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“Wherever you’d go.”
“All right. Let’s grab some dinner, so you two don’t drown tonight.”
Derek snapped off the TV, and I took them to a local Italian restaurant. A few of my friends were going to a nightclub around the corner. We met up with them, breezing past the line and inside.
Alyssa and Zoey had been my roommates through all four years of Parsons. Zoey’s wife, Tara, had practically lived with us the last year. They’d gotten married over the summer at Tara’s Long Island home. I’d taken Camden with me, which was the death of our already-broken relationship.
Derek and Alyssa hit it off right away, as I’d figured they would. He drew her out onto the dance floor, and we lost them almost immediately. Zoey and Tara were next until it was just me and Ash at the bar.
We’d ordered a round of tequila shots before everyone disappeared. And now, there were six shots in front of us.
“They need to come back for these,” I yelled over the loud music.
Ash held his up. “Their loss.”
I laughed. “You want to drink them all? I’ll be toast after that.”
“We had a big dinner.”
Which was true, but probably beside the point. Still, I shrugged and lifted my shot. We clinked glasses and downed the first round. I sucked on a lime while Ash downed a second shot and then a third.
My eyes rounded. “Whoa, whoa … slow down.”
“There. Now, you only have to take one more.”
“Ash …” I muttered softly.
He must have heard the sympathy in my voice because he shook his head and scooted the tequila over to me. So, he didn’t want to talk. Fine. We’d just drink then. I raised my glass, and we downed the last round. I sucked on the lime, again wincing as the liquid burned down my throat.
“Come on,” Ash said, taking my hand and pulling me out onto the dance floor.
We found the rest of my friends in the crowd. The tequila loosened up my entire body, and I fell into Ash’s arms, dancing without reservation. For a few short hours, I forgot why he was here and what had happened to him. I forgot everything. Just laughed and danced and drank the night away.
Ash and I practically had to carry Derek back to the apartment. We looked ridiculous, hauling an enormous basketball player through the streets of New York. Luckily, my apartment wasn’t far, and we threw him down on the couch, where he promptly passed out.
“Shit,” I muttered. “I didn’t blow up the air mattress.”
I stumbled into my bedroom and rummaged through the top of my closet to locate it. I felt Ash’s presence at my back more than heard it.
“Why don’t I just stay in here?” he said.
I’d kicked off my heels, and suddenly, he was a good head taller than me. I swallowed, immediately sober at the suggestion. My body hummed with all the need I always felt for Ash Talmadge. But that … that couldn’t be what he was interested in.
“Here?” I whispered.
“You have a king-size bed,” he said.
“Right. Uh … sure.”
He shot me a smirk and brushed my loose hair out of my eyes. “As long as you’re okay with that?”
My heart stuttered. “It’s fine with me. I’ll just … I’ll just change.”
I hustled into the bathroom and removed my dress. I pulled on a pair of sleep shorts and a sweatshirt. October was my favorite month in the city, but it was cold and drafty at night.
Ash had stripped down to his boxers and was currently lying under the covers. I stumbled slightly at the sight of his muscled chest … in my bed.
His eyes tracked me as I walked around to the other side and got into bed.
“I … might have had too much to drink.”
He laughed. “Derek had too much.”
“Fair.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I leaned over and switched off the light. “Well … good night.”
“Good night, Mia.”
But I couldn’t sleep. I could feel his heat, even across the giant bed. I wanted to roll over and change everything in that moment. But he didn’t want that. He never really had. And it wasn’t fair to want that when he had just gone through a big break up.
“Amelia,” he whispered into the dark.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for having us for the weekend.”
“Anytime.” I swallowed and pushed forward. “You know you can talk to me if you want. If you need to talk about it.”
Ash nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“Good.”
A few minutes later, he said, “I want to forget that it ever happened.”
“That’s how I felt after Camden and I broke up.”
Ash’s eyes snapped up to mine. “You broke up?”
“Yeah. This summer.”
“What happened?”
“You were right about him. He was an asshole.”
“Sounds right.”
I sighed. I didn’t talk about Camden much either, but it was nice to have someone who cared. “I took him to Zoey and Tara’s wedding. And he was just … so judgmental.”
