Tracey
I slam the door so hard behind me it rattles the walls.
“Wow. What’s with you?” Nikki glances over at me before dropping her gaze right back to the screen of her phone. She’s sprawled on the sofa. When I don’t answer she glances back over to me. “What’s going on? I thought you would be out celebrating with the hockey god.”
I heave a big sigh. I thought Dak was telling me to wait for him when he saw me in the bleachers, but maybe he was only waving hello. We didn’t make any plans for tonight. He asked me to come to the game. Nothing more.
I have no right to be upset. We set up the terms of what we were doing before we hooked up and we both agreed to those terms. We never said it was exclusive. Besides, Dak said he would help me and he did. He’s free to see whoever he wants. So why am I feeling sick to my stomach thinking about him and Bri.
“Uh oh. What did the douchecanoe do?” Nikki sits up and puts her phone down on the coffee table.
“Nothing. He didn’t do anything.” I’m trying to sound indifferent, but I can’t keep my voice from shaking. I walk through to the kitchen. I could use a beer…or ten, but I settle for water.
“Don’t tell me nothing happened. Yesterday you were all bubbly, whispering and giggling with the superhero, and tonight you look like someone stole your puppy. What’s up?” Nikki is standing in the doorway of the kitchen, her hands on her hips. Such a perceptive, persistent little thing. Good friends can be such a pain in the ass.
Before I can answer there’s a knock at the door. “I’ll be right back, and then you’re going to tell me how badly I need to kick that boy’s ass.”
I smile at her threat and the thought of her trying to beat the crap out of Dak to protect me. Truth is, the way she’s ripped, she might be able to hold her own against the jackass. I hear Nikki’s irritated voice coming from the living room and there’s no mistaking who it is she’s talking to.
“Hey, Bambi. Where did you go? I thought you were going to wait for me. And what’s up with Nikki? Did she run into Dalt tonight or something?” Dak crosses the room and leans in to kiss me. I turn toward the counter before his lips touch me.
“What’s up, babe? I thought we could go over to the Blue Goose and grab a beer with some people to celebrate. Want to go?” He presses into me, moving my hair back and brushing kisses along my neck. Dammit. I can’t keep myself from trembling at the touch of his lips on my skin.
“Um…no…I…” I move away from him because I can’t think while he’s this close and kissing me.
“It’s cool. Want to hang out here and watch more episodes of GOT?”
“You don’t have to. You can go celebrate with…with whoever you want to.” I suck in my lip and bite down because dammit, I am not going to cry. It’s ridiculous. I hold no claim to Dak. We’re friends. Friends with bone-melting benefits.
“Oh…okay. I thought…nah it’s cool. I guess we accomplished what we said we were going to. You’re all good now so…” Although I’m expecting his usual cockiness, there’s no mistaking the disappointed tone in his voice as he turns to leave.
“I saw you with Bri. You had your arm around her waist and you were kissing her.”
If we’re going to remain friends, even though being just friends now is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, at least for me, we need to be honest with each other.
“What are you talking about?” He closes his eyes and shakes his head like he’s trying to make sense of my words.
“I saw you with Bri after the game. She was all over you. It’s…it’s fine, you can be with whoever you want. We were only…we never said—”
He closes the distance between us before I even realize he’s moved. Cupping both sides of my face with his hands, he crashes his lips onto mine. “Listen to me,” he says, his lips touching mine. “I don’t want Bri or anyone. Let’s get one thing straight. While we’re doing this, if you still want to do this…whatever it is we’re doing, there can’t be anybody else. It’s just you and me, while it lasts. Agreed?”
“Uh, agreed.” I try to nod, but he’s holding my head between his hands.
“So, you want to keep doing this?” he asks, his eyes piercing straight into my soul.
“Yeah, sure.” My words don’t match the level of certainty of how much I want him. “But when it’s done, if one of us wants to move on, we’ll tell the other one before we hook up with anyone else. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“And no messy feelings or falling in love. Right?” I ask.
Tell me I’m crazy. Tell me we can’t go back from all the feelings we’ve already unleashed.
“Uh…right. Sure. That was the deal.” He lets go of me and runs his hand through his hair. “You know me, Bambi.”
“Yeah. Me too.” I give him a forced smile because I do know him. And I wasn’t supposed to be feeling any of this for him.