I rounded the corner, fists clenched, ready to chew some serious ass then break up with him, even if we weren’t officially together and I know you can’t break up with someone you were never with but what the fuck ever, that was my plan, but that’s when I saw him standing at the steps smoking a cigarette. And Red was nowhere to be seen.
I came up short, my heart in my throat thunking back to its original spot in my chest as I watched him take a drag and blow out the smoke. And feeling like an ass for thinking the worst in him, I quietly turned to go back the way I’d come and sneak back inside without his seeing me, but my stealth was all for naught.
“What’s up, Priss?” he questioned making me stop.
Shit.
I turned around knowing I’d been caught and walked toward him slowly trying to think of a lie.
“Uh, I was just checking to make sure the, uh, the, uh, Dumpster wasn’t full.” Yeah, that sounded good.
“And you went out the front instead of the back?” he asked, taking another drag before blowing the smoke out of his nose. How he made that look sexy, I have no idea, but he damned sure did.
God, I was seriously screwed with this man.
“Um, Glen’s mopping and I didn’t want to walk across the wet floor,” I answered lamely.
“Uh huh.” He flicked the butt to the side and walked toward me, stalked really, as if I were his prey, his eyes shining and intense on mine. Gah. “I think you might’ve been jealous that I was talking to Dr. Miller and you thought you’d catch me back here with her.”
Dr. Miller? Oh, man, she was probably a professor from one of his architect classes. Shit. Shit!
As I watched him approach, I gave an almost imperceptible shake of my head in answer to his question then tried hard to appear as innocent as I could, hoping that was a tad bit of amusement I saw in his eyes as he stared me down. When he reached me, he just kept walking making me back up until I hit the wall then he put both hands to either side of my head and bent down to get in my face. “I think that’s exactly what you thought.”
Now I couldn’t look him in the eye as I chewed on the inside of my lip, too embarrassed that he’d seen right through me.
“Am I right?” he asked, his eyes narrowed and piercing mine when I made the mistake of looking back at him, and I saw that all amusement was now replaced with not a small amount of pissed off.
Yikes.
At his question, I bit my lips and nodded, doing this not enthusiastically, mind you.
He shoved off the wall with his hands. “That’s what I thought,” he mumbled then turned to go back inside.
Wait. What?
I took a step after him and asked, “Well, what was I supposed to think?”
He turned and stared at me for a moment then said, “I’m with you, Scout,” as if that explained everything.
I huffed at that, frowning at him. What the heck did that mean? So I asked him. “What does that mean?”
The muscles in his jaws were jumping as he kept looking at me. “It means I’m with you, Scout.”
“You’re with me…” I mumbled, looking down at my sneakers, shaking my head in confusion.
“Yeah.”
I looked back up at him. “I don’t know what that means, Gable.”
Then he moved so fast I could only gasp as he pushed me against the wall again, his body pressing hard into mine, his hand wrapping in the back of my hair and tilting my head to the side as his mouth came slamming down on mine.
Whoa.
He kissed me hard as if proving a point and when he pulled away, I was left standing there breathing hard looking up at him as he scowled down at me.
“Get it now?” he spat.
Uh, no. I didn’t. And why was he so angry? God, why was everything so confusing when it came to him?
I shook my head and it seemed to exasperate him.
“No?” he asked, all out of patience, hands on hips looking at me in disbelief.
I shook my head again as I bit my lip, not knowing what was going on here.
It was his turn to shake his head as he stepped back into me. “I’m with you,” he muttered that puzzling decree again, then took my chin in his fingers and leaned down touching his lips to mine softly as if to make up for the punishing kiss he’d just given me. He pulled away to look at me, his honey eyes smoldering into mine, then mine dropped to his chest where my hands rested. The next thing I knew, he lifted my chin again coming back in for another kiss, and I guess he was finished being gentle because this kiss went off-the-charts scorching hot in about one-point-two seconds as our tongues twirled together which made my stomach flutter like crazy.
His hands were everywhere on me then, one sliding beneath my short jersey where it stopped just under the swell of my breast and his thumb began sliding over my nipple making me shiver. His other hand slid down to cup my butt, jerking me hard into his hips as he groaned into my mouth.
I too got caught up in the kiss, my leg curling around the back of one of his, my hands going up to where my fingers threaded into his hair, tugging, holding him tighter to me. I was so lost to him, so lost in him, that when he suddenly tore his lips from mine, pulling back to look intensely down at me, and the expression I saw was one of almost anguish covering his face, I was completely baffled.
Uh. What in the world was going on in his head? One minute he’s telling me he’s with me, whatever he meant by that, and the next he’s looking at me as if I was the biggest mistake he’s ever made. God.
His demeanor jarred my fogged brain into action and I remembered then that we needed to talk. I also remembered the reason I was out here in the first place which was to possibly catch him making out with his professor. Crap.
I extracted myself from his arms, dropping my hands (and foot) and stepping to the side to put some space between us, the whole time trying to even out my breathing. I swear, the man was the embodiment of sex itself, making me want him any time he touched me which was just unnerving. When I got myself together somewhat, I glanced up to see the pained look still on his face as if he regretted what had just happened between us.
