“You did good.”He kissed her again.“Can you walk?”
“I’m great.”
“You’re silly when you drink too much.”Dante chuckled.His eyes filled with adoration as he wiped hair away from her eyes.
Tonya tossed her long, black hair, causing her to stumble.“You love it.I’m going to do all kinds of things to you.”
“If you can stay awake until we get home, I’ll let you.”Dante picked her up.“I got you.Where’s your drinking buddy?”
She waved in the direction of the kitchen.
Dante gave me a double eyebrow raise.
“I’ll check on her,” I promised.“See you two later.”I took a few deep breaths on my walk to the kitchen, but it did nothing to settle my dread.
Erika placed two wine glasses near the sink.Her hair had been thrown up into a bun that had half fallen out.Yet, her movements seemed controlled.Maybe she held her alcohol better now than in high school.
Despite the emotional wreckage between us, my stomach knotted.Those jeans should’ve been illegal.I recognized them as the pair she wore when she marched onto the baseball field and tore into me about my pants.In that moment, I had realized something that scared the hell out of me: falling for her again would take no effort at all.
I’d known it when I sabotaged us the first time.If I hadn’t fucked it up on purpose, maybe none of this would feel so impossible now.
If I truly cared about Milly, I wouldn’t be reacting to Erika like this.The guilt settled heavy in my chest.With Milly, there was comfort in the lack of surprise and a sense of doing the right thing.But there was never this volatile mix of dread, anticipation, and electric pull that made me feel like one wrong step could blow everything apart.And the worst part was knowing I might be the one to light the fuse out of an inability to resist.
Erika’s eyes were glazed when they slid my way.A silly smile lit up her face, which was a huge red flag.I’d met drunk Erika a time or two—it’s the South; what else did we have to do on the weekends in high school in the middle of farm country other than drink?Drunk Erika talked a lot and turned dangerously touchy feely.
“If it isn’t Dr.Hot Ass himself?”she said.
Uh oh.“You think my ass is hot?”
She wavered but caught herself on the counter.“Those baseball pants make a woman want to squeezy touch.”
“Even you?”I put an arm around her waist and guided her out of the kitchen.
“Esss-pecially me.”She giggled and reached around to squeeze my butt.
I jumped even though her squeeze wasn’t very hard.
“So squeezy…but not squishy,” she slurred.“Tight butt.”She laughed hard.“Might even want to lick around to the front of that tight ass, but why should I when I know I won’t be your one and only?”She took a fistful of my shirt front to pull my face down so close that I could smell the whiskey on her breath.“I’m a girl who believes in royalty…no, loyalty.Like monograms…no, monogamous.Yeah, that.”
“Do you wantmeto be monogamous with you?”I disentangled my shirt.The imagery of her licking around to my front killed me.
“Don’t know if you can.”She gave me a fake serious look.
It wasn’t worth arguing with her or trying to explain away the past, not with her like this.I made what I thought was the right decision in high school.We both got hurt.There was no going back.“Stay here.I’m going to get you some water.”
She leaned against the wall just outside the kitchen.
I brought her a bottled water from the refrigerator.She struggled with the top, so I unscrewed it for her.“Drink.It might help you sober up and avoid the hangover.I’ll get Vinny in bed.”
“His room’s upstairs.”She waved at the stairs while she gulped down water.
“Got it.”I scooped up Vinny and huffed my way upstairs.The kid wasn’t light.
When I arrived back downstairs, Erika danced around to theCarstheme.She grabbed my arms.“Dance with me.”
“No.You’re wasted.”
“Nah.”She flicked her hand in a loose, floppy wave.“I barely ever drink, so my tolerance is trash.I’m not drunk.Just, you know,a littletipsy.”She held her fingers an inch apart to illustrate, then promptly bumped into the coffee table and burst into giggles.
