"That won't happen." He settles back down on the couch, his hands falling to his thighs. "I'm not letting anyone take my place in your life."
I don't respond. I can't. A heated rush runs through me. I'm not imagining the way he's looking at me. Something has definitely shifted between us. I have no idea where this is going, but I want to find out.
Chapter 13
Crew
My turn.
A million questions are running through my mind now that Hale has suddenly dropped out of the picture. I saw the text. I have no idea if Ad is into what he proposed, but I was holding my breath in the kitchen waiting to see if she'd race out the door to be part of the Hale's babe threesome.
My mind took a second to catch up with the reality of what she said to me. It's over between her and Hale.
"Are we still playing?" Wetting her lips with a lash of her tongue she looks over at me.
How do I answer that? I'll play Truth or Dare with her all night, but I'm tired of edging around what's going on between us. That game needs to end tonight.
"What'll it be, Ad. Truth or dare?"
She hesitates, and I wonder if she's going to take the leap and take a dare. Before her text exchange with Hale, I would have kept the dare clean. Now I'm not so sure.
"Truth," she answers without hesitation.
"You mentioned your first kiss with Hale." That pinch on my last nerve that I felt every single time I said or heard his name isn't there anymore. Now, he's just another guy who passed through her life. The chemistry was never there. I could sense it at the burger place. A fuck between them would have been just as boringly fine as the kiss.
"Are you still talking about him?" As she stretches the bottom hem of her T-shirt rides up to expose her stomach. "Do you want his number? Maybe you and Trey can be friends too. We can all hang out."
I like that she's teasing me. She's pushed aside whatever sadness she was feeling earlier. She's happy. I still crave the knowledge of what brought her to tears, but she'll come to me with that if and when she wants to.
"Hale and I will never be friends." I smile wryly. "I was just about to ask about the first kiss you ever had."
Her eyes widen. "Like ever?"
I lean back on the couch, watching her reaction. "Tell me about your first kiss. How old were you? What was his name?"
She answers so quickly that I know that it's a good memory. She's held onto the details tightly. "I was eleven. His name was Tommy Marshall. It was an amazing first kiss."
I inhale deeply. This is what I want more of. I want to know what she was like when she was a kid and who her friends were. I want every detail about anything that ever mattered to her.
"It happened after school," she goes on as she runs the palm of her hand over her knee. "He asked me to meet him. I didn't know why, but I liked him so I thought I should go. When I came around the corner, he was already there. He dropped his backpack, grabbed my face and kissed me."
It's the stuff young girl's dreams are made of. I want to thank Tom for giving her the gift of that kiss. She deserves to be wanted that way every day of her life.
"It sounds like Tom was a catch."
"We held hands and kissed a few more times." She looks past me to the distant lights of the city. "I sometimes wonder where he is now. I hope he's happy."
If he's got that same memory to fall back on, he's doing all right.
"Truth or dare, Crew?"
I'm not about to tarnish her answer with a dare to do something she's not ready for. I opt for the safe choice. "I'll go truth again this round."
There's a hint of challenge in her eyes when she looks at me. She takes a deep breath. "What was your first time like?"
Hell if I can remember that far back. I probably kissed a girl when I was in the second or third grade. That memory has gotten buried under everything else I've done with the female population since I realized how intoxicating a woman's lips and body are. "I don't remember who my first kiss was with, Ad."
She runs her fingers through her blonde locks, her eyes never leaving mine. "I wasn't asking about your first kiss, Crew. I want to know about the first time you fucked a woman."