AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then she scampered off, leaving us alone.
“I thought you were studying,” I said as my brain remembered her words to me this morning.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” she got out, “but Sutton insisted I come with her since she got a sitter for Jason and Madison. I agreed to one drink.”
“How exactly is that none of my business?”
“I don’t have to tell you where I am.” She took a sip of her drink, averting her gaze.
“You didn’t have to lie to me.”
My temper was a caged animal, threatening to rip free and devastate everything in its path. I wished that I’d had a longer leash. That I had found a way to channel my anger into something productive. And while sometimes I could, when I was drunk…all bets were off.
“I didn’t lie,” Annie shot back. “I had planned to study all evening. I told Sutton that I wasn’t going out this semester at all because I was too busy. But she’s my best friend, so…here I am.”
“You had to know that I was going to be here.”
“And how would I know that?” she snapped. “You didn’t tell me that you were coming to David’s party.”
“Not after you had a meltdown at my house this morning.”
She took a step back. “Fuck you, Jordan.”
She turned away from me, but I grasped her arm to stop her.
“We are not dating,” she spat at me. She shook with the control to not raise her voice. “We’re not.”
“I heard you, Annie,” I growled. “We’re not dating. We’re fucking. Friends with benefits. Whatever you want to call it.”
“Fucking is fine with me.” Her eyes were twin flames. “Because right now, I’m not sure we’re even friends.”
“Fine,” I said.
“Fine,” she repeated through gritted teeth.
She jerked out of my grip and stalked across the room. She stood like a sentinel next to Jennifer and Sutton. They all laughed and joked while Annie sipped her drink and pointedly avoided my gaze. She finished her one drink, hugged her friends, and then headed for the door.
She really had come for only one drink.
I’d been in conversation with Julian and Hollin about the winery when I saw her slip out. I didn’t even make an excuse; I just darted for the exit.
I caught up to her on the sidewalk next to her car. “Annie.”
She sighed heavily and then turned to face me. Her eyes glittered in the moonlight. I wanted to kiss her, to brush aside all the harsh words we’d said to each other. Just to take her home and forget it’d all happened.
“What do you want, Jordan?”
“I don’t want this to be the end.”
It wasn’t what I’d meant to say. Instead, it was the truth.
“Whatever it is, Jordan, it has to end eventually,” she said, defeated. “I’m leaving. I told you that from the start. I’m leaving in a few months, and you’re staying. We can’t date.”
“Okay,” I said calmly, stepping closer to her. “I know you don’t want to date.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “We can’t date.” She drew an imaginary line between our bodies. “This is the line in the sand.”
“And if I want more?” I asked stupidly, drunkenly. A question I never would have asked sober. Not in a million years when she was right there in my grasp.
She crossed her arms, blocking me from her body. “If you can’t stay on your side of the line, then that’s that.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Because Annie and I worked. We worked just how we fucking were. I’d be an idiot to fuck with that. But I was drunk and honest, and I couldn’t deny that crossing that fucking line sounded like the right move.
So, when Annie opened the door and got inside her car, I let her drive away. I wouldn’t push her for something she didn’t want. Even if she was what I wanted.
Part III
Line in the Sand
16
Annie
“Welcome to UT Southwestern,” Kimi said cheerfully from the front of our small group of medical students. “We’re the only emergency medicine residency in Dallas and proud of it. As a third-year resident myself, I’m here to answer any questions about what goes into the residency program, the interviews, and tours.”
I covered my yawn with my notepad.
I’d arrived in Dallas the previous day, and unlike a lot of the other interviews I’d been to, I was paired with a current resident, Prisha. The hospital had put me up in Prisha’s house, and she’d taken me out to a local barbeque place. We came home early. I’d only had one drink. I should have slept great, but I’d tossed and turned all night. Actually, I hadn’t had a restful night of sleep since the argument with Jordan on Saturday.
I’d wanted to go over and spend the night in his comfy bed and study at his enormous dining room table and eat takeout like normal humans. But I’d drawn the line in the sand. I wasn’t going to be the one to cross it.
