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“Whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’re making this sound serious already.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to pressure you, but even if it’s just sex, I would still feel better if she knew.”
“I mean this in the nicest way, but Maci won’t be jealous or anything. It’s not like she wants to date you. You wouldn’t be here if she did. Trust me, she’s got bigger problems.” She sighs, and I’m tempted to ask her what she means, but I stay on topic.
“Remember how you thought I didn't let my past affect me and my choices?”
“Umm, yeah…”
“Senior year of high school I was the quarterback of our football team.” Lust fills her eyes, and I pride myself on how well I can read this girl already. “Don’t get distracted. Yes, I will show you a picture. Yes, I still have my uniform at my parents' house.”
“How did you…”
“Is that not what you were thinking?”
She rolls her eyes. “Just get to the point of this story.” She moves to sit cross-legged in front of me and gives me her full attention.
“Of course I started dating the head cheerleader because that’s all but a requirement of the job.” I laugh, and she eyes me with curiosity as to where I’m going with this. “We were together for four years. Although, 'together' was apparently a loose term for her. The summer before my senior year of college, I found out she’d been sleeping with one of my best friends for two years.”
Her mouth falls open. I can practically see the gears turning in her head. “That’s why you ghosted Maci.”
I nod. “Yeah, I took it really hard, and I still feel like a dick for how I treated Maci. I thought I was ready to date, and I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to handle it, and unfortunately Maci was the victim of that.”
“I think she’s forgiven you, Troy. You and your magic dick,” she says, amused.
I keep my cringe to myself. “You don’t think I used sex to make it up to her, do you?”
Her brows pinch together, and I let out a sigh of relief at realizing that thought didn’t cross her mind. “Definitely did not think that.”
“Okay, good. I swear that was not what it was about.”
“I know.” Her tone makes me confident she believes that.
“Anyway,” I bring us back to the point, “things were shitty for a while. My buddy, Cooper, finally called me out on my crap. I could either decide to stop trusting people, or I could do my best to always be honest with them and hopefully attract the right people to my circle. It might not matter to Maci, but it’s about more than that to me. I can’t risk people’s feelings based on my assumptions, and I don’t want to withhold information when it’s not necessary.”
“I’m sorry she sucked so much. She sounds like a bitch.”
“It’s okay. It is what it is. I deserve more than that.”
She takes a long moment before responding. “That’s why you’re pushing me to commit to more than sex.”
I sigh, bringing my hands to her knees as she still sits cross-legged in front of me. “I’m not trying to push you. I’m sorry if it’s coming across that way. I just think we click, and I like to be on the same page as other people.”
“It’s just really fast for me. This discussion alone is too much.” She does look physically stressed. “I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve had conversations this serious. I don’t think I’ve even had sex with the same person more than once. Besides you.”
While that’s a little concerning–but more in the sense that I’m sad for her she’s never experienced the benefits of it–I’m choosing to read between the lines of her words. She’s never let anyone else spend the night, and she’s never slept with someone multiple times. Until now. Until me. “Well, thank you for opening up for me. Maybe you could do it again. Right now.”
I reach for the edge of her sleep shorts and tug on them before it clicks that I’ve switched gears. Her smile returns. It tells me I just have to be patient. I can do that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LEXY
“Hey,Lexy.”Hisvoicecomes from above the bar, and I stand up from where I was crouched down sliding an extra tin of cut up limes into the fridge.
“Troy, hi. How did you get in here?” The place is completely empty, besides Mack and the rest of his band setting up on the stage. All the lights are still on, and we don’t open for another half hour.
“I told security you forgot something, and I had to get it to you before your shift.”
