Break You (4 page)

I pulled in a deep breath before I spoke. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really had no clue you were into me at all. If I had known, then I would have asked you out. You know how it was back then… We were fifteen and ran by our nerves and hormones. Girls intimidated me, still do in fact.” I paused and flashed her a little smile. “I never meant to lead you on. I swear.” Taking another swig of my beer, I prayed this would be a good enough apology for her.

She flung her hand, waving off my apology, and made this weird duck face. Why did girls always resort to that face? I’d learned over the years it held two meanings: One, they were attempting to look sexy. And two, they were faking not being hurt or pissed by something you’d said.

Shit. She was still pissed.

“It was forever ago,” she said. Her blue eyes met with mine. There was no trace of pissiness or hurt within them. Maybe I’d been wrong this time. “Besides, I got over you real quick-like after that.”

My chest tightened. Ouch.

“I’d better head back inside. My friend is probably wondering where I went with her cup.” She scooped up both beers from the railing. There was a twinkle in her eye I couldn’t decipher. “It was nice catching up with you again, Jason.”

Damn. What a strikeout. I cleared my throat, hoping to release the building sting of rejection gripping my vocal cords.

“Yeah, nice to run into you again too,” I said. She was already halfway through the door though, so I couldn’t be sure she’d heard me.

Finishing the last of my beer in two gulps, I hung around outside for a bit longer. Why was I letting Blaire Hayes get to me so badly? It wasn’t like I’d never felt the searing sting of rejection before. I guess the thing was, I’d never expected to feel it from her tonight.

Sitting my empty cup down on the banister in front of me, I rubbed my hands over my face, wondering what the fuck I was doing here anyway. Pulling my phone from my back pocket, I checked the time. 12:42 AM. I’d give Matt about twenty more minutes and then I was gonna see if he was ready to call it a night. I sure as hell was.

I got over you real quick-like after that.

Blaire’s words repeated through my mind. Fuck me. That little twinkle had been the sweet sparkle of a long-harbored revenge served cold. I laughed out loud, causing the few people scattered about out here with me to look in my direction in alarm. I didn’t care. Let them think what they wanted about me. I’d just figured out Blaire Hayes had played a game with me…and I liked it.

Gripping my empty cup, I started back inside with two goals in mind: One, to find Matt and tell him I was out in twenty and ask for a ride home. And two, to find Blaire and tell her nice serve.

CHAPTER FIVE

BLAIRE

The smile on my face was not one I could remove. Normally I wasn’t one for games or to do things out of sheer spite, but what had happened outside with Jason Bryant was a long time coming
and
freaking priceless. The look on his face—it was like my pointed remark had been drilled into him and he’d never felt anything like it before.

Searching the crammed apartment, I spotted Lauren and Susan right where I’d left them. Walking over, I realized the conversation was right where it had left off, too. Awesome, I hadn’t missed any jokes Susan made about old men’s balls.

“Here’s your drink,” I said. I held the slightly warm cup out to Susan and hoped it would shut her up. At least for a moment.

Lauren eyed me. “And where have you been? I know the line at the keg wasn’t
that
long.”

“Eh, around,” I said. I took a sip of my beer and smiled at her.

“Nu-uh.” Lauren’s brown eyes glimmered with mischief. “Were you flirting with someone? Off making out with someone? Fucking someone in the corner?”

“Oh my God!” I smacked her arm and balked at her. “Hell no!”

“Better tell me, because if you don’t my mind will just keep dreaming up things you could have been off doing for nearly thirty minutes. Trust me—a person can do a lot in thirty minutes.” She flashed me an impish smile. “As a matter of fact, I think there’s a T-shirt that says something like that in the back of my closet.”

Susan chuckled and nearly sprayed the warm beer I’d handed her all over. I narrowed my eyes at her. I wasn’t a bitchy person, generally speaking, but there were just those people who rubbed me the wrong way and irked me like no other. Susan Baron was one of those people.

“Fine,” I said. “Walk with me to the bathroom.”

Lauren grinned from ear to ear. “I knew you had something juicy to tell me.”

Smiling, I interlocked my arm through hers. “Eh, nothing major.”

