I knew by this time that I was stringing Kelly along. Sometimes I felt like she knew it too and was just waiting for me to break it off or talk about it. Sometimes my stress would be so high that I wouldn’t want to be bothered. She’d show up at the wrong time, and I’d tell her to leave—and not gently—yet she still stuck around, waiting for me. Wanting me.
I admit I was an asshole.
I wasn’t fair, but Kelly didn’t care that I was an asshole.
Kandy didn’t care.
And my best friend? Derek? He definitely didn’t care either. He kept me in his life anyway, loved me anyway, and I had betrayed him.
“So, you’re gonna spend five days away from me, huh?” I picked my head up as Kelly bit into a piece of asparagus. I didn’t even realize she’d topped our plates with food.
“Just a small vacation with Derek. We haven’t hung out in a while. Visiting his place doesn’t really count, so I figured it’d be fun to get away.”
“You know, I could always come and spend a little more time with Mindy. She’s a great person and spending five days with her could really help me get to know her.”
Here we go. She was doing this again—tossing hints at me, trying to get me to invite her to go on vacation with me.
At first I thought it would be a good idea. Kelly would be my distraction and one hell of a reason to stay away from Kandy, since Kelly loved to be all over me. But then I thought about Kandy and how pissed she would be if Kelly tagged along. I’d told her she wouldn’t be there, and Kandy always held me to my word.
Mindy had asked about me bringing Kelly, but I wasn’t up for it. Kelly and I were just a thing. It started as a fling and grew into…something else. I couldn’t quite explain it. We connected about something deep and it took off from there. We were on the border of a relationship, but not quite there yet, even after several months.
We’d spend the night at each other’s houses every so often, catch some food when I had free space in my schedule, but vacationing was different. I hadn’t been on a vacation with a woman outside of family before, and I wasn’t planning on starting now. I kind of wished I hadn’t brought her to meet D and the family. Things were moving too quickly with her and I blame myself for it. She begged to know what I did outside of work and whom I hung out with, so I brought her with me to meet them. I should have waited a bit longer.
“I take that as a no,” she murmured through a tight smile. She sipped her wine to ease the pain.
“No, Kelly, it’s not that. It’s just…I can’t explain it. Derek and his family hold a special place in my heart. You know that I’m very private with them. They asked me to go, and I’d hate to step on their toes by bringing someone along. They had plans—bought a certain amount of tickets for events happening there. Kind of like a family thing, you know?”
“I see.” She was not pleased with my answer.
I bit off a piece of asparagus. “I’ll take you to dinner when I get back,” I promised.
“We always have dinner, Quinton. Always. It’s starting to become tiresome. I feel like we should be moving forward. I’m sure Derek and Mindy will understand, and I don’t mind skipping out on the events you guys attend and staying at the beach house until you get back.”
“Kelly,” I warned.
“No. Don’t Kelly me, Quinton. I’m serious.” Her face revealed that. She reached across the table to place her hand on top of mine and softened her features. “I know you have a hard time opening up. I get that, I really do. You like to spend most of your time alone because being alone and doing things by yourself is all you’ve ever known, but I’m here for you, Quinton. I want to do things with you. I want to get to know you better. Work always gets in the way, but this vacation would be the perfect opportunity for us to be together for as long as we want without being interrupted by phone calls and emails and everything else. We could really get to know each other there—see if we should take this up a level or if we should keep it where it is.”
I swallowed hard.
Fuck. She had me by the balls.
All I could think about in that moment was how pissed Kandy would be once she saw Kelly tagging along with me. I wished it hadn’t come to this—to the point where I’d offend Kandy by bringing Kelly around at all. At first it was harmless—just a simple crush, and I knew that—but then it became bigger. That crush led to ogling and deep stares. Then deep stares to heavy breathing. Then heavy breathing to kissing, sucking, and heavy finger-fucking. It was too much for even myself to handle, and I’d dealt with a lot of shit.