Thanks,” she said, while quickly wiping at her face. “I think I’ve done about all the sharing I can handle for one night.”
Collin squeezed her hand again, his smile broadening just a bit.
“Yeah, of course.”
They finished dinner while making some small talk about something or other. Bre was too wrapped up in her head to really pay attention to the conversation and, for the first time, actually found herself wanting to get a little distance from the man sitting across from her. She needed some alone time to process everything she’d shared. She needed to return the memories of her parents and her childhood to the guarded vault where she kept them locked away so they wouldn’t bother her.
It had been a long time since she’d shared that much of her past with anyone; even her closest friends knew to stay away from the topic. Bre didn’t know what that said about Collin—that she’d actually been willing to open up to him. She needed to spend some time figuring out what that meant, too.
This whole dating thing was turning out to be way more complicated than she could have ever imagined. Wasn’t it supposed to be more fun than this?
They didn’t stop talking until after the sun was down. All told, it had been a pretty incredible day despite the shitty way it started. Bre clung to Collin as he walked her back to her place. She was ready to have some alone-time but she also didn’t want the night to end. A little time apart was only going to make her want to see him even more.
They stopped outside her place and Collin turned to face her. He held her hands with that boyish smile on his face.
“It’s still pretty early,” he said. “Want to invite me up and see what kind of trouble we can get into?”
The thought of some more sex with him sounded perfect, though her gut immediately tightened when she considered inviting him inside. She forced a smile to mask how uncomfortable she was.
“It’s been a long day and I did a lot of sharing. Can we raincheck for later?”
His eyes searched her face for a brief moment. He probably knew what she was really feeling but was too much of a gentleman to call her out on it.
“Of course,” he said nodding. “Slow and steady.”
“Slow and steady,” she agreed, instantly feeling better.
He kissed her and watched as she made her way inside. The moment she was alone her stomach burst with butterflies and her face spread into the biggest smile ever.
She was really doing this, wasn’t she? She never thought this day would come. She was officially off the market. It should terrify the fuck out of her but, surprisingly, it didn’t bother her at all. Not even a little.
Chapter Six
A few weeks later…
“I never thought I’d say it but, Bre, you’re officially the boring one.”
Bre rolled her eyes at Stephanie.
“Look who’s talking…”
“Hey, we all know my situation,” Stephanie said, not missing a beat.
“Sounds like an admission of defeat,” Bre said before taking another drink of her martini.
“She has a point, Steph,” Aimee chimed in.
Stephanie wasn’t going to be deterred that easily. She darted a look at Aimee.
“My point is that I never thought I’d see the day when you had a more interesting sex life than her.”
Aimee recoiled and clutched her drink in front of her.
“I’m not sure if I should be happy about that or just insulted…”
A smirk tugged at the corner of Stephanie’s lip.
“Bre is the one that’s probably feeling insulted.”
“I’ll have you both know that I’ve been having plenty of hot sex.” Bre raised her glass as a mini-toast to herself before taking another drink.
It had been too long since she’d gotten together with the girls. It felt good to finally catch up with them. Bre used it as justification for how she wasn’t becoming one of those girls that totally ditches their friends when they start dating someone. She’d been on the receiving end of that far too many times in her life and she wasn’t about to start doing it herself. It meant absolutely nothing that she waited until Collin was out of town on business to get together with them—that was just good scheduling on her part.
Stephanie continued in her matter-of-fact tone.
“We have to face the facts here… your hot sex isn’t happening while flying on private jets to private islands so you can sip cocktails on private beaches. Aimee has it better than both of us.”
Bre leaned forward.
“Yeah, Aimee, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about all the traveling… You need to tell Logan to arrange travel for me the next time he sends Collin out of the country.”
Aimee scoffed.
“It’s Logan’s business not mine.”
“Make it y
our business,” Bre said, openly glaring. “I can’t emphasize this enough: I need to get laid and these international trips are literally killing me.”