We weaved our way down the even more crowded hallway, heading toward the bathroom. I really did have to pee, but I also didn’t want to be around Susan anymore. Nor did I want her hearing anything I was about to say.

“Enough with the melodrama,” Lauren said with an eye roll. “Tell!”

“All right, all right,” I said.

In the chunk of time it took for Lauren and me to make it from the kitchen to the bathroom, I’d managed to repeat the entire story of Jason and me to her.

“I know it’s immature and dumb,” I said as I finished washing my hands at the sink. I scooped up my cup from the counter. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I ran my fingers through my hair, correcting my part, and then wiped my finger beneath my eyes to get rid of a few smudges of eyeliner. “But it felt so good to be able to get him back.”

“I’m sure it did.” Lauren smiled.

Gripping the knob, I jerked the door open and came face to face with Jason. My heart crashed against my ribcage as our eyes met. I prayed he hadn’t been able to hear what we’d been talking about through the door.

“And we meet again.” Jason grinned.

My cheeks heated at the sound of his voice. I took another sip of my drink. Hopefully the red tint would be discarded and chalked up as being from the alcohol rushing through my veins.

“I guess so,” I said.

Lauren moved to my side. “
We
haven’t met before.”

Jason shifted his gaze to her. “No, we haven’t. I’m Jason, Jason Bryant.”

“Lauren Myers, Blaire’s good friend.” She elbowed me in the side and I knew exactly what she was thinking without her having to utter a single word. She was thinking how freaking hot Jason was.

“I, uh …” Jason moved to scoot between the two of us and into the bathroom.

There was an awkward shuffling of bodies as the three of us attempted to maneuver around one another in the cramped quarters of the hall, during which Jason’s warm hand found its way to my hip. Ripples of pleasure slid through me from the sensation of his skin pressed against mine, settling in my lower stomach and catching it on fire.

 “Sorry,” he breathed against my ear in apology for having touched me in his passing.

The words It’s fine formed in my mind, but never made their way to my lips. His touch had rendered me speechless. There was another awkward moment where we locked eyes again as he started to close the bathroom door.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Would you rather me leave it open so you can see?”

“What? No!” I fumbled my words. My cheeks heated to a whole new shade of red, one that I was sure would not be written off as being caused by alcohol. “I’m fine…I mean you’re fine… I’m—damn it!” I clamped my mouth shut before I could stutter anything else and turned to walk away before I made an even larger idiot of myself. Damn him. It was like sophomore year all over again and my stomach was filled with oversized butterflies in his presence.

“Are you sure?” He leaned against the doorframe and smirked at me. “I’ll even let you hold it.”

Lauren burst into a fit of laughter beside me and I shifted to glare at her.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…your face!” she cried. “I’ve never seen you look so mortified and shocked!”

Jason winked at me and then closed the door.

I couldn’t move. Had he really just asked me that? Seriously? Lauren tossed her arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

“I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “He is a freaking riot.”

“Right, so are you ready to head out?” I asked, forcing my face into a somewhat normal expression as quickly as I could.

“Uh, sure. If you are.” Her laugh died down and her smile faded. “You’re not pissed at me for laughing, are you?”

Softening my features, I glanced at her. “No, I’m not mad. I’m just ready to head home. I’m still not feeling too well. My throat is killing me, actually.”

“Okay, well… Let’s go find Paige then and let her know.”

Paige had moved from the kitchen to the keg, but was still standing with the douche from earlier. Had they really been talking the entire time we’d been here? I watched Paige’s face light up at something Craig said as Lauren and I made our way to them. She was hooked. That much was clear.

“Hey, Paige,” I said. “Are you about ready?”

“Uh.” Her eyes flicked to Craig and then back to me and Lauren. “Yeah, sure. If you guys are.”

Lauren took a sip of her Pepsi and nodded. “Yeah, I think we are. This party has sort of been a bust—at least for me. All I seemed to attract was one fugly redhead guy who wouldn’t take a hint and an overly talkative Susan Baron.”

“Me too,” I said, even as thoughts of Jason came creeping into my mind. “I mean, about it being a bust.”

Lauren flashed me a smirk. “Riiiight,” she dragged the word out, causing me to shift my gaze from her to the other side of the room in search of Jason.

