Page 16 of Easy On Me

“Hey, Jase.” A tap landed on my shoulder moments before Nicole’s sugary voice made me cringe. Not having to deal with her had been another benefit of no longer being with Elizabeth. They’d roomed together at Southern, and sometimes I wondered if Nicole influenced Elizabeth’s behavior or vice versa. “What are you up to?”

Passing the box of condoms over to the clerk, I ignored Nicole. She already had her phone out, texting, and of course she was messaging Elizabeth about what I was buying.

My phone started blowing up before I even made it across the parking lot to my truck.

I thumbed open the text thread, tapped her contact and blocked her. Should have done it weeks ago.

We weren’t together. My life wasn’t her concern anymore.

Probably should have texted that before I blocked her.

Minutes later, I pulled into Tyler’s driveway – she rented a little three bedroom place in a neighborhood where several people I’d gone to high school with lived. Parked behind her SUV, I tapped my thumb on the steering wheel and released a long breath.

I had to tell her. Didn’t think she could be mad at me. I mean, I wasn’t responsible for Elizabeth showing up, but you never knew. Elizabeth stayed mad at me, all the time, for shit I didn’t know annoyed her.

Like breathing.

Tyler emerged from the front door, shrugging a khaki coat on over a white blouse and jeans. I scrambled out of the cab. “Hey, I was coming up to the door to get you.”

She fixed me with the long-suffering look I always got when I tried to treat her right, holding doors or pulling out a chair. “I’m capable of walking to the truck.”

“You know what I mean.” I hustled around to open the passenger door. She eyed my hand on the door and rolled her eyes before climbing up.

“Colt was the same way about doors.” She snapped the seatbelt into place. “What is it with you guys?”

All right, I didn’t have to get bent out of shape because she was comparing me to Colt. He was an all right guy, quiet, hardworking. I mean, I didn’t want my mistakes when I was eighteen held against me, so I shrugged off that mess about him hooking up with his cousin’s girlfriend at a party. He was drunk off his ass that night, and that girl, Nicole’s older cousin, was a piece of work. The whole thing never set right with me.

Still.

Tyler had dated him for almost a year. I didn’t want her thinking about him while she was with me, and I sure didn’t want her comparing me to him.

“It’s how we were raised.” Pretty sure he’d gone through cotillion classes the year before I did. I stepped back and shut the door, hoping she’d forget about him before I got behind the wheel.

When I hopped in my seat, Tyler was finishing up a text and tucking her phone away. Engine running and a foot on the brake, I gripped her headrest and half-turned toward her.

She shot a sidelong glance at my arm, then the gearshift. “I think it works better if you put the truck in reverse.”

“Well–” I played with a strand of her dark hair. “–I was thinking about kissing you first.”

With a smirk, she tapped the end of my nose. “That’s an end of the night activity, flyboy.”

I lowered my head, closing half the distance between us. “We can make our own rules, sugar.”

“Sugar.” She shook her head. “You have lost your mind.”

“Can I kiss you hello or not?”

A hand at my nape, she pulled my mouth down to hers, a quick, firm kiss. Grinning, I straightened and shifted to reverse. Once we were on our way, she gave the CVS bag, contents visible through the thin plastic, an arch look. I shook my head.

“Don’t give me that.” I shot a sidelong glance at her. We hadn’t slept together again since Saturday, but I’d gone to the health department Monday like I promised. The results declaring me clean had hit my inbox first thing this morning. I’d forwarded them to her and gotten hers in return. “Not like we won’t again.”

Unless talking about Elizabeth showing up at my place pissed her off and put her off me.

She flicked a glance at me, curiosity all over her face. “Did you go bare with her?”

“I ask you about your last boyfriend?” I didn’t really want to know. I knew her last boyfriend. Hell, I played golf with Colt on occasion if neither of us had a partner for a round.

She tapped the bag with her foot. “Uh, he was always suited up.”