Page 66 of Center Ice
Her eyes widen, and then I can tell she realizes I’m joking. The laugh that bursts out of her is exactly what I was hoping for, but then her face grows serious again, and she says, “It’s not something to joke about.”
“I know, I just needed to see you smile. For real, though, let me prove to you that you and Graham are what I really want, and that I deserve you both. Let me be here for you in the good times, and through all the mundane shit, and when things get hard.”
I watch her trying not to let down her guard, trying to hold everything in. Finally, she says, “I don’t think you’re ready for all that.”
I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life. “I look forward to proving you wrong.”
“Sure,” she says quietly as she looks up at the sky. “Goodnight, Drew.”
She closes the door slowly, like she thinks I’m going to stop her. But I realize she needs time to process all of this, and I need time to figure out my game plan. Because there’s no way I’m not giving this relationship everything I’ve got.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
AUDREY
When I push open the door from the basement into our kitchen, Jules spins around in surprise, almost spilling her bowl of soup down the front of theOur Housesweatshirt she’s wearing with her dirty work jeans. She comes home a bit early on Wednesdays so I can make it to my dance class.
She takes one look at my face, and asks, “What’s wrong?”
I’d been downstairs printing the revisions for the Livingston plans before leaving for my class, but walking up those basement stairs has all kinds of memories washing through me.
I bite my lower lip, which I know is a nervous habit, but I still can’t seem to stop myself. “Long story.”
She glances over at Graham, who’s engrossed in an episode of his favorite show that I told him he could watch after he finished his dinner while I changed for dance. She looks back at me and points to the kitchen.
I follow her in there, but with our open floor plan, it’s practically a part of the living room and not far from Graham. “What’s going on?” she whispers. “Why are you being weird?”
“I’m not being weird. I just…”am not any good at lying!Why can’t I think of anything to say to finish that sentence?
“What the hell, Audrey? You’re scaring me.” Jules’s voice is approaching a normal speaking level.
“Keep your voice down,” I hiss, glancing over at Graham, but he’s entirely focused on Spiderman. When I glance back at her, she’s set her soup on the counter and folded her arms across her chest.
“Then tell me what’s going on, so I don’t have to make a big deal out of it.” She narrows her eyes at me.
“Fine, so those basement stairs hold…certain memories…of…”
“Oh my God,” she groans. “Spit it out.”
“A certain person, whose name I’m not going to say right now”—my eyes track over to Graham so she’ll understand why—“and I…kind of…”
Jules snorts out a laugh, then drops her voice to a whisper. “Did you and Drewdo iton those stairs?”
I can’t tell if she’s horrified or delighted.
“Sort of.”
“How do yousort ofhave S-E-X with the father of your kid?” she whispers.
“I meant we were sort of on the steps. It was more like…up against the wall…on the landing at the bottom of the stairs?”
“You sure?” Her light brown eyebrows scrunch down toward her gray eyes. “Because you seem confused.”
“Don’t be an asshole. You know I hate talking about this stuff.” It does make me wonder, though, why I had absolutely no issue keeping up with Drew’s dirty talk on the phone that night. Something about him brings that out in me, I guess.
“Well, don’t be such a prude and I won’t have to be an asshole about it. So why can’t you even walk down the stairs now?”
I can’t think about yesterday without picturing it happening all over again—images of the way he kissed me like he owned me, how he held my ass as he drove himself into me, the deliciouslyfull feeling of him sliding against my inner walls, the way my nipples dragged against his chest as his body moved… Heat flashes through me, and my mouth parts with a breathy sigh, and I can feel the dampness pooling against my underwear.
