“Fuck that,” I spit out. “I needed to see you now. Go out with me.” She begins to shake her head. “I won’t take no for an answer, Tori. I’ll stay here all night until you agree.”
“Zane, I – I just don’t understand the point,” she says but the way she starts nibbling on her bottom lip lets me know that she’s about to cave.
“I’m asking you to go out with me, Tori. Not get married. Go out with me.”
I move a little more in her space. Close enough that she can feel the heat off my body, but not so close that we’re touching. Close enough that I can see the split-second moment that she tries to lean into me, but not close enough that she does little more than brush her clothes against mine.
And I see it. The moment that she can’t deny what she’s feeling. The moment that her no becomes a yes. I don’t give her a chance to say it. “I’ll send a car for you tomorrow at six.”
And I turn away. Walk off without a look back. Without a chance for her to second guess what just happen.
Tori
I leaned against my apartment door a little breathless. I most definitely was not expecting to open my door and see Zane standing there. When he gave me his little speech six months ago, I figured in two weeks he’d move on. I should’ve known better considering he’d spent a few weeks texting me every day then appeared out of nowhere when I wouldn’t respond. He's nothing if not persistent.
No. That's not right. He is fucking relentless.
I was beginning to realize that Zane Valen was very good at surprising me. Very good at just appearing when you least expect him. But how could I expect him when he lived so far away? He almost made my point about the distance moot, but I knew that this was the off season. He isn’t on the road or at practice every day, so he had a little more spare time than normal.
“Oh sister, if you don’t want him, can I have him? He is so damn hot.” I turn and open my closed eyes to see my sister fanning herself with a big grin.
I let out a huge sigh. “Zane wants more than just a little casual fun,” I tell her in a frustrated voice.
“I’m pretty sure he’d be good for fun,” she waggles her eyebrows.
I laugh hard as I cross the space of my apartment to my white sofa sitting in the middle of my small living area. My apartment is small, but very nice. Because it is New York, nice also meant expensive so I had to sacrifice on size.
“I don’t do more than casual. I don’t know how, Cara.”
“So, you’re telling me that you won’t try anything out with him because the smoking hot, infamous ladies’ man wants more than a one-night stand?”
I didn’t like the way her penetrating brown eyes zeroed in on me. They were judging and disbelieving. She was being condescending. She shook her blond hair that was a couple of shade darker than mine. “What does that really have to do with anything, Tori? He’s likes you. He’s not proposing marriage.”
Why did everyone keep comparing my issue with a relationship to marriage?
“I can’t even make a relationship with guys in the same city work. How would I ever make one like this work?” I spout the same excuse that makes me inwardly flinch because it's starting to sound a little redundant and overused.
She curls up on the overstuffed white chair across from me. Her sock clad feet make their way under her as she stares at me with a look of pure – frustration and disappointment. I don't like how she's looking at me right now. It unnerves me.
“Maybethis is exactly the type of relationship youneed,” she tells me with a flip of her hair. “You won’t be able to see him every day. You won’t have to make plans around him all the time. You’ll just see each other when you can and talk on the phone. Like you were doing before. It can give you time to adjust and see where it goes.”
I pick at the skin around my short nails. “It still sounds like a lot of work for something that will never workout.”
“Oh. My. God.” She is standing on my chair with a bounce of exasperation. “You are doing everything you can to convince us all this won't work when you haven't even tried. You’re afraid you might actuallyfallfor him. You are afraid of commitment and getting your heart broken.”
I scoff at her with my brows dropping into a V. I feel my chest puff out a bit and my chin tip up. “Don’t be ridiculous, Cara. I’m not afraid. I just don’t like wasting my time. I like to know what the end game is when it gets started.”
“Sounds like that’s why you’ve never had a serious relationship. Sometimes the relationship is the end game Tori.”
“What do you know?” I snap as I get irritated with her condescending tone and her line of reasoning (because it was too logical and reasonable). “You’re nineteen. You haven’t been in a serious relationship either, and it’s not like you’ve ever seen Dane in one.”
“Maybe I haven’t been in a serious relationship, but I know what I would expect out of one. Just like I know dodging, avoiding, and fear when I see it. From you and Dane.”
I grumble a bit, incoherently wishing it were my brother here instead of Cara. Dane wouldneverencourage a relationship with someone. He wouldn’t even encourage a date or drinks. He’d prefer Cara and I were nuns and I’m starting to see the value of that line of thinking. Except that I like sex.
I really like sex. Even if it has been months since that has been something I’ve gotten to enjoy, and even longer since I remember it. I shiver as I remember waking up to Maddox that morning. I hope those memories never reveal themselves.
“Why do you need to know the end game? Why can’t you just have fun with the guy and see where it goes?”