“Can I get your number or something?” Craig asked Paige. His voice was low and husky, clearly infused with alcohol.

“Sure,” Paige gushed.

Craig reached into his back pocket and handed her his cell. She giggled as they fumbled together with it to enter her number.

“Call me,” she said.

I headed to the door, anxious to get some fresh air. Dumping my cup into the trash can conveniently placed beside it, I gripped the cool metal knob and twisted. My feet were killing me. Heels were not invented with a woman’s comfort in mind. All I wanted right now was a warm bubble bath and some NyQuil.

“Well, glad somebody’s night went well,” Lauren commented. She eyed Paige’s wide grin. “In fact, looks like both of you two topped me tonight.”

“Wait, what?” Paige asked. Her face scrunched up and her eyes darted from me to Lauren rapidly. “What did I miss?”

“Oh, just some guy named Jason Bryant hitting on Blaire hardcore,” Lauren said before I could open my mouth.

We started down the few stairs leading to the parking lot and I bit the inside of my cheek. I hadn’t planned on mentioning Jason at all to Paige; she knew how much I’d liked him in high school.

“It was nothing…and he didn’t even hit on me,” I said. My hand came up and made a grand gesture wave that wasn’t necessary and in no way made it seem like any less of a big deal in Paige’s eyes. “Seriously, all we did was talk. For like fifteen minutes.”

Paige moved to get in front of me and placed both her hands on my shoulders in an effort to freeze me in place. “Jason Bryant…from high school? The one who led you on and then exploded your heart?” she asked.

 “He led you on and then exploded your heart.” Lauren gasped, mocking Paige’s dramatic tone perfectly.

Rolling my eyes, I glared at Paige. “Yep, that’s the one. And it really wasn’t that big of a deal. I actually got to tell him how I felt about that little piece of my high school history. It all worked out.”

“Whoa, I missed a lot, didn’t I?” she asked. “But, I did get a hot guy’s number. My future husband’s number to be exact.”

Lauren and I laughed at the same time. This would make future husband number five of the year for Paige. Her broken heart was mended; this night hadn’t been a bust after all, regardless if I liked her new love interest or not.

CHAPTER SIX

JASON

When I exited the bathroom, I was practically trapped in place by a wasted girl who was definitely not Blaire. I’d said everything as nicely as I could while declining her invitation to join her in the bathroom for a little quickie. That just wasn’t my style. I happened to love ladies as much as the next guy, but I still had standards and banging some chick who was too drunk to even know her own name in the tiny bathroom of an apartment party was not up to par for me. With Matt, maybe—I didn’t seem to know the guy anymore. Too much time had gone by.

“Come on,” the wasted girl attempted to coo in my ear. All she managed to do was lose her balance, forcing me to have to catch her before she landed face-first into the closet door. “You know you want to.”

“Ah, no, I don’t actually.” I chuckled to soften my tone for her sake, but the words still meant the same. I wasn’t interested. Plain and simple. “I need to go,”

Releasing her, praying she was good to stand on her own, I bolted down the hallway hoping to meet up with Blaire again. I planned on asking her what she was doing next weekend. I knew I’d be back by then to visit with Gramps. Since that wasn’t particularly something to look forward to, I’d come up with the idea of including Blaire in that equation to make it better.

I scanned the tiny, jam-packed apartment after weaving my way through the people in the hall, searching for Blaire. She was nowhere to be found. Opening the front door, I examined every female face outside and none of them were hers. Jogging down the stairs and into the parking lot, I finally spotted her. She was standing next to the innocent-faced girl I recognized from someplace but couldn’t figure out where and the girl I’d met earlier. I paused and watched, unsure whether or not I should walk over and ask her out.

Then it hit me—the girl I couldn’t place was Paige Jacobs, another one of Blaire’s best friends in high school. Jesus, didn’t anyone leave Coldcreek after high school and not come back? Guess I could be lumped in that category now too, because here I was, standing in the parking lot of some apartments near Norhurst University.

Blaire and Lauren broke out in laughter before all three of them hopped into a silver Dodge Charger. My moment to ask her out had come and gone, all because I’d chosen to stand here like an idiot and stare. Running my hands through my hair, I started back to the party, this time in search of Matt so he could take me home. I was done for the night.