Combust (The Wellingtons #1) (19 page)

“Andi, you good?” he asks, eyeing me up and down as if he doesn’t trust me before he turns to her and gives her an indiscernible look, his brow arched. Who the hell is this guy?

“Yeah, Teddy, I’m fine. We’re just talking,” she tells him, and I can see him visibly relax as he turns to me and gives me what seems to be a genuine smile.

He holds a hand out to me, and I take it before he gives me a solid handshake. “Hey, man. I’m Teddy Bennett. You look really familiar. Have we met before?”

I rack my brain, trying to place him, and then it finally clicks. He looks older than he did back then, but there’s no mistaking it. Suddenly, I wonder if I’ve just stuck my finger in someone else’s pudding, because now I definitely know how I know this guy. Fuck. Me.

“Cohen Wellington. Yeah, we met a long, long time ago. My old roommate, Seth, rushed your fraternity freshman year and we met one night at a party.”

Teddy snaps and points his finger at me, nodding at the same time. “That’s right. You never came around much after that, right? Although, if memory serves correctly, quite a few of the sorority sisters still knew who you were.” He shoots me a wink, and I could go back in time and kill Seth for all the times he made me play wingman.

I see Andi’s eyes narrow at his comment, and I realize how close I still am to her. Pushing off the bar with a shrug, I purposely ignore the latter half of his statement, even if it is true. “Pre-med. Studying took precedence over partying.”

“I gotcha, man.” He moves in on the other side of Andi and slips an arm around her as he looks down at her with absolute affection before bringing his gaze back to mine. “How do you know my girl Andi?” he asks, setting his jaw in an almost territorial fashion.

“Teddy…” she begins, her voice laced with exasperation. She’s about to continue, but I cut her off.

Throwing a twenty on the bar, I glance between the two of them, pretty sure I’m reading this situation correctly. And it pretty much sucks. I hope the disappointment isn’t completely obvious on my face as I feel my heart begin to falter at the thought that I’m late. Way, way too late.

“We met once a really long time ago and I was just coming over to say hi. No big deal.” My phone vibrates and I pull it out to check it. Even though it’s just Seth asking where the hell I am, I plaster a fake grin on my face like it’s someone else and hold my phone up. “Hey, I’ve gotta take this. You two have a great night. See ya around, Andi.”

I turn to leave when Andi grabs my arm. “Cohen, let me explain,” she says, her eyes pleading with mine.

Turning my gaze to Teddy, I see that he’s watching us with interest. This is a conversation I don’t feel like having with him as a witness, so I shake my head.

“Can’t, Ruby.” I see Teddy’s eyebrows rise at the nickname, but he doesn’t say a word. “I have somewhere to be and I’m already running late.”

Frustration etches over her features, and it’s almost a painful expression that I don’t quite understand. Part of me wants to stay here just so I can wipe the look off her face. At the same time, I don’t know that I need or even want an explanation about her and Teddy. It’s pretty obvious, and the fact that he could be—hell, that he should be—me is going to cause me to see red if I don’t get out of here. The last thing I want is to go all psycho Cohen on her again. I already made a jackass of myself the last time we were around each other, and I don’t feel like having history repeat itself.

“Okay… Well, are we still on for Saturday?” she asks. I think she sounds hopeful, but then I mentally berate myself because I know it’s either wishful thinking or she’s actually worried that she’s going to lose her tutor before our sessions even begin.

Leaning in, I brush my lips against her ear as I answer with a whisper. “Don’t worry about it. We’re still on. I always finish what I start, no matter how long it takes. And trust me, this time, it’s going to take quite a while.” Her cheeks are flushed when I pull back. The band starts a new song, and I give my head a shake, chuckling at the irony. She’s looking at me curiously and then her eyes widen when the lead singer begins to belt out the lyrics to Fall Out Boy’s Thanks for the Memories. I couldn’t have chosen a better song, and I remember her words from earlier today. “Just like rain on a wedding day, Ruby. Pretty damn ironic.”

Before she can respond, I give Teddy a head nod, then turn and disappear into the crowd, wondering what in the hell I’m doing.

Later that night, when I get home, I’m messing around on my laptop, finding myself updating the secret playlist on Spotify. Gavin DeGraw’s Sweeter is the perfect addition for how I’m feeling right now even if I’m being a total tool bag for even feeling this way. If they’ve been together this whole time, there’s no way in hell I can move in on that no matter how much I want a redo of the night we spent together. Then again, I remember the way her cheeks flushed and the desire in her eyes as my lips touched her skin, and it makes me wonder what would’ve, if anything, happened if Teddy hadn’t shown up. I guess it’s fortunate that he did, because if I’d gotten any more than the small taste of her, he’d have a fight on his hands.

Sighing, I close my laptop and resign myself to being friends with her. This time, I’m not going to fuck it up by being a melodramatic, eighteen-year-old asshole who spent weeks hiding out in his dorm room, listening to Dashboard Confessional, and feeling sorry for myself. I can do this, and I’m determined to see it through—as friends. As much as I’d love to explore things further with her, I won’t. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my brothers, it’s that other men’s women are one hundred percent off-limits, and I’m not going to break my principles for a girl I barely know, even though I feel like I do. Even if she’s exactly the type of girl I feel like I’ve been looking for—and avoiding—my whole life.

