Forget You (21 page)

That was the truth; I cared for Eva more than
I thought I would at this point.

Kissing her goodbye in the morning as she
sipped her coffee and I downed a bottle of water seemed natural.
One hundred percent. Taking my morning shower with her added into
the equation, and us turning it into a morning quickie was
spectacular. Kissing her as we stood in the parking lot ready to
climb inside our separate vehicles and begin our day seemed
right.

I wanted this girl in my life forever.

I decided after work I would drive to the
little kitchen appliance shop, and buy her a Christmas gift that
said I wanted more repeats of this morning—a coffee machine.

After purchasing the perfect one and tossing
it into the passenger seat of my car, I headed home to change.
Tonight was the Christmas party with Eva and her friends. Slightly
nervous didn’t even begin to describe how I felt about this thing.
Even though I’d already met Cameron and Paige at the mall, I still
had yet to meet the rest of her gang—Lauren, Ian, Blaire, and
Jason. While I figured it was safe to assume there was no way Eva
would associate with some serious losers or assholes, the thought
still didn’t ease my nerves as much as I would have liked.

When I pulled up in front of my apartment
building, my cell went off. Fishing it out of my slacks, I glanced
at the screen before putting it to my ear, and noticed Eva’s
name.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

“Just wanted to make sure you remembered
about the party tonight.” Her voice floated though the receiver and
jumpstarted my heart. I loved hearing her voice.

“Nope, I haven’t forgotten. I’ll be there
in—” I glanced at the clock in my dashboard and did a double take.
It was nearly five thirty. We were supposed to be at the party at
six. Had I really spent so much time in that kitchen store picking
her out the perfect coffee machine? “Like twenty minutes.”

“All right, be careful.” She hung up before I
could utter another word.

I dashed from my car, up the stairs, and
straight to my room. There was no time for a shower; I needed to
change out of this suit, and bolt out the door. Pronto.

* * * *

I pulled up to Eva’s apartment complex five
minutes later than planned. This irked me. I hated nothing more
than being late for something or somewhere. It made my legs feel
restless, and my stomach churn. Cutting my engine off, I climbed
out, slammed my door shut, and bolted up the stairs to her place.
She answered the door before I even had time to knock.

“Hey, you’re late.” She smiled a wicked
smile, which made me think she was enjoying the situation a little
too much.

I kissed her. “Looks like you’re enjoying
this fact.”

“It’s just the first time you’ve been late to
anything that I’ve seen.” She pulled away to look me directly in
the eyes. “Just lets me know you’re human.”

She picked up the presents we’d wrapped
together and balanced them in her arms as she attempted to gather
her purse and keys as well. I took the presents from her and drew
my brows together.

“As opposed to?”

“Being too perfect to be considered human.”
She moved to close the door of her apartment and then locked
it.

I shook my head at her comment. “Nobody is
perfect, least of all me.”

I shifted the presents to one arm and laced
my fingers through hers as we started down the stairs toward my
car. It was already dark at six o’clock, and the temperature had
begun to dip into the low thirties the second the sun went down. I
wasn’t a big fan of winter, but I did enjoy the quiet of it.
Everything always seemed so calm and serene, frozen almost, waiting
on the warmth of summer to come back and wake it.

When Eva slipped into the passenger seat, I
realized that in my mad dash to pick her up on time I’d forgotten
to drag the Christmas present I’d bought for her inside. I shoved
her gift into the floorboard behind my seat and situated the
presents I held on the backseat. I waited for her to ask what I was
trying to hide. She never did though. Instead, she buckled up and
proceeded to give me directions to Jason and Blaire’s house in
Coldcreek, where the party was being held.

At about 6:45, we pulled up in front of a
house nestled right onto the edge of the lake. Bright blue icicle
lights had been draped across the front gutters, and standard white
had been wrapped around the banisters of the stairs and along the
large porch. It looked nice, but it didn’t calm the nervous jitters
in my stomach.