“What?” I whispered with a frown.
He closed his eyes for several seconds then opened them before taking a deep breath. “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah,” I answered. His head came up and his eyes held mine, regarding me as if he was afraid that I knew about his past, which I, of course, did, but he didn’t know that. “I don’t know what’s going on, Gable. You haven’t talked to me in five days. And then you tell me you’re with me but don’t explain it. I’m not sure I understand.”
He backed away and went to the steps to pick up his pack of cigarettes, getting one out and lighting it. I watched as he sucked in deep then blew out the smoke.
“I’m fucked up, Scout. Screwed up,” he answered, his eyes cutting through me as he took another drag. “You were smart, you’d leave me the fuck alone.” He then looked away as he took another hit from his cigarette.
Ugh. Same thing Hayden had said to me which had been a big fucking excuse. And now I was pissed.
“You know what? I hate when guys do shit like this,” I hissed, throwing my arms up. Gable’s head came up and his eyes pierced mine. “Suck you into their lives then feed you that bullshit line. That’s a fucking copout, Gable, and you know it.” I glared at him, angry that he’d gone to that.
He narrowed his eyes. “Oh, yeah? Had this happen before, have you? What, your ex cheat with your best friend? Then tell you he’s fucked up? That what happened?”
I now scowled at him. We’d only talked about this through email never in person, so now I was sure he knew we were pen pals. “Yeah. Had exactly that happen,” I snapped.
He didn’t even flinch. Yep. Definitely knew. He took one last drag on his cigarette before flicking it away. Then after exhaling the smoke, he gazed at me for a moment then took a deep breath in through his nose, blew it back out and took a step toward me. We were still about three feet apa
rt at that point but the distance felt like miles. His eyes scanned my face and my hair as if he was trying to memorize what I looked like then they came back to mine. “So fuckin’ beautiful. So fuckin’ hard to resist,” he mumbled as he shook his head. I started to tell him not to resist but he spoke before I could. “But I’ve got shit goin’ on and I can’t do this right now.”
It took me a moment to process that and when I did, my brows came down. Okay, even though I knew we weren’t technically together, was he saying he was breaking up with me? But he’d just told me he was with me! God! He was so frustrating!
“Ar—are you telling me we’re over?” I asked, my mouth instantly dry and tears stinging the backs of my eyes.
“Not fair for me to ask you to wait until I get shit sorted, so, yeah, I guess I am.” His eyes, void of any emotion at all, held mine.
Oh, my God. Was he kidding me right now?
Wow. Just fucking wow.
I opened my mouth to respond then closed it. I opened it once again and closed it again. Well, three times a charm and all that, so I once again opened it, but still having no clue what I’d say if I could’ve actually spoken, closed it one last time. Then keeping my eyes fixed to his and seeing that he wasn’t budging on what he’d said, I nodded a couple times, still reeling from what had just happened, and unable to hold the tears back, stood humiliated in front of him as they spilled down my cheeks.
Then I walked away.
~*~*~*~
The next part was carried out in a zombified state:
I went inside the bar, found Jack, told him I didn’t feel well and needed to leave. When I got his okay, I clocked out, walked outside, got in my car and drove home.
At my apartment, I went inside, went to my bedroom, got a change of clothes, went to the bathroom, took a shower, dressed, brushed my teeth, went to my bedroom, got in bed and fell asleep.
When I awoke the next morning, I knew I’d been on some serious autopilot the night before because I was puzzled at how I’d gotten into bed much less gotten home.
Weird.
After lying there staring at the ceiling for a while, I got up and walked into the kitchen to get breakfast seeing Amy sitting at the table in her usual “I hate morning” position as she ate her cereal. I walked to the counter, grabbed the bag of bagels, got one out, pulled a knife out of the drawer to cut it in two, put the other half back in the bag, twisted the bag shut then dropped the other half into the toaster.
Jeez. I was still in zombie mode.
“You okay?” Amy mumbled as I pushed the button down on the toaster.
I turned and leaned my butt against the counter. “Yeah. Why?”
She looked at me through narrowed eyes. “You’re still moving like a robot. I said hi to you last night when you came in but you acted like you didn’t hear me or even knew I was there, and, like WALL-E or some shit, you did your nightly routine then went to bed without even acknowledging me. So, again, you okay?”
My eyes dropped to the floor and what had happened between Gable and me finally hit me. My eyes teared up and I looked up at her. “No, I don’t think I am.”
“Oh, sweetie, what’s wrong?” she asked, pushing away from the table and standing coming over to me.
I looked at her as a tear made its way down my cheek. “Gable said we’re over.” And that’s when it really hit me and I hiccupped out a sob as the tears came one after the other.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” Amy whispered and took me in her arms, letting me cry on her shoulder.
There was a knock at the door then I heard a key in the knob and Bodhi made his way inside.
“Just got off work and I’m starv—” he started then I heard him ask, “What’s going on?”
