Break You (3 page)

She laughed. “What were you doing? Scoping out their dirty laundry?”

“No.” I took another sip of my beer and looped my arm through hers. “Come on. Let’s make sure Paige hasn’t started dry humping the conceited cutie’s leg yet.”

When we made it back to the tiny kitchen, Paige was standing right where we’d left her. I knew she wasn’t plastered yet, but she was halfway there. She’d without doubt had more to drink than me and it was becoming noticeable in the tone of her laugh and the little slur entering her words. I finished the last of the warm beer in the bottom of my cup.

“I’m gonna get another.” I held up my cup. “Anyone need another one too?”

Susan Baron—who I knew from my Intro to Health Concepts class during my first year of college—held out her cup to me, pausing in her conversation for only a brief moment.

“Me, thanks!” she said. She was talking with Lauren about how gross old men balls were.

She’d just started interning at a nursing home in the next town over. While I had seen my fair share of old men balls at Cross Meadows—and yes, I could attest it was a pretty gross sight—there was no way in hell I was going to sit here and snicker about it with her. It wasn’t like the old men could help it, nor was it their finest moment—having a young girl change their underwear because they couldn’t. It had to be freaking humiliating at times.

Maybe this cold I had was putting me in a sourer mood than I’d thought. A party was not the place for me tonight. I should have just stayed home. Thirty more minutes. That’s all Paige and Lauren were getting out of me. After thirty minutes, I was pressing for them to take me home.

“Sure,” I said, taking Susan’s cup. “No problem.”

Weaving through the small kitchen, I made my way to the keg in the center of the living room. The heavy scent of marijuana floated to my nose and I knew that Roy or Matt or one of their pothead goony friends had lit up another joint somewhere. Part of me prayed I’d get a contact buzz while the other part worried I’d fail the next random drug test at work from just smelling it.

Waiting in line at the keg, I stood behind some guy with a black baseball cap on backwards. I glanced around him to see the couple in front of him attempt to pour themselves another drink. The girl wore a tight-fitting polka-dot sundress and a pair of brown cowboy boots. The guy wore a low-hung pair of blue jeans and a red plaid shirt. They were the perfect country-looking couple. I smiled while watching them flirt as they filled their cups.

“Come on,” baseball cap guy in front of me yelled at them. “Get your fucking drinks already.”

“Sorry, man,” the country guy smirked. He stopped messing around and filled their cups, then moved out of the way. “There you go,”

Baseball Cap muttered something and shouldered his way past country boy; obviously he wasn’t a nice drunk. Gotta love the idiots like that. Banging the two cups I held together lightly while I waited for my turn at the keg, I glanced around the apartment. Lauren was still talking with Susan, and some guy with red hair and loads of freckles was trying to gain her attention beside her. I smirked. Poor guy. Little did he know, Lauren was so completely turned off by redheaded guys it wasn’t even funny. My eyes shifted to Paige. She and Craig were hitting it off really well still. Figures, her rebound guy would be the only cocky ass at the party.

“You gonna be able to handle this?” Baseball Cap asked me, still holding the tap firmly.

“Uh, yeah,” I said.  I hadn’t intended for my words to come out so clipped and sarcastic, but they had. “Thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” he said as he handed me the tap and walked off.

Sighing, I struggled to keep hold of the two cups in my hand and maneuver the tap to fill one. Tipping the cup to the side, I gripped the tap a little more lightly, hoping the beer would flow out slowly. It didn’t. Instead, it sprayed against the inside of the cup and splashed all over the front of my dress.

Awesome.

“Need some help?” someone chuckled from behind me.

“I guess so,” I said, still in shock that I’d just managed to soak myself with alcohol and I wasn’t even smashed yet.

This was more affirmation that I did not need to be here right now. I needed to be at home, suffering with my scratchy throat and stuffy nose in private, while I crammed some more for finals. I spun around to thank whoever had offered and hand him Susan’s cup. My heart stopped. It was Jason Bryant.