I knew Eva didn’t have a family she wanted to
introduce me to. Sometime last week, when we were heavily
discussing our typical Christmas plans, she had let the cat out of
the bag about her mother and how she never knew her father, then
proceeded to fill me in on some of the horrendous foster homes
she’d been forced to stay in until she was sent to another. This
group of friends was the closest thing to a family she’d ever had,
and that was why it meant so much to me that these people liked
me.

I grabbed the presents I’d set in the
backseat, and we made our way to the front door. A woman with dark
brown hair opened it before Eva’s knuckles met the freshly painted
surface.

“Hey! I’m so glad you guys could come!” she
said.

I assumed this must be Blaire. Her blue eyes
locked with mine, and I got the distinct impression she was taking
in every aspect of me, right down to the depths of my soul. Her
lips twisted into a slow smile of approval, and she shifted to
glance at Eva.

“Come on in.” She motioned for us to step
past her. The second she closed the door behind us, her hand
touched my elbow. “I’m Blaire by the way.”

There was no foyer. The front door opened up
into the living room, which was where everyone sat, staring at us
as we entered. I spotted a small tree standing about four feet tall
along the farthest wall directly in front of a window. It was
draped in the same blue and white lights as the ones hung out
front, and had been adorned with silver, red, and icy blue
ornaments.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sawyer.” I smiled.
“Where should I set these? Are they going beneath the tree?”

“Yeah.” Blaire went to Eva’s side, locked
arms with her, and whispered something into her ear that made Eva
blush and release a small, raspy chuckle.

Making my way across the room, I smiled at
Paige and Cameron on my way to the tree. “Hey, how are you guys
doing?”

“Good,” Paige answered first. “It’s nice to
see you again.”

“You too,” I insisted.

“Grab you a spiced rum and breathe. You look
nervous as shit.” Cameron grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Bold and arrogant, I’d nearly forgotten how
he came off. I assumed he was one of those people you either hated
or loved. There was no in between with someone like him.
Thankfully, I could tolerate people of that nature without an
issue. It was a Keeton trait.

“Shut up, Cam,” Eva scolded him from across
the room, where she stood with Blaire still.

“Spiced rum? That sounds like it would hit
the spot right about now,” I admitted.

Even though I wasn’t normally a drinker—I
wasn’t lying—a little something sounded damn good right now. Rum
would be just what I needed to loosen up a bit. I wasn’t someone
who generally felt out of sorts when meeting new people. In fact, I
was always the exact opposite, but for whatever reason, that didn’t
seem to matter in this situation. What these people thought about
me—the people closest to Eva—mattered, because she did. Eva
mattered so damn much to me already, and I truly wanted these
people to like me because of it.

“I’m Lauren, and this is my guy, Ian,” the
girl with the highlighted blond hair said. She was perched on the
end of the sofa arm with a big smile plastered on her face. “You’re
just as good-looking as I thought you would be.”

“Really? Did those words seriously need to
come out of your mouth?” Ian muttered in a teasing tone as he
stared at her with an arched brow.

“Babe, don’t worry. You’re all the man I can
handle. Promise. But remember, I have a boyfriend. I’m not blind,”
Lauren said without any hint of embarrassment.

No wonder Eva fit in so well with these
people. They all had kickass personalities. So far, each of them
seemed far from being sticks in the mud or shady. I liked them
already. My muscles relaxed as I set the presents we’d brought
under the tree beside the others.

“Sawyer, was it?” someone asked from a
distance away.

“Yeah,” I answered when I stood from placing
the gifts beneath the tree. My eyes scanned the room for a new
face, because the voice I’d heard hadn’t sounded familiar.

A guy with dark hair and a genuine smile
stood at the threshold between the living room and kitchen. He held
up a glass tumbler similar to the one Cameron was holding. An amber
liquid sloshed around inside it, and his ice clinked against the
side as he continued to shake it at me.

“Can I get you one?” he asked.

Walking through the living room toward him, I
nodded. “Sure, I’ll take one.”

My eyes found Eva as I walked. She had sat in
a chair and was talking. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she
laughed at something someone said. All I could think about was how
beautiful she was.