I pulled my head away from Amy and looked up at him not able to contain the choked sob that came out and then he was there, taking me into his arms and letting me cry against his chest. He rubbed his hand over my back several times whispering sweet things to me as I clutched his t-shirt with my fists.
When I was cried out, I brought my head back to look up at him and I knew from the look on his face that Amy had communicated to him somehow what had happened.
“It’s gonna be okay, Scout. Promise,” he said looking down at me with a small smile.
I nodded as another tear slipped out. Amy handed me a napkin and I used it to wipe my eyes then nose.
“I—I feel like an idiot,” I told them. “I knew he’d hurt me.”
Bodhi ushered me over to sit in a chair at the table and Amy brought me a freshly toasted bagel that she’d put grape jelly on, placing the plate and a glass of orange juice in front of me.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, staring at my breakfast knowing I’d lost my appetite.
They both sat down at the table with me.
“What happened?” Bodhi asked, eating what I was pretty sure was the first bagel I’d put in to toast.
I sighed then told them what’d happened and afterward we sat in silence for a few minutes.
“He didn’t break up with you,” Bodhi finally said making my head jerk up to look at him.
“What?” I asked.
“I mean, he told you he had to work through some things, right?”
I nodded.
“He didn’t break up with you,” he repeated.
“So when he said we’re over he was just kidding,” I said sarcastically.
“His brother told you about what had happened to him,” Amy reminded me. “So I think Bodhi’s right. I mean, he may have said you’re over, but I don’t think he meant it. From what you’ve told us, pretty sure he’s totally into you.”
“What?” I asked incredulously. “May I remind you that he fucking broke things off!”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he meant to,” Bodhi threw out there.
“You guys are delusional,” I mumbled.
“You’re still going to the party tonight,” Amy stated. “You can confront him there.”
Oh, shit! The party. Oh, hell no.
“No! I can’t go!” I dropped my head into my hand with a groan.
“Oh, you’re going, all right,” Bodhi said. “And you’re gonna knock him dead with how hot you look. He’ll change his tune after that.”
I shook my head. No way was I going. No way.
“We’ll be right there with you, Scout. It’s all gonna work out,” Amy added.
Sure it would. I’d find him at the party, tell him I was his pen pal, he’d tell me he hated liars, and even though my dear friends were trying to convince me that Gable and I weren’t over, when I told him, we’d be really over and that’d be the end of that.
Sounded like loads of fun.
I couldn’t wait.
Week Ten—Party night
______________________________________
From: 9543254
Subject: Tonight
Date: October 31, 9:02 a.m.
To: 9565876 [email protected]
Six,
Can’t wait to see you tonight. I’ll be the one dressed as Arrow in all black, hooded jacket and jeans with a bow and quiver and a mask, of course. I’ll be there around 9. Don’t know if you’ve been in the Sig Eps’ house before, but when you walk in, go to your left. I’ll be waiting in the hallway by the kitchen bar.
See you soon.
xx
My stomach flipped when I read Gable’s email that morning. If Amy hadn’t been right there when my phone dinged, I would’ve written back and told him I wasn’t coming. But she was and she grabbed my phone and answered for me.
______________________________________
From: 9565876
Subject: Tonight
Date: October 31, 9:04 a.m.
To: 9543254
I’ll be there.
And that was that.
~*~*~*~
I went to my classes that morning, thanking God that I didn’
t run into Gable and now here I was getting ready for the stupid party that neither Bodhi nor Amy would let me get out of. The good thing was, they’d plied me with alcohol so I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I thought I’d be.
When Amy and I walked into the living room, Bodhi let out a loud wolf whistle then exclaimed, “Damn! You’ll be the hottest chicks there!”
I had to admit, we did look good. Amy had on her Catwoman outfit that was skintight, and she looked sexy as hell. I had on my lingerie along with the four-inch black stilettos I’d bought and the robe covering it all. I’d poufed my hair big with lots of big curls and done my makeup dramatic, giving myself smoky cat eyes with eyeliner even though they’d be mostly covered with my mask. I’d borrowed Amy’s scarlet lipstick so we matched and that topped off my outfit. Then we’d sprayed the adhesive to my mask and pressed it to my face and I was ready.
“Not looking so bad yourself,” Amy replied.
Bodhi’s Zorro costume did look good on him.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Antonio Banderas was in my living room right now,” I stated with a giggle, the vodka I’d been drinking having loosened me up quite a bit.
“Okay, enough with the booze,” Amy said, taking the glass out of my hands. “Ready?” she asked, looking closely at me.
I sighed. “As I’ll ever be.”
“Let’s go over the game plan again,” Bodhi repeated for the fiftieth time.
“I think we’ve got it down,” I whined. “We go in, we get a drink, I find Gable, I tell him who I am, if I need your help, I wave at you and you come over and get me the hell out of there. Do I have it right?” I raised an eyebrow at Bodhi.
“You do. All right. Let’s do this,” he muttered and we left the apartment, piled into Amy’s Mazda SUV and headed to the party.
Gable Page 13
