Three Months and You're Mine (In Too Deep) (16 page)

He was standing
at the bar, close enough to a barstool that the girl who was sitting on it was able to wrap her legs around him. That's just what she was doing. She had on black, leather pants and her long legs were wrapped around him in a shameless pose that left no doubt in anyone's mind what they'd be doing later that night. It looked like a black widow with her prey. The sight literally made me want to run screaming out the door. Better yet, it made me want to rip her off of that barstool by her hair—anything to get those leather-clad legs off of Zack.

"You okay?" Emily asked.

"I'm good," I said. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

Chapter 18

Zack

I hadn't been with a girl in more than six weeks, and Celeste's legs wrapped around my body made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven. I'd already had a few drinks, and was feeling good. Her legs pulsed to the rhythm of the music that boomed around us. Celeste had tried several times to come by my house after the accident, but I always avoided it. She was surprised when I text her earlier in the day and told her I'd be out with some friends at Viva. She responded to my text within seconds saying she'd be seeing me tonight.

And she
showed up all right.

She
was looking even better than the last time I saw her—blazing hot if you ask me, but maybe that was just the abstinence talking. I smiled at the memory of Meredith saying Celeste wasn't in the big leagues when it came to natural beauty. As I looked at her perched on that barstool staring up at me adoringly, I couldn't give a flying flip
what
league she was in. She looked good enough to me, and I'd been craving a warm body for over a month.

I was standing at the bar with Celeste's long legs tangled around me. It was packed in there, so nobody was paying attention to us. I felt someone pinch my ass while I was sipping my scotch, and I set my glass down and smiled at Celeste.

"I get to goose you back for that."

"For what?" she asked, puzzled.

"It was me," I heard from behind me.

In spite of the loud music and the fact that I hadn't
laid eyes on her, I knew whose voice it was. I was already wondering what in the world Meredith Blake was doing there before I turned around.

"What's up? I thought you weren't
gonna make it," I said, turning to face her.

Celeste's legs tightened at my words, and I looked back at her with an expression that reminded her to take it easy. I
turned back to Meredith. She shook her head, and I could see a little sadness in her eyes. "It's been a stupid night, but I'm good now. I thought I'd come hang out with you guys. I can see you're busy, though. I just wanted to come say hi since I was here." She gave Celeste a forced smile.

"It's all good," I said. I gestured at Celeste. "We were just hanging out."
I tried not to smile as I regarded the two girls. I had stepped back to make room and could see them both as they stood side by side. Celeste was no dog, but Meredith was right about them being in different leagues.

"I do
n't think I know you're little friend." Celeste said. I didn't think she meant it to come out as catty as it did, or maybe she did. Who knew with women, anyway?

"I'm little Meredith," Meredith said sarcastically, sticking her hand out to shake Celeste's, "but m
ost people just call me Mere."

"Interesting," Celeste responded with an equal amount of sarcasm.
"Like a horse?"

I had no idea what to do at that point. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. My body was screaming at me to take advantage of
Celeste because my heart wouldn't let me take advantage of Meredith, and I wasn't planning on leaving there that night without taking advantage of someone. I knew Meredith would forgive me for following my primal instincts, but that look of vulnerability and sadness in her eyes was tugging at me. I could physically feel it in my chest.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at Meredith. "Why'd you say you've had a stupid night?"

She smiled. It was a convincing job, but I could tell it was insincere because it didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's just girl drama. I'm good. I found my brother and them already. I just thought I'd come say hi when I saw you up here. I was coming to get a drink." She turned and held up a finger so the bartender. I knew she would get her drink and leave, but I could see in her eyes that it wasn't an ideal situation for her. She wouldn't have come over and interrupted Celeste and I if she just wanted to order a drink.

My body was screaming at me in protest, but with each passing second, I was more and more convinced that Meredith needed me. Even as she was focused on the bartender, I could see tears welling up in her eyes. It broke my heart as I
watched her try to hold them back. I leaned over to talk in Celeste's ear. "She's like a little sister to me, and I think she's in trouble or something. I'm gonna have to see what she needs. Can I call you tomorrow?"

Celeste, being the sweet girl s
he is, nodded, even though she was looking injured at the turn of events. "If I let you go, you have to promise to call tomorrow. I'm tired of just running into you in clubs."

It made me feel good that Celeste want
ed so badly to hang out with me. Especially since that night was the first time she'd seen me with my scar. Celeste stuck out her bottom lip and ran a hand up my thigh nearly to my crotch in one final attempt at convincing me to stay. "I was looking forward to hanging out tonight. You sure you don't want to change your mind?"

For the love of all that was good and holy in the world, I
did
want to change my mind. But I had to see what was going on with Meredith.

"Can I call you tonight if we get things straightened out?" I motioned in the direction of Meredith's back since she had walked off without a word after paying for her drink.

Celeste nodded impishly. "Don't I pretty much come running any time you call?"

I cringed at the thought of such a nice girl sitting around waiting to hear from me.
"It's a good thing your friends are still here," I said, gesturing at the table of girls Celeste had come in with. I recognized most of them. I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll call you."

"I hope so," she said.

Meredith had taken off in the direction of the table her brother was at, so I went that way, hoping to find her and see what was going on. I scanned the tables several times as I approached, but never could spot her. Usually, I had no problems since her short hair really stood out, but I just couldn't see her. Half of our group was on the dance floor, and I figured if I couldn't find her at the table, then she was probably dancing, although that didn't seem quite right based on her mood. I walked up to our friend Josh. His girlfriend Brit was sitting on his lap and they both smiled at me as I approached.

