She blinks at me. Is she too buzzed to get what I’m doing here? Or did I read her all wrong?
The guy twists his face up in disgust. “Read the room. We’re busy.”
“No.” Veronica steps back. “He’s right. I promised. And Crosley will never let me live it down if I forfeit.”
Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, for her little remaining bit of sobriety.
The guy curls his lip, but his hands drop to his sides. “You know where to find me when you finish.”
“Probably not tonight.” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “I promised my friends I’d spend it with them.” She steps closer to me then swallows as if she’s losing her nerve. “Thanks for talking to me, though. I hope we can chat about it more later.”
His smile is as sincere as a snake’s. “Of course. Any time.”
She nods and turns toward the pool table, striding on unsteady legs.
“Veronica!” Wes calls. “Finally joining us?” He offers her a pool cue.
She starts to take it, then shakes her head. “I need a minute.”
I keep an eye on her as she strides toward the bathroom.
“What did you do?” Crosley asks.
I shake my head. “I’ll be right back.”
There’s a long line outside the bathroom, and Veronica’s a few spots away from the door, her face tipped toward the ceiling. As if she senses me, she tenses and blows out a long breath before stepping out of the line and striding toward the exit.
I can’t tell if she’s pissed or embarrassed or something else altogether, but I follow her. Once I know she’s okay, I’ll go back to my friends and leave her alone.
I find her in the alley, leaning against the building, eyes closed. Something in my chest clenches at seeing her like this—unguarded and vulnerable.
“You don’t want to miss a second of my humiliation, do you?” The defeat in her voice makes me pause. Did I make her feel like that, or the idiot in the bar?
“You don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. He was being pushy.” I pause a beat, shoving my hands into my pockets, still not confident I did the right thing. “You pissed at me for getting involved?”
She doesn’t open her eyes. “No. You’re right. He was getting handsy, and I didn’t know how to get out of it.”
I take the spot beside her, leaning a shoulder against the wall so I can watch her. “That doesn’t seem like you.”
She coughs out a laugh. “And you know me so well?”
Maybe. Or maybe I just want to.
The realization should come as a surprise, but it doesn’t. I’ve been curious about this hidden side of Veronica since our night together. Since the night she told me that the Jacksons’ big family get-together made her feel lonely. “What happened to her?” I mutter.
She opens one eye. “What?”
I swallow. Sometimes I hate the animosity between us. “What happened to the girl from the lake last summer? The one who admitted she was lonely? The one who kissed me like I was exactly what she needed?”
She turns to face me, mimicking my posture. Just when I expect her to sneer at me, her gaze drops to my mouth. “She gets me in trouble, so I don’t let her out much.”
“That’s a shame.” I inch closer. Her intoxication must be contagious, because I haven’t had a drop of alcohol and have no excuse for being this honest. “I really liked her.”
“Yeah, right.”
I frown. Have I been that much of a dick? “I’m serious. I thought I’d found a kindred spirit.”
She tilts her face up and shakes her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t rewrite history.”
I frown. “I’m not. I . . .” How many moments have I had the opportunity to be vulnerable with Veronica and chosen not to? And how many times have I wished she’d be vulnerable with me? “I really liked you, but after you just ran away, and the next morning . . .” I release a dry laugh. “The next morning, you were kind of a bitch.”
She leans toward me. And she smells like heaven. Lavender and sunshine, just like last summer. It’s a fresh scent I can all too easily imagine on my pillow. “Only because you deserved it.”
“Why are you always so determined to piss me off?”
“Because you’re so uptight it makes my head hurt. Because you watch me like you want to screw my brains out but don’t have the balls to so much as touch me.”
My jaw drops. “Why would I after the way you acted last time?”
She spins around and walks toward the door. I move fast, grabbing her by the hips before she can get far. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but the second I feel the swell of her hips under my fingertips, I can’t bring myself to regret it.
She leans back into me. Barely. As if she wants to resist but can’t. Fuck, she smells good. I graze my nose over the shell of her ear. The scent of her makes blood pump to my dick. And the feel of her under my hands? Goddamn. She’s perfect.
“You’re the one who’s always picking fights. I think you’re scared of this chemistry, and this is your way of keeping distance between us.” I skim my lips down the side of her neck. “I think you’ve been scared of what’s between us since the first time I touched you.”
She leans her head to the side, making room for my mouth to explore her neck. “Maybe I just think you’re hot when you’re pissed.”
“I think it’s both.” I slide my hands around to her stomach. I sneak one up, my thumb grazing the underside of her breasts, and the other down, the tips of my fingers finding the top of her panties through her dress. God, this is a terrible idea, but I want her so damn much. “Tell me to stop.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” I think she meant to sound snappy, but the words come out on a sigh, and she presses into me as if she wants our bodies to be as close as possible.
“Then tell me what you want.”
“It’s such a shame you can’t figure it out for yourself,” she says.
I spin her around, pressing her back against the building and stepping forward until her breasts are pressed to my chest and my leg is between her thighs. Still not close enough. “You’re full of shit. You know exactly how well I can figure it out. You remember, don’t you?”
Her eyes flare. “Maybe I need a reminder.”
Not until she’s sober. I ache to cup her breasts in my hands and suck on the sensitive spot at the top of her shoulder, but I won’t cross that line tonight.
That doesn’t mean we can’t talk. “What happened that night? Why did you run away from me?”
“No one likes being a stand-in for the real thing, Colt. I may be a bitch, but I do have some standards.”
What is she talking about? Just how drunk is she? “Why would you think you were a stand-in? For whom?”
“If you’re fucking someone else to forget your ex, you should at least try not to call out your ex’s name in the heat of the moment.” Straightening, she steps around me. The click of her heels echoes through the alley as she walks away.
Veronica
I’m that fuzzy kind of drunk where I still feel like I’m in control of my decisions, but the whole world blurs around the edges. Until Jim Moody decided to use his leverage with the school board as an excuse to grab my ass, I was having more fun than I’d had in a long time. Dancing with Jim was even okay at first.