And now with Penny.
My head was spinning, and this wasn’t good.
I shouldn’t be reacting this way, but I couldn’t stop or ignore the burn that was going down my chest.
I went over to them, and wished that she had aged bad, but she hadn’t. She still looked as beautiful as I remembered from back then, one of the popular girls from their rich private school.
He lifted his head up as I neared them. “Hey.”
Penny had started to speak, seeing me, but hearing his tone, how he greeted me, she gave me a whole different look. Her eyes got sharper. Her mouth closed a little before she had a fake smile on her face and raised her chin up a little. A Lana Marks Cleopatra Clutch in her hand. “Hi…” She cocked her head to the side. “You’re Ava, right? From Roussou?”
I flashed her a thin smile. “I am. What would you like to drink?”
I felt Zeke watching me and ignored him.
Her eyes narrowed before another smile smoothed out over her face, and she pulled out the chair beside Zeke. “How about your most expensive wine?” She slipped onto the seat, and her smile got brighter. Her eyes slid toward Zeke. “On this guy?” She playfully elbowed him.
That burn started digging right down and deep into me, going faster. “Sure.” I didn’t wait for Zeke to approve, and turned, reaching for the good stuff. The most expensive stuff because that’s who she was. She was worth the pricey stuff. Not me. I was worth the cheap stuff. The beer on tap. Jell-O shots. That was me. And this chick, Penny Fucking Lancaster, the ex or the one who could’ve been considered the ex of Zeke’s if he ever had a steady girlfriend because she was it. The one who was mostly on-and-off with him, and that said a lot about her, about what she meant to him.
And I was totally and irrationally jealous, and I hated this feeling. The burn was hurting, slicing into me.
I poured the wine and slid the glass over to her. “Raise a hand when you need a refill.” Still ignoring Zeke, I walked right past Brandon and said under my breath, “I’m taking five.”
I felt Zeke’s eyes on my back as I kept going, right out the side door.
If I smoked, I would’ve been smoking. I didn’t, so instead, I was perched on a picnic table in the back and bent over, looking at my phone. It buzzed, but I ignored Zeke’s text.
And his next two until I put my phone away because he was now calling me.
A second later, he stepped outside, his phone to his ear, and seeing me, he put it away. “What is going on with you?”
I glared at him. “If you were to guess?”
His eyebrows bunched together. The sides of his mouth turned down. “I’m actually lost here.” He stepped down the stairs but put his hands in his front pockets. He stopped right in front of me, his head lowered, his eyes trained on me. “Connect the dots, please. I don’t like feeling lost when it comes to you.”
“Are you serious? I know who that is.”
“Penny?” His confusion seemed to double.
“I know she was your fuck buddy back in school.”
Understanding dawned, but then his face went blank, really fast. I didn’t like the “really fast” part because he was hiding it now, from me. “That was a long time ago. You want me to be an ass when your ex shows up?”
I gave him a look. “You would, and we both know it. You already were with Jarrod.”
His shoulders relaxed a little. “Yeah. You’re right. I was a dick to Brandon and he just said, ‘you two.’”
I almost grinned at that, or I would’ve, if I wasn’t still mad at him. Mad because he had an ex who was inside, who I had to give “the really expensive stuff” to. I had to say it. “She is not worth that wine, just saying.”
A gentle grin came over him, and he took a step closer, his head lowering even more. “You’re right. She’s not.”
I waited for the line, waited for him to say that instead, I was worth it. But he didn’t, and I glanced up.
He’d been waiting, the side of his mouth curved up. “I know what you’re thinking.”
I laughed, reaching out to shove him back, not thinking about it. He caught my hand instead, and he used it to haul me up as he surged forward. We were hugging, and I didn’t push him away. My hand curled in on his shirt, holding him in place. He tipped his head back, still smiling at me, as his hands wrapped around me and slid down, moving up under my shirt. “You like me. Like, like-like me.”
I looked away. “Shut up.”
“You do. You totally do.” He began to rock us back and forth, his hands sliding up against my back.
A tingle raced up my spine from his touch, but I half scowled at him. “We’re sleeping together. Of course, I like you, you idiot.”
He stopped rocking us and his forehead moved down, resting on mine. I could feel him getting serious and held my breath. He said, almost quietly, “I like-like you too. Like, like like like like you.”
A slight laugh escaped me. “You are not funny. That’s not something to laugh at.”
“You’re the one who just laughed.”
“Because you said you ‘like like like’ me.”
“No.” He was still serious. Almost solemn. “I said that I ‘like like like like’ you.”
“Such a difference.”
“It is. There’s a lot of difference between like like like and like like like liking someone. I like like like like you and I might even go so far to say that I like like like like like you, a lot.”
“You can be kinda…” I was going to say stupid, but he wasn’t. He was being sweet and funny, and he was making me smile. And he didn’t care that I’d been irrationally jealous seconds ago.
“What? I can be what?” His hand was moving over my back, sensually.
I was really starting to like like like like like how he was touching me.
I shook my head. “Intense sometimes, and sweet at other times.”
His head lifted, but he kept studying me. “Is that an okay thing?”
I nodded. “That’s an okay thing.” My break was almost done. “I need to go back in. Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
I gave him a look.
He just grinned back at me.
“Can you put an entire seat between you and your ex?”
He laughed but nodded. “I can do you better. How about I put an entire building between myself and her?”
I stilled. “What?”
“She took off.”
“What?”
“As soon as you left, I took the wine and told her there’s no fucking way I was spending that much money on her ass.”
A surprised laugh caught in my chest.
He smirked. “You are just not getting it.”
“Getting what?”
His eyes flashed, fierce, for a second. “That there is no one in my past you need to worry about. No one. Literally. The only one I’ve come to care about…” His hand reached up and touched a strand of my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “…is you.”
Warmth burst inside of me, and oh boy. I recognized that feeling. It was way beyond all the likes put together.