“Now that’s something I wouldn’t know about,” Stephanie interjected, victoriously.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Bre said, rolling her eyes. “Michael would actually have to get off the couch and do something with himself to travel overseas.”
Stephanie shot her a flat stare.
“I was referring to the sexual frustration that is obviously making you crankier than usual.”
“Oh, zip it,” Bre said, rolling her eyes once again.
“You know, if you keep doing that your eyes are going to get stuck like that.”
“Good. Then I’d be famous as the first person that ever happened to.”
Stephanie went on as though Bre hadn’t said anything.
“And, besides, Michael doesn’t just sit around on the couch all day. He’s working and developing things.” She paused for a moment before allowing herself a little grin. “And he’s always around anytime I need some… attention.”
“Barf,” Bre said, before tilting her glass up and emptying the rest of it into her mouth. “I’m going to need quite a few more drinks if we’re going to spend the night talking about your sexual exploits.”
Stephanie flicked her hand, matter-of-factly.
“I’m just saying, I might be the boring one, but I probably still have more sex than both of you put together.”
Bre cocked an eyebrow and tilted her chin to the side.
“Is that a challenge?”
Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, innocently.
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
“Yeah, yeah, save us the happily married propaganda,” Aimee said.
An involuntary shiver ran through Bre.
“Doesn’t all that sex with the same person get boring after a while?”
Stephanie sat up in her seat, her face eager.
“Are you losing interest already?” she asked.
“God, no!” Bre said, horrified by the thought of it.
“How could she be losing interest?” Aimee asked, a knowing grin spreading across her face. “Apparently he has quite a… taste… for her.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Do tell…”
Bre felt a rush down into her core and she had to suppress a groan. Her body was in a perpetual state of aching.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” she said.
Stephanie gave her a flat stare.
“You know that’s not how this friendship works. We have an arrangement: you have hot sex and then you tell me all about it.”
“Remind me: what am I getting out of this arrangement?”
“A loving friend who’s always here to remind you about how good you have it. Besides, how else am I going to keep up on all the new things the kids are doing these days?”
“Sounds like a confession to me… Sex with the same guy does get boring!”
Now it was Stephanie’s turn to give a playful roll of her eyes.
“Sex with Michael is never boring. Let’s just say we keep it acrobatic.”
“You and your yoga body,” Aimee said.
“I mean, I don’t want to toot my own horn…”
“Yes you do,” Bre said, cutting in.
Stephanie continued without losing her composure.
“Be that as it may, it doesn’t take much to get Michael in the mood…”
“Congratulations, you married a horny man,” Bre said, letting out a laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t take much to get any guy in the mood.”
She and Aimee shared a knowing look while Stephanie pouted.
“You’re really not going to give me the juicy details?”
Bre made a show of holding out for a little while longer before she finally gave in.
“Let’s just say… his tongue never gets tired,” she said.
Stephanie’s eyes widened.
“Never?”
“Never.”
Her eyes widened so much she looked like one of those anime cartoons. Bre and Aimee both burst into laughter at the same time. Their friend really needed to get out more.
“Well, now that we know how things in the bedroom are going… how’s everything else?”
“Everything’s fine,” Bre said, a bit too quickly.
Her friends both gave her looks that made it obvious they knew she was hiding something. Stephanie was the first to press the issue.
“First you won’t give us details about the hot sex, and now you won’t give us details about anything else either?”
“You’re not getting off that easily,” added Aimee.
Bre let out a groan.
“I said I don’t want to think about the hot sex.”
Aimee looked to Stephanie.
“I know that tone… She’s worried she’s going to leave the bar with another guy tonight.”
Stephanie shook her head.
“She wouldn’t do that. She’s too smitten with the one she’s got.”
Bre shot her a horrified look.
“Gross. I might do it just because you said that.”
Aimee studied her a bit closer before bobbing her head in agreement.
“I think you’re right… she is smitten,” she said to Stephanie.
Bre shot them both accusatory looks.
