Give Me Something (14 page)

“Who the hell is that?” I asked Kelly, never taking my eyes off of them.

“
That is Randi Carver.  Town tramp extraordinaire,” she laughed.  “I'd ban her from the bar, but she's kind of a booze hound and I'm not one to turn away money,” she added.

“
Hmmm,” I shrugged, pulling a drink from one of the bottles.  I knew this type of girl.  She was trying to sneak in while I wasn't looking in an attempt to sway Tucker's attention.  Well guess what?  She picked the wrong girl to mess with.  If there was one thing I was good at it was making sure that all the attention was on me.  “Watch these, please.” I smirked at Kelly, setting my drinks back on the bar.

“
Go get her,” she urged.  “No fist fights though!” she called out.

I turned back to Kelly with my most innocent smile.  “Don't worry,” I said with a shake of my head as I made my way back through the crowd.

“Hey babe!” Tucker shouted, alerting his new dance partner that I was back. “I told Randi you'd be right back.”

“
Did you now?” I retorted while wrapping my arms around his waist.  “I don't think we've met?” I turned my attention to suddenly surprised Randi.  “I'm Lila.  Tucker's girlfriend.” I emphasized the word
girlfriend.
  I gave her the once-over, unimpressed with anything that I saw in front of me.  Her hair was an unnatural deep auburn color, and the amount of eyeliner she'd piled on did nothing but shrink her beady little brown eyes.  The only thing she had going for her was a decently sized rack that I assumed was the draw for most guys.  Kelly's nickname was spot on.  This girl was most definitely a tramp.  Aside from that, she was in clothes that were way too tight and unflattering.  I was sure she looked in the mirror that night and thought she looked hot.  She was tore up and needed a reality check.

“
I'm Randi,” she announced, popping her hand up on her hip.  “You know, you really shouldn't leave a guy like Tucker alone on the dance floor.  But don't worry,” she sneered as a smug smile crossed her lips.  “I didn't mind keeping him entertained.”

“
Oh,” I sarcastically replied, “is that what you were doing?  Just entertaining him? I thought that you were attempting to seduce him with your desperate, busted-ass dance moves.”  Her jaw dropped as I released my arms from Tucker's waist and took a step toward her.  “The next time you see my boyfriend, I suggest you keep your distance.  He doesn't need you to entertain him.”  I returned to Tucker's side and took his hand in mine, looking up at him with a smile.

“
Well, he did the last time he was home,” she quickly responded. I saw it in his eyes that he was hoping she wouldn't mention that.  I felt his hand tense in mine.  This girl was lucky that I chose to fight with words instead of fists because I was seriously two seconds away from ripping her hair out.

“
That was
before
we were together.  Everyone goes slumming before they find the right one,” I pointed out.  “Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll be the one
entertaining
Tucker for the rest of the night.”  I started to walk away from her, leading Tucker with me, before I had a second thought about the pain I wanted to inflict on that bitch.  By the time we reached the bar and our waiting drinks, Tucker started apologizing for what had just happened.  I picked up our drinks.

“
I'm sorry.  I tried to get away from her.  She's got a really good grip,” he said, taking a bottle from my hand.

I shook my head. “You know I shouldn't be surprised.  It's a small town.  We were bound to run in to one of your exes.” 

“She's not my ex.  She's just – ” He thought carefully about his words.  “She was just a weak moment.”  He took a drink.  “I'm really sorry.”

“
It's fine.  I saw it in your face that you didn't want to dance with her.”  I really be couldn't mad at him.  I was the one who left him out there and he did try to push her away.  “So exactly how many other
weak moments
have you had?”  As soon as I asked, I realized didn't want to know.  It really wasn't any of my business.  I wasn't here to find out all of Tucker's deep, dark secrets.

“
Are we really going to have this conversation in a bar?”  His attempt to detour the conversation changed my mind.  Was the answer really that bad?

“
We can leave and have the conversation somewhere else,” I suggested, taking the final drink from my bottle.  I thought that hearing straight from Tucker that he'd slept with ton of girls would put the kibosh on the feelings I was developing for him.  Nick had warned me that he was a womanizer and even though I hadn't seen it first hand, maybe hearing it straight from his lips would help.

“
Okay,” he said reluctantly.

The drive back to his house was pretty silent.  I was still on a bit of a high from the way I'd publicly declared that Tucker was mine.  I studied him and tried to assess exactly how bad the situation was going to be. His hands were wringing the steering wheel and he kept his lips tight together as if the number of women he'd been with was going to burst out.  Within ten minutes we were pulling into the garage and Tucker was taking his sweet-ass time turning off the truck, lowering the garage door, walking into the house and so on.  By the time I'd pulled my boots off and settled on the sofa, he was cautiously approaching with drinks in hand.

“You think I need another drink?” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

“
You might for this conversation,” he cautioned as he took the seat next to me, taking a drink from a bottle before sitting them on the coffee table.

“
It can't be that bad.” I pulled my legs up, laying them across his lap, and rested my back on the arm of the couch.  “Can it?”  I was suddenly seriously concerned with the answer I was about to get.  As much as I thought hearing it would clarify that Nick was the one I wanted, a part of me really didn't want to know and hoped that it wasn't as high of a number as I was thinking.

We sat in silence for what seemed like forever.

“I don't want to know.” I loudly blurted out, but not loudly enough to cover up his answer.

“
Seventy-three.”

“
Seventy-three?!”  I was shocked.  I expected a high number, but not
that
high.  “There's like seventy three people in your whole town!”

“
It might be less.  I'm just estimating,” he tried to reason.

