Keep Me (22 page)

“You okay back there?” I looked quickly over my shoulder, then returned my eyes to the winding, narrow road.

“Yup. I’m good.” Her tone mixed with the ‘yup’ made me think otherwise.

“You sure? You’re awfully quiet. And now that she’s passed out…” I pointed over to Riley, whose neck was curved in the most awkward contortion I ever saw. How the hell could she sleep like that?

“And snoring like a goddamn man. Jeez, she’s out cold isn’t she?”

Yes, Riley was finally sleeping, which meant I could actually talk to Tessa without my sister up my ass. I gave her a light slap on the face and the snoring stopped, but she was still in a deep, unattractive, mouth-hanging-open sleep. “Dead to the world. How’s little man doing?”

“Perfect. Sucking on his binky and watching the world pass by through the window.”

I watched her look at her son through the rear view mirror. She was in awe of him just sitting there like a lump in his seat—it was endearing. I wondered if her mind was wandering the way mine had been during the first half of our silent ride home. Riley had broken up some of the silence with a call from a client, but other than that—nothing but crickets.

“Tess, I’m just gonna say it—no need beating around the bush. A lot changed this weekend… for me. You had to feel it, too. Am I wrong?”

There was a long pause, her attention still focused on Luca, but when she finally spoke I caught her eyes in the mirror and she smiled. “Definitely not wrong.”

I smiled back, although smiling didn’t seem like the right reaction. What I really wanted to do was pull over, stop the car, wrap her in my arms, and kiss the shit out of her. But I held back the overwhelming emotions and played it cool. “Okay, so now what?”

She huffed, but it wasn’t impatience that brought it on, it was frustration… she wore it clear on her face. “Again with this, Marcus? I… I just don’t know what comes next.”

For the first time in my life, I needed to be responsible, to formulate a plan. I never imagined dating would require calculations and forecasting, but for Tessa—I’d do anything to make it work. “Can I make a suggestion?”

“Go for it. I’m at a serious loss here.”

“We still continue what we’re doing… you do like what we’ve been doing, don’t you?”

She tilted her head to the side with an adorable, are-you-serious grin. “Go on…”

“Okay, so we continue the fucking-amazing-as-all-hell sex whenever and wherever we can and in the meantime, without her even knowing, we invite Riley along for the ride.”

“Eww! That sounds gross, Marcus.”

“No, no, no!” I shook my head, laughing. “I obviously didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was we hang out, the three of us—like this weekend—as friends. Maybe once she starts to see how close we’re getting, how much I care about you, the idea of us being together won’t be such a big deal to her. Once we have her off our backs, the rest will just come naturally.”

She gnawed on her lower lip, she was holding something back.

“What? I thought that was a sure-fire plan.”

“It’s not just Riley, Marcus. It’s… shit, this is so complicated.”

Maybe I was wrong for bringing this up—for ending a great, carefree weekend with all this heaviness. On the car ride home no less, where we couldn’t get into it the way I wanted to. But I wanted to try and make myself clear. Prove to her that I wasn’t just going to give up because of her apprehensions. “It’s
you
who’s making it complicated when it doesn’t really have to be. Don’t let your past hold you away from me. Don’t let what you’re afraid of hinder you from moving on. I can be here for you as a friend, as more. You just have to let me be… don’t worry about Riley, or Zack, or what anyone else says or does. Worry about me and you and what
we
can be together. I won’t hurt you, Tessa, but you have to trust me. You have to let me in.” Shit. I was wearing every single emotion on my sleeve, totally putting myself out there for her.
What the fuck had come over me?

“Wow. You really have grown up, Little Marcus Grayson.”

At least it wasn’t a rejection. I was clearly breaking down those walls of hers. “So, we good?”

Her eyes bore into me as if she were branding my soul. This was it. This was the Tessa I was waiting to reveal—the one underneath all the rubble of her crumbled past, the one free of hurt, betrayal and mistrust. Did I finally do it?

“Yup. We’re good.”

Not the fucking ‘yup’ again. “That’s all you’ve got for me, pretty girl? A fucking ‘yup.’ I lay it all out there like that and I get three measly words?”

Her smile grew wide, her shoulders shaking with laughter. “You’re too much, you know that? Okay, let me reword that. Yes, Marcus, we’re good. You can continue wowing the shit out of me with your smooth words, your incredible body, and your huge heart. I’m all in… even if I have to pretend I’m not.”

“Now
that’s
the answer I was looking for!” I shouted, waking Riley from her coma.

“What? What’s the answer? God, how long was I sleeping?” she yawned.

Leave it to her to interrupt at the most inopportune time.

“Shit, sorry for waking you. He couldn’t remember the title of a song. Go back to sleep if you want, Ry.”

We stole a quick, knowing glance at each other through the rear view again. This plan could work. It had to. Tessa seemed to be on board; now it was my sister I had to win over. I hated that I needed her approval, but Tessa was right when she said that arguing with Riley was exhausting. It wasn’t very often that someone was able to prove her wrong, but I intended to be one of the first. I winked at Tessa, as if it were a handshake, sealing our deal. Our magical weekend was coming to an end, but there was no doubt in my mind that everything else was just beginning.

I didn’t see Tessa that whole following week. It was fucking torture. The dirty texts weren’t cutting it and I desperately needed to be with her again. So when I received the text from Beck that Marissa was out of town and he was looking to chill, an idea popped into my head—after I texted him back telling him he was a pussy for only asking me to hang out when his girl wasn’t around.