“What’s up with the Grand Inquisition? We’re supposed to be having a fun ladies night, not ganging up on me.”
Aimee gave her an innocent look.
“What do you mean? We’re just trying to find out what’s going on in our friend’s life…”
“You two are still trying to live vicariously through me and I’ll have no part of it.”
Stephanie said, “Do you say that because you’re afraid to tell us how much you like him and how good it feels?”
Bre crossed her arms in front of her, giving Stephanie her meanest scowl possible in the process.
“It’s my way of saying no comment.”
Stephanie went on as though she hadn’t even said anything.
“Surely there’s more to it than hot sex if you’ve been seeing him this long…”
“Maybe you’re underestimating just how good the sex is?”
Aimee said, “She’s just too embarrassed to admit she’s actually really in to him.”
“True,” Stephanie agreed. “It would mean she’s actually a real-life human being with complex emotions and feelings.”
Bre rolled her eyes.
“Don’t get all yoga zen on me—you’re going to kill my buzz.”
“I’m just saying, the best lies are the ones we tell ourselves.”
Bre let out a sigh and stared at them both for a long moment before responding.
“You’re not going to drop this are you?”
Aimee rubbed Bre’s knee. “Come on, it’s us… how are things going?”
There wasn’t a way out of it. Bre hated having the spotlight on her like this. Sometimes the only way to get out of it was to give the song and dance the audience was looking for. They weren’t going to stop questioning her until she told them what they wanted to hear.
“Fine!” she said. “Things are going good… Really good. Is that what you want to know?”
“You make it sound so terrible,” Stephanie said.
Aimee added, “Seriously! Is something else going on?”
“That’s the whole point!” Bre said, wondering if they had lost their minds. “It is terrible! I’m in way over my head and I kinda hate it.”
Stephanie’s eyes narrowed.
“Did something happen?” she asked.
Bre’s mouth opened to immediately deny it, but she caught herself. What was the point? They were going to see through any lines she fed them, anyways.
She let out a long breath.
“It wasn’t really a big deal,” she bega
n. “It happened after that first date, when I stayed at his place…”
She told them all about the tickets to the car show and the fight they’d had afterward. Then she told them about how they’d made up, afterward—Stephanie was particularly interested in that part.
“Well, there’s one thing I can say for sure,” Stephanie said, after Bre finished. “You weren’t joking about the hot sex…’
“I never joke about hot sex.”
Aimee gave her a puzzled look.
“But that was weeks ago… how have things been since then?”
”They’ve been… good,” Bre said, feeling petulant.
Stephanie started looking just as puzzled as Aimee.
“Details, please…”
Bre rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know… we’ve been doing what couples do, I guess. I told him I needed to take the emotional stuff really slow and he’s been really sweet about it.”
They both stared at her for a long moment as though they didn’t quite understand what she said.
“It sounds like he’s a really good guy,” Aimee said, sounding uncertain.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” added Stephanie.
“What do you mean?” Bre asked, frowning.
Stephanie shrugged. “No offense, but you always seem to push away the guys that might be good for you.”
“That’s not saying much… I push away every guy.”
Stephanie turned her head, giving Bre a sideways look.
“That’s not exactly true…”
“What, you think I only keep the bad ones around?”
Aimee looked between the both of them before saying, “I have to agree with Stephanie on this one. Sure, you like to keep it casual, but you tend to keep the bad boys around a little longer than the others.”
“Remember Evan?” Stephanie asked, giving Aimee a knowing look.
“How could I forget?”
Bre glared at them while they shared a laugh.
“Hey! I’ll have you both know that Evan happened to be quite a bit of fun!”
“Sure, when he actually called you back,” Stephanie teased.
“He was independent. I don’t like it when guys are too needy.”
Aimee gave her a flat stare.
“You bitched to me several times that he was never around when you wanted him. I remember it clearly because it was right when I started dating Bryan and you were trying to tell me how much of a waste of time it was.”