What was he doing here? He was supposed to be going to school in Tennessee. How I knew this wasn’t important; what was important was that he was here.  Right now. Standing in front of me. While I was covered in beer that I’d sprayed on myself and he’d obviously witnessed.

“Thanks,” I said. My voice sounded strange, strangled even. I cleared my throat. “Apparently I’m not as talented as I thought I was with a tap.”

Lame. That was so freaking lame.

His blue eyes locked on mine. Amusement swirled within them. God, he still looked exactly the same as when we were in high school. I’d learned over the last three years that some guys I’d found attractive while in high school had hit their prime in the looks department back then and it had gone downhill since, but Jason, he was nowhere near that category. Was it crazy to think that he looked even better?

“Here, let me take one,” he offered, reaching for a cup. I released one to him. “So, what’s Blaire Hayes doing in a place like this?”

He remembered my name. I swallowed hard. My throat had suddenly gotten scratchier and drier than before. “Same as you, I guess,” I said, proud my voice sounded somewhat normal.

His eyes flicked from the keg to mine again. “Figured you’d be locked away studying until your eyes popped out.”

“Actually that was my plan for the night, but my friends talked me into doing otherwise.” What was I thinking? He didn’t need to know that about me right away, that I was still a stick in the mud.

“Some people never change.” Jason smiled. He handed me a cup back, filled to the rim, and took the other one from my fingers while I wondered if what he’d said was a good thing. He’d said it like it was. “I’m glad those friends of yours talked you into coming.”

I smiled. “Oh, yeah? And why is that?”

I was flirting. I was flirting with freaking
Jason Bryant
.

This was the guy I’d been madly in love with all through high school. The guy who, in our sophomore year, had made a complete idiot of me and I
still
managed to think he was hot after.  Back then, when it came to Jason Bryant, I was a goner… Apparently that was true even now. Three years after high school graduation.

Jason handed me my other beer and his smile widened. “Because, it’s nice to run into a gorgeous familiar face every now and then.”

Only two words stuck out to me. Gorgeous and face. Dear God, I needed to get a grip on myself. I took a sip of the beer he’d just handed me while watching him as he refilled his own cup. His dark hair was tousled and his face was covered with a slight amount of stubble. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a plain baby blue T-shirt that matched the color of his eyes and accentuated his toned, sculpted upper body in all the right ways.

Jason stood and put the rim of his cup to his lips. There was a hint of a smile twisting at the corners before he took a sip. “What?” he asked.

“Huh? Nothing,” I said. My cheeks heated. He’d obviously caught me checking him out.

Should I walk away? The moment had become awkward now.

“Okay,” he dragged the word out. “So, you live here now or are you still in Coldcreek?”

“Here,” I said.

“Are you a student?”

“Yeah.”

My stomach flipped and tied itself into knots. He was trying to start up a conversation; I knew this, but I still could only manage to give him one-word answers. I took another sip of my drink, hoping it would be that magic sip number of the night and make my lips a little looser. I needed to relax.

“And what are you majoring in?” he tried again.

“I’m going for my RN license. This is my second year. Actually, finals are next week, which was why I wanted to stay home and study.”

Jason nodded like he approved of my major. “That’s awesome. You were always a sweetheart in school, figures you’d do something like nursing.”

Sweetheart in school? He’d thought I was a sweetheart? Then why had he led me on and made me look like an idiot?

“Right,” I said. “Well, it’s nice to know what you thought of me.”

Why on Earth had I said that?

He raised an eyebrow and took another sip of his beer. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing really.” I shook my head. Damn it, I’d botched this attempt, though at what I wasn’t sure. But I’d just botched it. “I just mean that…you didn’t seem like you thought I was a sweetheart in school. You only talked to me a few times and when you did, you practically led me on and then went after my friend.”

“What?” he balked. “I did not.”

I smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was laced with bitchiness. Seriously, that was what he was going with? Denial? Taking another little sip of my drink to calm my throat once more, I decided I was going to finally get this off my chest.

It was time to enlighten Jason Bryant.

CHAPTER FOUR

JASON

Honestly, I didn’t remember doing anything to lead her on.  From the bitchy gleam entering her big blue eyes right now, I knew she was about to tell me the exact moment with vivid detail. The only thing I cared about was that she was still here talking to me.