“
It might be more then, Einstein,” I shot back as I quickly stood up.  “How in the world have you slept with seventy-
some
people?”

“
Not people.  Just girls.”

“
Do you really think that helps at this point?” My question dripped with sarcasm.  No, actually it fucking poured off of it.

“
Well, considering that I've been having sex since I was fifteen, that's only like fifteen girls a year.”

“
Oh, now you can do math?!”  I fumed. “Wait, you've been having sex since you were fifteen?  That's crazy.”

“
It's a small town,” he defended.  “There's not much to do.”

“
So you just slept with everyone?”

“
Please don't make this a bigger deal than it has to be,” he pleaded as he stood up and reached for me, but I quickly stepped out of his grasp.  I could tell that he really wanted me to try and look past it, but I couldn't.

“
It is a big deal.  That's a lot!”

“
Well then what's your number?” he fired back when he saw that I wasn't going to fold.

In hindsight, this was one of those times where we both should have lied.  “One.”

“Come on Lila,” he insisted and raised his eyebrows in disbelief.  “One? Seriously?”

“
Yes, one.
  Not all of us are whores,” I jabbed.  Was it really that farfetched that I was twenty years old and had only slept with one person?

He closed his eyes and let me have my insult.  “They were before you.  None of them meant anything.  You're the first girlfriend I've had since high school, and even then I was too young to know what it really meant to care about someone.”  He reached out for me again.  This time I let him pull me into his arms.  “I haven't been with anyone since I met you.  I swear,” he urged. He kissed my head before resting his chin on it and locking his arms around me.  I nodded.  In a normal situation, a girlfriend probably wouldn't have let this one slide so easily, but I didn't really have a choice.  This situation required that I take it with a grain of salt and continue
with what I'd set out to do.  I couldn't let it concern me
.
  I hadn't planned on letting sex into this equation and sure as shit wasn't going to be number seventy-four... give or take.

$ $ $

The drive home was tense. After our agonizing conversation and a restless night of sleep on opposites sides of the bed, neither of us had much to say.  Actually, I had a lot to say, but I fought the urge, and Tucker was too nervous to say anything in the fear that it might rehash what we'd already discussed.  When he pulled in front of my dorm, I leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. Before I could say my goodbye and exit the vehicle, he grabbed my hand.

“
Thanks for weekend, Lila.  It really meant a lot to me that you opened up to me.” His quiet sincerity was heart- wrenching.  “I'm really sorry that I ruined last night.”

“
It's fine.  I'll get past it.”  I grabbed his hand. “I had a good weekend,
that
aside. And thank you for helping me out with the tuition situation. You have no idea how worried I was when I got that email.  I promise I'm going to pay you back as soon as I can.”

He brushed the hair from my cheek and cradled my face in his hand, “It's not a big deal.  I really would do anything for you,” he said, before leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine.  His heartfelt words coupled with the sweet taste of his lips were marred by the festering guilt and sadness I was trying so hard to eradicate.  When he pulled back, I smiled at him.

“You really are a good boyfriend, you know that?”  I really needed him to know that.  He was going to make some girl so amazingly happy one day.  If I didn't have such a shady past or feelings for Nick, or if Tucker hadn't slept with every girl in three counties, I would have killed to be the one he was with.

He smiled. “Is that your pick up line?”  I knew he was just trying to cut through the tension that had been riding shotgun with us the whole way home.

“It's a pretty good one, huh?” I chuckled.  He nodded.  “I'll see you soon,” I told him.

“
Okay.  Text me when you get off work.”  I nodded and quickly made my way out of the car.  When I got back to my dorm room, I pulled the check from my pocket and tossed it on the nightstand.  I gave myself five minutes to wallow over what I was doing to Tucker and maybe a little part over what had happened last night.  Even if I wanted to be with Tucker, how in the world did I compete with seventy-plus other girls?  I wanted to get it all out before Nick came over.  I'd texted him when we were about thirty minutes from home and told him I needed to see him ASAP.  During my pity party, I decided that I was going to tell Nick that I was done with Tucker. The money I'd got from him would be a good start to what we needed to get Nick out of the hole with Belletti.  We could find a million other guys to take the money from.  It didn't have to be Tucker.

Nick sauntered through the door just as I released the deep breath I'd taken to calm my nerves.  I threw myself into his arms, needing to replace the feel of Tucker arms with his.  “Was the country that bad?” he asked, placing his arms behind my back and kissing the top of my head. 

“Something like that,” I said, burying myself in his chest.

He held me for a few seconds before releasing his arms and casually falling on to the bed.  “So, what'd ya get?”  It irritated me how relaxed he was being about the whole situation.  I pointed to the nightstand.  He reached over and grabbed the check.  His eyes focused in on the amount as a big smile spread across his face.  “Twelve grand.  Awesome.  This is great!” I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as he put his arms behind his head in satisfaction.  “I love taking money from that asshole.”

“He's not an asshole.” I went on the defensive.  “He's nothing like you said, Nick.  In fact, I'm done with the whole thing.  That is all the money that we are going to be taking from him.  I'm breaking up with him tonight and we are moving on the next guy.  Preferably one who is actually a bad guy.”

“
Slow down,” Nick interjected. He quickly sat up and moved down to sit in front of me.   “You've only known the guy a month.  I've known him for over a year.  He's a dick, Rae.”

“
Well not to me!” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down.  I was not backing down on this one.  I didn't want to hurt Tucker anymore than I was already going to have to.

Nick looked down at the bed, shook his head, and then looked back at me, “Of course he's not a dick to you.  He wants to sleep with you.”  Maybe that was true, but I knew I meant more to Tucker than the others had.  All of them.