"Did you hear?" Brit said as I
walked up. "My boyfriend met with the guy who owns this place and got my band a gig here next month."

"Oh really?" I said. "That's awesome. Have you guys seen Meredith?"

"Collin's little sister?" Josh asked. He knew exactly who Meredith was. He was basically just asking me what I was doing asking for her whereabouts.

"I saw her talking to Collin and Rachel a
second ago," Brit said, "but she just sat her drink down and took off. She probably went to the restroom."

"Thanks," I said. "And congratulations on the gig. You'll have to tell me when it is and I'll come
see you play." I wasn't even sure if they heard those last few words, because I had turned and started to walk in the direction of Collin and Rachel.

"Hey, where'd your sister go?" I asked Collin.

"Who wants to know?"

"Just tell me where she is." 

"She went home," Rachel said.

"Home? She left?
Who'd she leave with?"

"She said she was
gonna have the E's walk her out, but she was planning on taking a cab since that's how she got here. I tried to make her let me bring her home, but she wouldn't hear it. I don't know why she came in the first place. She was only here for like five minutes."

"I'm going to
try to catch her," I said.

I took off in the direction of the door, only slowing down when my knee started to
hurt a little bit. When I finally made it outside, I spotted Meredith standing against the building with her face in her hands. Ethan and Emily were nowhere in sight, and I wondered why she'd lied about having them walk her out. I went straight up to her and put my arms around her. It startled her at first, but she relaxed into my arms once she realized who it was. It took me a few seconds to realize she was shaking beneath me, and I looked down at her face to find she was crying.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, none of this" I said, picking up her chin, urging her to look up at me.

She was covering her face with her hands. "Just let me be a big baby by myself. I should have never come out to meet you guys after the way my night started."

"I'm not letting you go anywhere by yourself like this."

"I'm fine," she said. She dropped her hands and tried to look as convincing as she could.

"Seriously, Zack, I'd feel even worse if I ruined your night by making you leave."

"I'm not out here because of you. I was leaving anyway. My knee's acting up a little."

"Bullshit," she said. "No man leaves a club when he's got a woman acting like an octopus. Or maybe they do, but they don't just leave without their octopus."

"I told Celeste I'd catch up with her later. She's fine. Come on, I don't know why we're sitting here waiting for a cab when I drove."

She
started to protest, but then reconsidered when she took in my impassive expression. She gave me a relieved smile as I put my arm around her and took off in the direction of my truck. I honestly couldn't believe I'd found her out here alone and crying, that was so unlike her. I had a gut feeling I needed to go to her, and I'd been right.

"You seriously
are
favoring your right leg," Meredith said stopping to look up at me.

"It's all right, it's just started catching a little bit."

Before we took off again, she moved to my left side to give me a shoulder to lean on if I needed it. We went to a place called Mel's Diner. Most of our friends were fans of the place. It was open all night and you could consistently get a good cup of coffee and slice of pie.

"So what's the girl drama all about?" I asked, after the server took our order.

"It's really not that big of a deal," she said, looking embarrassed as if she'd made it more than it was. "My friend Chelsea was just acting like a total bitch, and I let it put me in a bad mood. I shouldn't have let it affect me as much as it did. Then, I went to the club hoping to catch up with you and when I saw that you were busy, I started feeling sorry for myself all over again." She opened a pack of crackers that had been left on the table and started to eat one of them. "I'm really sorry I made you leave," she continued.

I smiled
and she grinned at me like a Cheshire cat around a mouth full of saltines. She looked anything but sorry.

"Oh, you look
really
sorry," I said, continuing to smile. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad that girl Chelsea finally pissed you off. I never did care for her."

"Get in line," she said. "Gretchen and Bailey have been telling me from day one to leave her alone."

"What'd she do?"

"It's
gonna sound really stupid, but she moved in on a guy she was supposed to be trying to hook me up with because she thought he was hotter than his friend. She said she deserved the hot one."

She was absolutely right. I
did
think that sounded really stupid. I wasn't trying to hear about how hot she thought some guy was when I'd just left a perfectly good octopus for her.

"Was it that guy
Charles?" I asked. I was slightly annoyed by the topic at hand, but I still wanted to know who it was.

"Yeah, but that's not really the issue. The issue was all the bitchiness that
flew out of her mouth when I confronted her about it."

"Did she say some stuff to hurt you?" I asked.

"I don't know that she was trying to
hurt
me. In fact, she seemed pretty oblivious to my feelings, she just pointed out all the things that make her a better person than me, including my butch haircut."

"I like your haircut," I said.

"You like my haircut because I'm your friend, but if I was your girl, you'd be bugging me to grow it out. Don't lie."

I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head at her. "And what makes you think you're the expert on how I feel about your hair?"

"Because
no
guy wants his girlfriend to have short hair."

"That sounds like Chelsea talking," I said. "I'm not going to sit here and beg you to believe me, but I
think you look hot with short hair. You know you do, stupid. Otherwise you wouldn't wear it like that."

"Aw, shucks," she said posing with her fist under her chin. "
You're so charming, I don’t even care that you just called me stupid." She paused and took a drink of her water. "Hey Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry I ruined your night. I know you probably had plans, and I feel really bad for making you change them. I feel like I owe you something. Maybe I could make it up to you with a little sex."

The server had walked up just in time to hear Meredith's comment, and she regarded us wide-eyed.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said a bit awkwardly. "Are you two ready to put in your order?"