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“Yeah, I thought maybe we could go out for dinner if you haven’t eaten yet? I’m starving.”
“With the guys?”
“Um. No, I was thinking just you and me. Us. Together. You know, without…the others.”
Christ. He wanted adate. I should’ve expected it after this morning, but I thought he understood that wasn’t my thing.
Gavin was all about long walks on the beach, holding hands, and candlelit dinners. Me? I just wanted to set fire to everything and be done with it. Let the flame catch, burn hot, then get out before it burned you to a fuckin’ crisp.
“D?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you eaten?”
Damn it, why wouldn’t he just leave me alone? I didn’t want to be an ass, but he wasn’t leaving me much of an option. “Nah, not hungry.”
The flash of hurt that crossed Gavin’s face had me refocusing on the board again. This was the exact reason I’d steered clear of him today. The reason I’d done everything I could to avoid hooking up with him in the first place. He was too sweet, too naïve. Hell, I’d flat-out told him I’d hurt him. But here he was, trying to make this more than it was. Trying to attach feelings to the physical.
I didn’t play that way, though. I wasn’t about to pretend what happened this morning was more than a quick fuck. That would be worse in the long run for everyone. So it was best he got over this…crush, or whatever it was he was feeling.
If I hurt him today, he could hate me tomorrow. Then we’d all get over it and move the hell on.
“Oh, okay. Well, maybe I could just get us a couple more drinks? I wasn’t really hungry anyway.”
I stalked over to the board and pulled the dart free, then turned back to Gavin. “Why do you do that?”
A tentative smile curved Gavin’s lips. “Do what?”
“Change your plans for someone else?”
“I didn’t do that.”
“Yeah, you did.” I walked back over to the table and downed the other shot of tequila. “You wanted to go eat. So go eat.”
Gavin opened his mouth as though he were going to say something, but then he stopped. “You’re trying to piss me off.”
God, it was annoying how well he knew me. But that didn’t stop my dick from reacting to the way he called me out on my shit. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had been ballsy enough to go toe to toe with me, yet there Gavin was at every turn, ready to butt heads with me.
“Why the hell would I do that?” I said.
“’Cause you’re freaking out.” He scoffed and shook his head. “I should’ve known better. You stuck your dick in me this morning, and when it jump-started your heart, you freaked the fuck out.”
Jesus, I needed more alcohol for this. “Hate to break it to you, but my heart long since checked out. It would take a hell of a lot more than ten minutes in your sweet ass to bring it back to life.”
Gavin snatched his bag off the table and glared at me. “What are you so afraid of?”
“I’m not?—”
“All I wanted was dinner. Not a declaration of love. Not even adate. I just wanted to eat a damn meal, and you had to go and be an ass about it.”
He wasn’t wrong, but it was better he hate me now and just get it out of his system.
“Then goeat. This is what I’m talking about. Someone says they don’t want to do something, and you immediately change to their plans. Stand up for yourself.”
I don’t know why I was pushing him so hard. He already hated my guts, judging by the furious look on his face. But I figured since I was all in already, I might as well go for gold. Being an asshole was, after all, the one thing I excelled at.
“Wow, okay, so that’s how you see me? As a pushover?”