“Darcie Bell,” she said as though the name should mean something.

It did. I’d dated the girl for a while in tenth grade. In fact, I’d taken her virginity. But I wasn’t about to tell Blaire that. She was obviously heated about something from then involving her, me, and Darcie and I intended to keep her talking until I found out more about it. Then I could fix it, whatever it was, and finally get a taste of Blaire Hayes.

“Darcie Bell,” I said, dragging her name out purposely. “I remember her. We dated for a while.”

Blaire’s eyes heated. “Yeah, you did. She was one of my closest friends. Do you remember
how
you two started dating?”

I took another swig from my beer while thinking back. And then it hit me. Oh, shit. We’d started dating because I’d used Blaire to get to Darcie. Well, tonight wasn’t going to end the way I’d hoped. Blaire was getting ready to tell me to fuck off at any moment. And here I’d thought she was swooning after me while I filled her cups a moment ago. Speaking of, who was the second cup for? Surely some dick hadn’t sent her to refill it for him.

“You introduced us,” I said. I flashed her my most charming smile, the one I’d trained myself to use for moments like this. “See, that’s what I meant when I said you were a sweetheart.”

She tucked a strand of her short brown hair behind her ear and dropped her eyes to the carpeted floor beneath her heels. She noticeably took in a deep breath before bringing her eyes back up to meet with mine.

“Yeah, that’s not exactly how I remember it,” she said with a little snap to her words.

The smirk that twisted my lips right then couldn’t be helped. A lot of guys used the line of “Damn you look sexy when you’re mad.” Hell, I was positive that I’d even used it myself a time or two, just to make a girl smile instead of glare at me all pissed off. Never had I ever witnessed a girl that I actually
thought
looked cute as fuck when mad… That is, until right now.

Taking another swig of my beer to hide the smirk, I pulled my eyes from her and then slowly let them drift back. This was my way of pretending that I still didn’t know where she was going with this.

“How do you remember it then?” I asked over the music.

That was one thing I hated about parties—the loud music. I only ever noticed this when I was trying to hold a conversation with someone though. Right now, all I wanted to do was talk with Blaire. I started walking, still making eye contact with her so she would follow. She did. Soon I’d be able to hear her sexy voice and not have to yell over the music to be heard as well.

We were standing outside the little apartment in a second. The cool night air felt refreshing and the loudness of the party was left behind. There were others standing outside, smoking cigarettes and sitting on the banisters, lost in conversations of their own, but there was enough space between us and them to feel a sense of privacy.

“I remember having English class with you,” she said. She sat both of the drinks she held down on the banister in front of her. Guess whoever the other drink was for wasn’t important to her anymore. “I remember having the biggest crush on you.”

She’d had a crush on me? How had that slipped by me?

“Really?” The tone of my voice sounded a little more shocked than I wanted it to be right now. Truth was…that little tidbit had floored me.

Blaire shifted her gaze to one of the beers she’d sat down and I noticed her cheeks tint to a light shade of pink. “Really. The day you asked me if you could walk with me to the science building was one of the best days of my life. You even held my books for me.”

She smiled at the memory and I instantly began to feel like shit. I knew where this story was going. It wasn’t headed in a direction I was proud of. In my defense though, I’d never thought Blaire was even the tiniest bit into me.

“I did do that, didn’t I?” I laughed, hoping it would lighten the mood a bit.

From the way her arms crossed over her chest, I realized the mood had not been lightened. It had instead headed further south quickly.

“Yup, you did. And then you led me on by letting me believe you had a thing for me and instead went after my friend Darcie, who used to meet me in front of the main building bathroom so we could walk to science class together,” she said.

Even though it was years ago that this happened, I could see the moment had become fresh in her memory. This was it—my make or break moment. Blaire would either let me apologize for my ways back then and things would be all right between us for the rest of the night, and potentially lead to what I’d wanted upon first seeing her tonight. Or, it was all getting ready to explode in my face and she’d walk away for good.