Page 233 of Hot Mess
“Nope. Trust me, he wasn’t as drunk as you think.”
“Can I just tell the story?” I said.
“Not liking Jackson so far.”
I sighed. “At one point he came up to me and he seemed to think I was my sister…”
“Sure he did.”
“Ugh. You’re making it worse.”
“Sorry.”
“And when he kissed me…” I paused to wait for him to say something, but he bit his tongue this time. “I let him. I kissed him back.”
“Savage,” he teased, but his voice was soft. He squeezed my hand, like he was prompting me to go on.
I swallowed around the hard lump in my throat. “Hardly. I didn’t let it last long. I came to my senses, even with all the vodka coolers in my system. I felt horrible and confessed to Dani the next day.”
“What did she do?”
“She broke up with him. She didn’t believe that he didn’t know exactly who he was kissing.”
“He knew,” Ashley said.
“I don’t really know. I mean… he told me, the next time I saw him at school, that he liked me. He wanted to go out with me. But I said no. I wouldn’t, because I didn’t want to hurt Dani. She would’ve been devastated. Like I don’t know if our relationship would’ve ever recovered. She really, uh… liked him,” I concluded.
That was putting it mildly, but I knew my sister wouldn’t exactly appreciate it if I went around telling people that she’d once been in love with Jackson Blake. From what I knew, he still lived in North Vancouver, not far from Aunt Mireille’s place.
“So, you put your sister’s feelings and what she wanted ahead of your own feelings,” Ashley concluded.
“I guess. But what else would I do? She’s my sister. He was just a guy. I had a crush on him for a while, but it never would’ve been worth it to betray my sister that way.”
For some reason, Ashley looked unconvinced.
“What?” I said. “I thought you said he was a douche.”
“Hmm. Do you do that a lot?”
“Do what?”
“Put her feelings before your own.”
“No. I just respect her. I love her. Obviously.”
Ashley just stared at me, like he was waiting for me to go on.
“I’ve always regretted kissing him,” I confessed. “And Daniella has always subtly held it over me. You don’t have a brother, so maybe it’s a weird thing to expect you to understand. I don’t know… Maybe it’s like the thing with you and Pepper. You know, the tattoos you gave each other when you were drunk? Dani and I love each other deeply, but we also know how to fuck with each other like nobody’s business.”
“She hasn’t forgiven you?”
Was that how I made it sound?
“She’s forgiven me,” I said, wondering in the back of my mind if that was really true. “She just uses it as ammunition, you know, when she wants my full attention.”
Ashley shook his head. “I may never understand women,” he mused, as if he was just realizing that now.
“It’s probably better you don’t,” I said. “Leave something to mystery…” Then I walked my fingers down his body toward his cock. “Can we stop talking about my sister now?”