I don’t know what it is about her, but with just one look, she has my knees going weak, my heart skipping a beat. Every single cheesy cliché I can think of, Andi brings it out in me in a way that no one ever has. Out of nowhere, Charlie’s words from Christmas replay in my mind. “
Don’t let what could be the best thing in your life slip through your fingers.”

And suddenly, I’m worried that maybe I’ve already done that and I had no idea what I was letting go.

AS I watch Cohen push through the crowd and leave the bar, part of me wants to run after him, but it was obvious that he had a previous engagement and there was no way I was going to make a fool of myself by following him and finding out what—or who—he has to do.

To my irritation, his whole demeanor changed when Teddy showed up. Gone was the flirting guy whose words were laced with innuendo, replaced by a calm, collected ‘acquaintance’ of mine who was just stopping by to say hi. I could see him trying to place Teddy, and I knew the minute it hit him. It was painfully obvious what he thought was going on, even though it couldn’t be further from the truth. At least not anymore. Unfortunately, he never gave me a chance to explain, but I vow to do so the moment I see him on Saturday.

Speaking of, I turn towards Teddy, my eyes narrowed. “What the hell was that, Theodore?” I ask, using his full name like I always do when he pisses me off.

He takes a sip of his beer and cocks an eyebrow up at me before removing the glass and giving me an innocent smile. “Why, Andrea, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he responds, using my full name as well. “I was just trying to introduce myself to your friend. I have no idea why he took off like that.”

Shoving his shoulder, I give him a glare. “You know exactly why. Sliding up in here, asking if I’m okay, putting your arm around me, calling me
your
Andi. You couldn’t have been more obvious if you’d hiked up one leg and took a piss on me to mark your territory. If you remember correctly from Reese’s stories, I was the one called R. Kelly in high school, not you.” His shoulders shake with laughter, and I shove him again. “It’s not funny! I’m pretty sure he thinks we’re together, thanks to you, and now he’s going to act all weird around me.”

Teddy stops laughing when he hears the frustration in my voice, and his eyes soften as he looks at me. “Who was that guy, Andi? I mean,
I
know who he is, but I didn’t know you did. Why do you care so much about whether he thinks we’re together or not? And why did you two look like you were about two seconds away from eating each other’s faces? You definitely didn’t look like a couple of people who’ve only met once. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you look at someone like that. At least not since me, of course.” He grins as I shake my head at him and signal for another drink from Reese before looking back at Teddy.

“Do you remember that night you first asked me out?” I ask.

His eyebrows draw together. “Yeah, of course I do. How could I forget? I’d just asked you out on a date, and then all of a sudden, you saw some guy and ran out of the house after him. I thought I’d lost my chance.”

Reese places another drink in front of me and gives Teddy a head nod before turning to a new customer. “Right. Nice recap, Casanova. Well, do you remember what I told you later about him?”

Teddy studies me, and I can’t believe that I’m telling him this. His eyes widen as the realization dawns on him. “No way. Andi, are you serious? That was him? The guy you lost it to and never saw again?”

I wince at the memory, and I’m feeling relief that I never told Teddy the whole story—the whole ‘one pump’ portion of the night. All he knew when we got together was that I’d had sex once and never went out with the guy again. At the time, I hadn’t felt like he needed all the details, and even now, he still doesn’t.

Letting out a deep breath, I twirl the straw in my drink. “Yep, that was him. I hadn’t seen him in over three years until earlier this afternoon. Remember how I told you my advisor strongly suggested I get a tutor for chemistry?” I pause as Teddy nods. “Well, you just met him. Cohen Wellington is my tutor for the next sixteen weeks.”

Teddy leans back against the bar and gives me a sympathetic look. “Whoa. What are the odds?”

“I have no idea. But they sure as hell weren’t in my favor today.”

He snickers at my lame joke but then gives me a contemplative look. “I don’t know, Andi. Maybe this is a good thing. You said yourself you’re in a sexual drought but don’t want to have another random hookup. Since you turned down my offer, he could be the next best thing.” He snaps his finger as if the idea is brilliant. “See? It’s perfect. There’s your loophole. The sexual spring in the dry Sahara desert that is your vagina.”

I groan and tell myself that I have to stop talking about sex when I drink too much wine. The previous weekend, I indulged in a little too much Cabernet while reading an erotic novel, and I might have mentioned to Teddy that I was feeling sexually deprived and the books just weren’t cutting it anymore.

“Oh my god. You did not just refer to my lady parts as a barren desert. And you wonder why I said no when you so graciously offered yourself up on a sexual platter. Which, by the way, is never going to happen no matter how many times you suggest it. I love you too much to ever go there again.”

His brown eyes dance with amusement at my protest. Life would seriously be so much easier if Teddy and I had any chemistry, but when we started dating, we quickly found we didn’t. We’re both friend-zoned, and that’s never going to change no matter how many times he makes jokes about being friends with benefits. I love him, and I have no desire to complicate our friendship just for a little bit of pleasure.

“Oh, come on, babe. You know I’m just kidding. And I love you, too. Now, back to the topic. You don’t want any new notches in that pretty little belt of yours. There’s obviously unfinished business between the two of you. If I didn’t know you better, I would’ve been waiting for you to pull your tits out of your top to give him a glance at the goods. You clearly want to bang the guy, so why not take advantage of the situation and get laid? If nothing else, I’m sure it’ll make your study sessions a lot more entertaining.”

“You are incorrigible. And also out of your mind. He’s going to be my tutor. What we have—or, well, had—is ancient history. But the kind that was lost to all mankind, never to be discussed again.”