“I’m Jason, by the way, Blaire’s fiancé,” the
guy introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you.” I held my hand out to him
for a shake. “Sawyer.”

“Yeah, I gathered that much already.” He
grinned while shaking my hand. “You want it strong?” He picked up
an oversized bottle of spiced rum, and began to pour into a glass
already sitting on the counter with ice in it.

“Wow, you guys opted for the gallon size,
huh?”

Jason laughed. “Yeah, we’re celebrating. It’s
the holiday season. My girl and I are finally getting married soon,
and you and Eva are together.”

His last words hit me in a different sort of
way—
you and Eva are together
. The way he’d said the words
would make a bystander think he and I had been friends for
years.

“Pepsi?” Jason asked, nodding to the rum he’d
just poured for me.

I took the two liter from him, and added in a
splash. “Well, thanks for letting me come to your celebration
tonight.”

“Eva would have had it no other way. From
what Blaire tells me, she’s crazy about you, man.” He took a sip of
his drink, and eyed me.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, but it
wasn’t enough to keep the grin off my face.

“And from that expression right there, I can
tell the feeling is mutual.” Jason pointed his index finger at me,
and smiled.

“It is,” I admitted to the guy I’d only known
for all of five minutes. What the hell was wrong with me?

Christmas music blasted from somewhere in the
other room. The sounds of one of the girls shouting out the lyrics
to
Jingle Bells
along with the singer came next. It was
early still, but everyone seemed to be buzzed already.

“Come on. This thing is just getting
started.” Jason nodded in the direction of the living room. “You
two are more than welcome to stay the night here, just so you know.
If you really wanna throw down, there’s plenty of space for
everyone to sleep.”

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll see what Eva
wants to do later,” I said, making my way to her side.

Eva took my drink from me, and downed a small
sip. “Ready for some fun?”

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

She didn’t have time to answer before her
friend Lauren shouted, “Christmas Tree!” while brandishing a deck
of cards from nowhere. She slapped them down on the coffee table,
and flashed everyone a wicked smile.

“Who’s ready to play a drinking Christmas
game?” she asked.

Eva reached for my hand, and laced her
fingers through mine. A wicked gleam swirled in her ocean-colored
eyes. “I asked you if you were ready for some fun. Wanna play?”

The sexy look on her face was almost one of a
challenge. There was no way I could turn this down.
“Absolutely.”

Each of us gathered around the table, and
watched as Lauren shuffled the cards while she danced in her seat
to the music. She laid the cards on the table in the shape of a
Christmas tree once she was finished shuffling, and then explained
the rules of the game.

“If you flip a red card, you drink the number
of sips, shots, or whatever on the card. If you flip a black card,
you have to give that number of drinks out to people.” Her eyes
trained around to each of us as she spoke. “If you flip a ten, red
or black, it’s the waterfall card. You have to drink first, and
then it continues around the room until each of us has taken a
drink. The Jacks are the
never have I
cards—you have to name
something you’ve never done, and whoever has done it drinks. Queens
are the question master cards. If you flip one, you become the
question person and anyone you ask a question has to drink. You
keep this title until someone else flips a queen and takes it. If
you draw an ace, then you have to make a rule for us all, and if we
break it, we drink. Last, but certainly not least, are the kings.
If you flip a king, you have to down your entire drink right there,
baby!”

This game sounded like something Wes would
freaking love. I’d have to remember it so I could pass it
along.

“Sounds like we’re all about to get
shitfaced.” Cameron laughed. “Thank you, Lauren.”

She nodded. “My pleasure. Why don’t you go
first?”

“I would love to.” Cameron flashed her a
cocky smile, and reached out for the top card on the tree. A big
fat red nine stared back at him.

“That’s nine drinks, Mr. Green.” Lauren
smiled wickedly, and winked at him. “Thanks for starting us out
right.”

“Down the hatch,” he said. He tipped his
tumbler back, and started taking large swigs, coming up and
toasting his glass after each as Lauren counted them out loud for
him.