Me:
Dude, mind if my sister and Tessa come along? We can hit up that new bar on 5
th
everyone’s talking about.

Beck:
Sounds good. We’ll cab it there. Have the driver get me last.

Me:
C u at 9, pussy

Beck:
Later, asshole. And keep it up and I’ll out you and Tessa to Riley.

Me:
Fuck u.

Beck:
U wish.

I ignored the last text from Beck to group text Riley and Tessa with the plans.

Me:
New bar on 5
th
. Us and Beck. All in?

Riley:
Oh, yay! Been wanting to go!

Tessa:
Calling Trish to sit for Luca now… sounds like fun :)

Within seconds my phone was vibrating with an incoming call. My face lit up when I saw it was Tessa. “Hey, pretty girl. I miss you.”

“Miss you, too. Is this part of your surefire plan?”

She was finally getting the picture. I was a persistent motherfucker, if nothing else. “Mmmhhmmm. Watch and learn. I’m the persuasion pro.”

“Ah, so that’s how you got into my pants then.”

I loved it when she talked like this, her voice laden with seduction. “Speaking of getting in those pants… I can’t go a week without touching you again.”

“Finding it hard to keep it in
your
pants?”

In all the conversations we shared, we had never discussed exclusivity. It wasn’t that I intended to screw around on her, but it also wasn’t a topic to bring up this early in our… whatever the hell this was. She wanted to take things slow—adamant on
not
putting labels on things. Was this her way of testing me? It didn’t matter, I had to reassure her. “Not at all. It’s just hard to stay away from you.”

“Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Or
maybe you’ll realize I’m not really worth the wait after all.”

Goddamn girls and their mind games centered around their lack of confidence. Though that wasn’t Tessa’s M.O. so I had to think that was a real concern for her. “I’m not going anywhere, Tess, I told you that. I’m following your lead—even if that makes me a total pussy—and I want to do this at your pace. Make you comfortable.” I felt like I was talking in circles, but I’d run around chasing my tail like a dog if it meant I’d catch her in the end. “And now if you’re done fishing for compliments, can we talk about tonight?”

“Hey!” she shrieked. “I am
not
fishing for compliments. I’m just…”

I quickly interrupted, “… letting your brain do all the work again. That’s what you’re doing. Stop freaking thinking for once! You’re in good hands, I promise.”

She let out a soft moan and I pictured her twirling her hair around her fingers. “Mmmm, ‘good hands’ is right. You think we can discreetly ditch Riley and Beck afterwards? You can spend the night if you want.” Music to my ears—and my dick. She wasn’t completely wound tight, and maybe she missed me as much as I missed her.

“God, baby, I’m hard just thinking about it. We’ll make it work.”

“Good. Stay that way—just how I like you.” She giggled, then her voice turned stern. “Listen, I have to go into a meeting. What time should I be ready?”

“I’ll be there to get you at eight thirty, ‘kay, pretty girl?”

“Perfect. See you then. And Marcus,” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I’m really looking forward to the after-party.”

The phone clicked and I was left with a hard-on and a smile from ear to ear.

“Oh! I love this song!” Riley shot up from her chair, pulling on Tessa’s arm. “Come on, girl, let’s dance!”

“No one’s dancing, Ry.” She was staring into her Ketel and Cranberry, trying her best to deflect Riley’s request.

“So, we’ll start a trend. Come on, pleeeaaase?” With lips curled down into an annoying pout, Riley clasped her hands together, begging.

“Fine,” Tessa huffed. “But only for this one song. I’m tired.”

As she lifted herself from the seat, I placed a hand at her shoulder to stop her and whispered, “Not
too
tired, I hope. We have an after party to attend… in your bed.”

Riley quickly pulled her out of my reach with a spiteful, “Okay, you two. No secrets. Dance floor. Now!”

As she was dragged out against her will, she looked back at me and winked. It was all I needed.

“Shit, man. What’s that all about? She’s really got you under lock and key.” Beck didn’t have to be a genius to be perceptive. He pretty much summed up the impossible situation in a nutshell.

“It’s ridiculous. I should just tell her to fuck off already and let us be, but I don’t want to upset Tessa, either. She’s not ready to share the news about us just yet.”

“Hmmm.” His smart-ass wheels were turning. I didn’t like it.

“
Hmmm
, what?” I mimicked. “I don’t like the insinuation in that
hmmm
.”

“Listen, dude. It’s none of my business and unlike your sister, I could give a shit who you date, or fuck for that matter, but it sounds like Tessa’s reasons for
not
going public about you two are a lot deeper than your sister’s approval.”

“How so, asshole? You’ve been around the two of us for what, all of thirty minutes? How the hell would you know anything about our situation?”

“Hey, Mr. Touchy, want me to tell you what you want to hear, or want me to be real?”

I took a long guzzle of beer, staring at Tessa dancing effortlessly to
Suit and Tie
by Justin Timberlake. God, she made me weak. I
was
being touchy—when it came to Tessa I was touchy about everything—but maybe a harsh dose of reality from Beck was something I needed at the moment. “Real.” I spit out.

“You’ve made quite the reputation for yourself and most girls, they’re probably happy just to get a roll in the hay with you
because
of that reputation. But Tessa’s not most girls. She’s got a kid—
and
a brain—and maybe she just wants to have a little bit of fun. I know this is gonna sound shitty, but you said real, so I’m laying it out there…”