Page 44 of Lick
“No?” Damn it, I actually whined. My patheticness knew no end.
“No. When we do it the first time we’ll both be stone-cold sober. Trust me on that. I’m not waking up in the morning again to find you’re freaking out because you don’t remember or you’ve changed your mind or something. I’m done being the asshole here.”
“I never thought you were an asshole, David.” Or at least, not exactly. A jerk maybe, and definitely a bra thief, but not an asshole.
“No?”
“No.”
“Not even in Vegas when I started swearing at you and slamming doors?” His fingers slid into my hair, rubbing at my scalp. Impossible not to push into his touch like a happy kitty. He had magic hands. He even made mornings bearable. Though five o’clock was pushing it.
“That wasn’t a good morning for either of us,” I said.
“How about in LA with that girl hanging off me?”
“You planned that?”
He shut one eye and looked down at me. “Maybe I needed some armor against you.”
I didn’t know what to say. At first. “It’s none of my business who you have hanging off you.”
His smile was one of immense self-satisfaction. “You were jealous.”
“Do we have to do this right now?” I pushed against his hard body, getting nowhere. “David?”
“Can’t own up to it, can you?”
I didn’t reply.
“Hey, I couldn’t bring myself to touch her. Not with you there.”
“You didn’t?” I calmed down a lot at that statement. My heart palpitations eased. “I wondered what happened. You came back so fast.”
He grunted, got closer. “Seeing you with Jimmy…”
“Nothing was going on. I swear.”
“No, I know. I’m sorry about that. I was out of line.”
My pushing hands turned to petting. Funny that. They slid over his shoulders, around his neck to fiddle with his hair. I just wanted to feel the heat of his skin and keep him near. He made for an emotional landslide, turning me from sleep deprived and cranky to adoring in under eight seconds. “It’s great that you wrote some songs.”
“Mm. How about when I left you with Adrian and the lawyers? Were you mad at me then?”
I huffed out a breath. “Fine. I might admit to being a bit upset about that.”
He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “When I got back and they told me what had happened, that you’d taken off with Mal, I lost it. Trashed my favorite guitar, used it to take apart Mal’s kit. Still can’t believe I did that. I was just so fucking angry and jealous and mad at myself.”
I could feel my face scrunch up in disbelief. “You did?”
“Yeah.” His eyes were stark, wide. “I did.”
“Why are you telling me this now, David?”
“I don’t want you hearing it from someone else.” He swallowed, making the line of his throat move. “Listen, I’m not like that, Ev. It won’t happen again, I promise. I’m just not used to this. You get to me. This whole situation does. I dunno, I’m fucking rambling. Do you understand?”
Later, he mightn’t even remember any of this. But right now, he looked so sincere. My heart hurt for him. I looked into his bloodshot eyes and smiled. “I think so. It definitely won’t happen again?”
“No. I swear.” The relief in his voice was palpable. “We’re okay?”
