Page 3 of Evading Fate

“I, uh… I should get to bed.”

He nods and stands, taking my glass of water from me and setting it on the coffee table before holding his hands out for me. I let him help me up, trying my best to ignore the weird buzzing in my body at his touch and promise myself that I won’t drink this much again. He silently walks me to my bedroom and leads me to the side of the bed before he turns and starts digging through my drawers. He finally finds a white t-shirt that I’m pretty sure used to be his and a pair of shorts that I know for a fact barely covers my ass. After tossing the clothes to me, he turns away so I can change. I strip out of my dress quickly and toss my heels to the side before throwing the t-shirt and shorts on.

“Okay.”

He turns back to me, his gaze dropping down to my bare legs, and I smile nervously as he saunters over and pulls the covers back for me. With him this close to me, that buzzing feeling is back, and I can’t seem to drag my eyes away from his lips. His brow quirks up in question when I don’t move, but the only thing on my mind is how it would feel to kiss him. This is so, so wrong but I can’t stop either. Reaching up, I drag my fingers across his cheek, his stubble scraping against my skin, and he freezes, staring at me with an intensity that confuses and excites me. He stays still as I lean in and press my lips to his for a few seconds before he starts kissing me back, and my heart rate jumps.

His hand cradles the back of my head as he takes control with a kind of finesse that turns me on more than it should. He wraps his other hand around my waist and pulls me in close, my body following willingly. For a brief second, I forget that this is wrong and that Trey is just my friend because this feels so incredibly right, but reality quickly crashes down on me, and my body tenses.

I pull away, and his arms fall away from my body, both of us just staring at each other, questions swimming in our eyes. It wasn’t a very long kiss but it was powerful. Finally, he clears his throat and wraps his hands around my biceps, guiding me to the bed. I crawl under the covers and he tucks the blanket in around me before kissing my forehead and turning to leave. My heart stutters in my chest, and my hand shoots out, clamping onto his. He turns back to look at me with concern lining his face.

“Please don’t leave me tonight, Trey,” I plead, not really sure why him leaving is causing me so much anguish right now. He scowls, studying me for a few moments before sighing and nodding.

“Okay.”

He kicks his boots off before sliding into the bed behind me, careful not to touch me but I can feel his heat seeping into my skin. Rolling over, I reach up and trace over his bottom lip with my thumb, and his eyes search my face in confusion. Every part of me is screaming to just lean in and press our lips together again. Instead, I just pull my hand away and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep confused and hurting.

* * * *

I slowly fade into consciousness, and it feels like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck. Good God, what happened last night? The last thing I remember is sitting at the bar and watching everyone dance as I downed glasses of whiskey. I usually never drink that much but I never expected yesterday to take so much out of me. Being alone or engaging in relationships that I know will never really go anywhere is for the best, I know this, and yet, seeing everything that I’m never going to have affected me more than I’d like to admit. I’m strong because I have to be, but I still have moments where the crap being slung at me just gets too heavy to handle.

Sighing, I try to talk myself into getting up but I know that it’s going to hurt like a bitch. I wish I could just do a zombie walk to the shower without opening my eyes, but I’m sure that I would trip over something or crash into a wall. I really need to stop leaving my shit all over the floor. A hand squeezes my ass cheek, and I jerk awake fully. My eyes fly open, and I hiss loudly, pinching them closed again as my head pounds mercilessly. Who in the hell is in my bed right now? Sucking in a deep breath, I slowly crack open one eye, and the pain in my head increases but I push forward.

As soon as I see who shared my bed last night, I wish I could just go back to sleep and pretend this never happened. Trey? Please tell me I didn’t sleep with him last night. This cannot be happening. Shit, did I cheat on Kyle? That’s so not me; I’m not that girl. Maybe nothing happened. There has to be some other explanation, right?

My heart pounds as I reach over and peel the covers back a little, relieved to see that he is still fully clothed. I let out a sigh of relief, saying thanks to the god of every culture that I can think of. Trey groans in his sleep, a low sexy sound that sends goose bumps rushing across my skin and squeezes my ass again. I know I should be shocked or appalled or something but I’m not. No, instead I’m curious and kind of turned on.

Wait…no.

That isn’t right. Trey is my friend – one of my best friends actually. I cannot, in any way, be attracted to him. He’s Trey, for crying out loud. Except, right now, sleeping across from me with his dirty blond hair falling into his face and his perfect bow-shaped lips parted in sleep, I can’t deny that he’s attractive, and I’m having trouble fighting the pull.

Shit.

This. Can. Not. Happen.

Opening my eyes, I turn to him and place my hands on his chest, trying to ignore just how good his lean muscles feel under my touch and shove him hard. His eyes snap open, and he stares at me for a couple of seconds, still a little disoriented, before he looks down to where he’s gripping my ass and yanks his hand away, a slight blush staining his cheeks.

“Um…hi,” I mumble, not really sure what to say as the awkwardness descends over us. I really freaking wish I knew what happened last night. He clears his throat and sits up.

“Hi.”

“What…uh, did we…” I ask, unable to force the question out of my mouth. He stares at me in confusion for a couple seconds before he gets it and starts shaking his head.

“No. Not at all. You were just drunk, and I brought you home.”

I nod, looking all around the room. My dress is in a pool next to the bed, and my shoes are kicked off to the side next to Trey’s boots but everything else seems to be in place.

“And…uh, why are you in my bed?”

He doesn’t answer right away but, finally, he looks up and says, “You were pretty out of it last night, and I was worried about you so I just decided to sleep here.”

“And nothing happened?”

He shakes his head. “Nope.”

I breathe a huge sigh of relief and nod, all the weirdness melting away in an instant. “Okay.”

He grins, sparking a flutter in my belly. “Okay. Coffee, then?”

Laughing it all off, I nod and jump out of bed, heading for the shower while he goes to the kitchen to get the coffee started. As I turn the water on and wait for it to heat up, I’m glad that it wasn’t what it looked like in there. This could have been a complete disaster.